Frames finish a painting.
Frames are expensive.
And prices have gone up substantially in the last 5-1 years. That’s why I have accumulated, a mishmash of old frames in multiple sizes, some standard, some not. I find them at thrift stores or estate sales, or receive them from friends who don’t want them, or don’t have time to refurbish them. An old frame can be brought back to life with a coat of black spray paint with some gold trim.
Large frames are especially expensive. I usually paint fairly small, 16 x 20 inches or less. But there is one show I enter that I like to paint large. For the Breckenridge (Texas) Fine Art Center show this year, I painted a scene from the Dallas Arboretum. I painted plein air at the Arboretum in 2021 and had taken a plethora of easily paintable reference photos. I’ve chosen to paint large for this show because the Fine Art Center is easily drivable within 3 hours, so I don’t have to send by UPS or FedEx.
I've been accepted again in 2025 for the 33rd Fine Art Show there, and I’m thrilled. I thought I’d missed the deadline, but I accidentally caught an email from them on June 11 saying the deadline was June 13. I had 24 x 30 canvases at home already, so I decided to do a painting in two days and enter it. In that time I was able to complete the painting, enter it and also look online for suitable frames. However, I decided not to purchase a frame until I knew I’d been selected.
Deadline for notification was supposed to be Tuesday, July 1st, but the judge must have been on top of the time, because I received a notification of acceptance last Friday night on June 27th. I was also notified I had to have the painting delivered by July 25th which was less than a month away. I started to get nervous about having to order a frame, receive it in time, and make delivery, especially because I was planning on going on a vacay on the 21st which meant I needed to deliver the painting by Friday the 18th.
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| I use a garment rack in a corner of my studio to hang smaller frames. |
Still, I was pretty excited about the show, and I walked out onto my enclosed front porch to get the painting to admire it for a moment. I turned around to take the painting back into the studio room, and my eyes fell onto a frame hanging on the wall that looked large enough to accommodate my show painting.
Two issues about artwork frames: 1. They require space to store them. My answer is to just hang them empty on the walls. All over my house. 2. It is strangely difficult to estimate the measurements of a frame.
The frame I thought would accommodate my show painting did turn out to be a fit! I had NO idea when I started painting that I had a frame the correct size. Likely only another artist knows the thrill of finding a suitable frame for a painting in a pinch, within your own inventory.
I am so relieved.
And excited.
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