Currently the trend for unframed canvases seems to be led by places such as B&Q, Homebase and so on where you will see pictures/images or even sometimes just reproduction of their wallpaper, ready to hang on your newly decorated walls at low prices. Definitely not works of art more just a decoration, which because of it’s low cost, can be disposed of when the purchaser tires of the image or redecorates. So unframed canvases are the in thing.
Another new trend is framing and mounting fossils, ammonites and the like, which I saw on two stalls at a recent Craft Fair at Penshurst Place. For us artists it means just more competition for wall space in people’s homes.
Michael asked about water-colours and I am sure it is possible to produce watercolour paintings on canvases as there are fixative sprays to help prevent colours fading so perhaps we need to just give it a go and report back on the results.
For me the mounting and framing give the finishing touches to my watercolour and ink painting whilst greatly enhancing the overall presentation and I won¹t be without them.I have even started framing some of my mosaics, which I feel sets them off splendidly and adds to their appeal. No mounts; I use the mosaic tiles to produce a border. This process is not suitable for all my mosaics but I think it works well, as those who visited our Open Exhibition in October will have seen, so I plan to continue. Vive la framing.
Ann Holdway
The decision on whether to frame your paintings for exhibition I feel depends partly on firstly the type of painting and secondly who you hope to sell to. Pastels obviously have to be framed behind glass, so no question. Watercolours and other paintings on paper or card need at least to be mounted, but I would have thought they could then be attached to a thicker backing so they could be hung, and the backing removed afterwards so the buyer can choose their own frame. With oils and acrylics on canvas the decision is much harder. This is where who you hope to sell to applies.
If you look in any gallery or professional art show, or look at typical rooms in estate agents’ windows, you will see that most paintings are unframed or in very basic wood or metal frames. This is the look that most younger people have in their homes and these are the people who are going to buy more modern paintings. So if this is the way you paint, frameless or basic frames is the way to go.
If you need to mount the painting make sure the mount is to a standard frame size and you can buy an off the peg frame at a reasonable price. Neilson make some excellent frames. If you paint in a more traditional manner, then I expect you need to frame, but you need to take great care when framing. A decent painting in an old, obviously second-hand, frame will detract from the painting and make it much harder to sell. I've seen some good paintings in terrible frames which really makes them almost un-sellable. Though it seems that some of our members do not like modern paintings at all, at the recent Horniman exhibition it was the modern paintings that were the best and quickest sellers. The first two paintings sold were both unframed abstracts. Even with the postcards it was the modern works which seemed to be selling.
Bernard Victor