Forest Studio Rustic Frame Design

So many materials, so many possibilities. You don’t want to be at a beach fire with me, I’ll be saving every funky piece.

I’m still in mid-design process with this one..

The Fir bark cut perfectly smoothly on 2 sides. The colours reveal an orange reddish and brown pattern which is reflected in Sue’s House on Lake Couchiching oil painting. This needs one more element but it’s getting close.

Here a pine frame was given a golden translucent finish and rustic strips surround the painting and Cedar bark strips glued to the frame to tie the oil painting of cedar trees to the frame.

Hill Trees Backlit By Sunlit Trees.

Designing Rustic Frames in the Forest Studio

There are always a few paintings leaning around the studio — some drying, some waiting, some simply resting.

Lately, many are waiting for a frame.

On the workbench: strips of painted wood, driftwood, bark, cherry, maple sticks, small logs and shaggy cedar bark are gathered from the surrounding forest. Pieces are moved, held up, adjusted. Nothing is forced. The painting usually suggests what it needs.

A winter scene may call for light Cherry bark or pale driftwood.
A warmer landscape might pair with cherry wood or red maple new growth sticks.

The frame isn’t meant to overpower the work — but to extend it. To let the material echo what’s happening inside the painting.

After decades of building furniture, working with wood feels instinctive. Now that craft meets painting. The frame becomes part of the landscape — the forest surrounding the forest.

One painting at a time.
One frame at a time.