How to frame your painting

The main principle of framing is this: the frame should be picked up for the painting itself, not for the furniture, walls, or interior. Otherwise after next refurnishing or renovation of your place you will have to buy a new frame.
The frame and the painting must complement, not compete with each other. You can achieve this if:

  • The frame and the painting match in the color range
  • Ornament or texture of the frame complements or repeats some motif(s) of the painting
  • The image of the painting smoothly passes on to the frame.

Some advice on picture framing:

  • Small pictures usually put in wide frames so that the total area of the frame would be larger than the total area of the painting.
  • Paintings made in warm colors are put in warm colour frames, and paintings made in cold colors - in cold colour frames.
  • If the image on the painting is made of simple lines, so the frame should be rather simple.
  • One should keep in mind that it’s always the painting that dominates, and the frame is no more than an interlink between the painting and the interior.
  • The colour of the frame should either be a half-tone darker or a half-tone lighter than the basic tone of the painting, or should coincide with one of peripheral colours of the painting.
  • Natural wood fits all the paintings.
  • It’s important not to forget about the style of your painting. No one frames an avant-garde painting into a heavy classic frame with moulding, as well as a Dutch school painting doesn’t fit in a narrow glossy colored modern-looking frame.
  • You also should consider the depth of your frame. If you don’t want the stretcher of your painting to be seen, you should choose the frame with depth no less than 1,5 cm.

How to choose a mount (a passe-partout):

  • For the painting with some sort of movement caught on it it’s better to get a wide mount especially if the perspective goes beyond the frame.
  • The lower edge of the pass-partout should be wider that its sides and the upper edge. If the painting is vertical, than the upper edge should be wider then the sides, and if it’s horizontal, the sides should be wider than the upper edge. If the painting is rectangular, the lower edge should be wider than the upper and both sides - those three should be even.
  • Generally the side size of a mount is 6 cm.
  • Your passé-partout will look especially beautiful with a slip on it (it’s a narrow stripe of a frame put on the edges)
  • The best color of the mount would be just of a bit darker tone than the lightest tone on your painting.
  • It’s important to keep in mind that the passé-partout is just an interlink between the painting and the interior.
  • The mount should not merge with the frame.

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