When choosing the best frame for your painting, you'll have a lot of factors to consider. The painting's style, size, colors and the location where it will be hanging will all have an influence on the type of frame you choose.
Painting Size
The size of your painting will affect the size of the frame that you choose. Smaller paintings tend to have less of a presence on the wall where they're hung, so unless a small painting is being hung in a very small space, it's best to choose a wide frame for your piece. Of course, sometimes the size of a painting on the wall is small while the painting's presence on the wall is great. Paintings with bright, bold colors and thick, intense textures have a more substantial presence than paintings that feature mellow colors and smooth textures. These bright, bold paintings are often treated like paintings that are larger than they really are because they have a presence similar to bright, bold colors.
Painting Colors
Many times people choose neutral colored frames because they want the attention to be on the painting. Gray, brown, white and black are all considered neutral colors. However, the type of neutral you choose should depend on the colors in the painting. For example, paintings that feature browns and creams will often be matched to wooden frames, while paintings that include blacks, whites and grays will have a black, white or gray frame.
Style of the Painting
Pieces that are painted in a more traditional style, featuring realistic figures, smooth paint strokes and realistic subject matter like landscapes and portraits, are generally well suited to a traditional, ornamental style of frame. These frames, which are often seen in art museums and formal public spaces, often have hand carved lines and are often painted gold.
For modern paintings featuring abstract imagery or a more gestural, textural style of painting, a more contemporary style of frame is appropriate. Contemporary frames, much like contemporary architecture and interior design, have no ornamental features. Contemporary frames are minimalist, meaning they're often smooth and flat, and do little other than outlining the painting.
When Not to Frame
Paintings with thick stretcher bars often stick out from the wall as if they were framed, even when they're not. Sometimes artists will "finish" the sides of these paintings by painting the edges and leaving the paintings unframed. This is a common practice, and is acceptable except in very formal spaces, like traditional art museums.
When choosing the right type of frame for your painting, take into consideration all these factors (size, color and style of painting). If you're still feeling lost, seek professional framing services or click here for more info. Your customer service representative can help you pick the perfect frame for your piece.
Share27 January 2016
How will you spend summer vacation with your kids? I love spending the summers with my kids and we find all sorts of new things to do each year! As my kids get older, I introduce new crafts that they can do that they were unable to do when they were younger. Our family blog contains all sorts of crafts that you can do with kids of all ages. It is my hope that our family fun can inspire other families to spend more time together creating fun, interesting and artistic pieces that can be shared with friends and family.