Framing (AKA) @#$%&*‼

Most painters I know swear at framing. It’s hard to do a good job yourself – and expensive. It’s even more expensive to have someone else do it, and it’s still a hassle. Buying ready made factory frames is not that inexpensive, and the results are often less than satisfying – besides, everyone else can buy the same frames.

If you’re showing or selling paintings, it gets worse, and it’s really expensive. It doesn’t take that much exhibition or selling activity to have 50 frames in circulation, and when you’ve had to pay for all the frames, it really adds up at $50 to $150 each. Not to mention that when the show or gallery returns your paintings, they are likely to have unsightly dings on the frames.

I’m a big fan of small paintings for a lot of reasons, but when it comes to framing, I have to admit that they lose much of their advantage. Paintings need to stand out from their surroundings to be appreciated. Many larger paintings have plenty of presence and may not need frames at all, but the smaller the painting, the more a frame becomes absolutely necessary. For paintings up to 12x16, it needs to be a substantial frame, too – often three or more inches wide.

After considerable frustration and some expensive framing dead ends in my early years of painting, out of desperation I
decided that I would have to negotiate a truce with the framing goblins. Ultimately I found two things that put me well on the road to defeating the powers of darkness:

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• I selected a single frame style that pleased me and worked reasonably well with my paintings. I found that a one-stylefits-all frame had to be simple and neutral
– understated and elegant – or it would clash with some elements in some paintings.
• I settled on four sizes that most of my paintings are done on.
At that time I was showing and selling a lot of my work. A single frame style brought continuity to my exhibits and cut the cost, too. With everything standardized I could quickly pop one painting out of a frame and another in to enjoy, show, sell or give as a gift.

Over the years, I’ve changed my onestyle-fits-all frames several times. Here are
some examples:
1. Fabric mat with glass
2. Painted masonite mat
3. Cedar siding mat
4. Plywood with black fillet
5. Floater for panels
6. White painted molding

I think it is worth noting that the Impressionist movement of the late 19th Century was, in part, a protest movement, and one of the things protested was the use of fancy gilded frames. Some of the Impressionists substituted simple painted frames. I’ve found that painted frames in neutral colors
work quite well.

My taste in frames tends to run to the modern, as opposed to traditional, and while I have found some framing solutions that have reduced my frustration level, I’m by no means satisfied and literally lie awake at night trying to imagine inexpensive and creative frames involving materials like corrugated
sheet metal…plastic…cardboard…
paper maché…