Makeover Your Walls With VandM’s Guide to Framing
By Lisette Ruch
They don’t say, “the clothes make the man” for nothing. Most ladies would agree that, with a good scrubbing, you can improve any man’s image significantly. The same is true for almost any work of art; dress it up nice and you can transform an insignificant piece to worthy-of-a-museum great one. Most people tend to focus on the aesthetics or quality of an artwork when making design choices, but how you frame that work can make or break the look. Framing can be—but doesn’t have to be—expensive. You just need to make the right choices, and VandM is here to help.
Easy guidelines to follow when selecting a frame for a piece:
1. Size Counts. If your piece has a lot of small, delicate elements, choose a thin frame that is not too detailed, otherwise it will over power the piece. Likewise, you can select a bolder frame when there are larger elements in the piece. If your work’s composition includes very large/heavy/plump objects, you can do exactly the opposite and highlight those features by using a thin, delicate frame.
Julio Venegas Duda Circular Painting V&M #: 177751
2. Tap Into Your Color Sense. Artists typically use a highlight color to emphasize and draw your eye to certain parts of a work. By using a frame/mat that is a similar color to the highlight color, you can really set off a work and enhance the effect they are trying to create. How do you do this? Look for the least dominant color— that’s the highlight color
Framed Handkerchief in Commemoration of Proposed Coronation of Edward VIII V&M #: 105015
3. Tune into Tone. In general, if you have a warm palette, use a gold or warm-wood toned frame, but be careful of the shade of gold you select. Bright gold compliments bright colors. Antiqued gold looks good with muted colors. If you are working with a cool palette, use a silver or dark-toned frame. Black always looks fantastic against bright colors or when black is a predominant part of the art work.
Original Lithograph Entitled Sculpture by Baya Grindele V&M #: 205819
4. Go with the Flow. Select a design element within the painting and repeat it in the frame to emphasize it. If there is scrollwork in the ceiling, find a frame with similar ornate detail. If you are framing waves, select a frame with detail that looks like a wave or with gentle curves.
Mathias Werthmeister Painting A German Rococo Interior Oil Painting V&M #: 231867
5. Think About Impact. If you have a small work that you want to make look more important than it is, a super wide frame will make it look grander. If the work is more traditional, go with an ornate frame. However, if the work is more modern, keep the frame detail simple. However, if you have a really simple, minimalist work, go the exact opposite way and make it really stand out by using a highly detailed, modern frame.
Antique Spanish Colonial Cuzco Wall Shrine V&M #: 92883
Before & After
In a wide, bright gold frame the seascape looks secondary. Replacing it with a rustic, driftwood-style frame makes the colors look twice as bright by adding a dark contrast.
This piece is unimpressive in a simple, gold frame. By focusing on the highlight color, the framer brings out the form of the owl and it pops
Frame of Mind: The Latest Trends in Framing
- HD Format, the elongated rectangular shape that has taken over the formerly square boob tube, is changing the way we view everything. Computer and cellphone screens are expanding outwards along with the television, and so has art. LuAnn Thompson of Bellport Arts and Framing Studio is mimicking the evolution of the TV in her framing formats to create pieces that fit with how we view most of the major images we encounter on a daily basis. If you need to frame something, this is how it should look to make it relevant in the 21st century
HD Format
- French matting is a virtually lost art form, but is recently being rediscovered. Accomplished, artistic framers use a combination of lines hand-drawn using ruling pens, hand-watercolored areas, and specialty accent papers to create sumptuous effects. This can impart a vintage or luxurious effect to any work of art, especially ones that are drab or not that interesting on their own. Today, few framers have the artistic talent or the time to be able to tailor effects to individual pieces but with modern techniques and the myriad of funky special papers, you can really create unique effects to make your piece pop
Vintage French Matting
Framing tips provided by: LuAnn Thompson, Bellport Arts and Framing Studio. 147 Main Street, Bellport, NY 11713; 631-803-6076, www.bellportarts.com
