How to Buy Original Framed Wall Art - Why My Paintings are Framed After Purchase
When you’re looking for a special piece of framed wall art for your home, original paintings may not seem to fit the bill. Yes, you’re buying a one-off piece rather than a poster or print, but you’re spending more money on it, and if you can’t see it framed before you buy, how do you know if it will be right for you?
The main thing when choosing framed wall art is to buy something that speaks to you. If you get joy from looking at a painting, it’s doing its job. If there’s something interesting in the painting that you could just look and look and look at, buy it. If the painting takes you on a journey, emotionally or mentally, you will love having that painting on your wall.
I once bought an original oil painting by the artist Geoffrey Yeomans. I like to buy art by artists who interest me. This painting is a photo-realistic depiction of a pear in various states of decay. It’s the same pear, in one part of the painting fresh and firm, in another, mouldy and rotten. This is not a very beautiful painting, but I could look at it forever. Geoffrey Yeomans, by the way, is famous for his paintings of rust.
I also bought a Victorian painting of the interior of a parlour, with the door open peeping into the kitchen. This one is odd because it appears to be painted on the back of a wooden cupboard door panel. It’s also peculiarly badly proportioned, but the delicacy with which the artist has managed the little ceramic pots on the dresser, and the atmosphere in it take me on a fascinating journey. Again, I could look and look at it, and it brings me joy.
What has this got to do with buying framed wall art? Well, the Geoff Yeomans painting was already framed when I bought it. The frame is relatively innocuous, plain, a bit cheap; could do better. It doesn’t detract from the work, but it doesn’t much add to it either.
The cupboard door came unframed, and I paid quite a lot to have a really elaborate frame made for it. It seemed in keeping with its rather humble appearance and it works brilliantly.
Choosing mouldings for work for an exhibition
The framer I use is a small business in Exeter called South Gate Gallery. The shop has recently been taken over, and the new framer, Stephen, is a real craftsman.
The process, when I want to frame a painting, involves taking my work in to the shop, where Stephen selects a range of different frame moulds. We place these next to the painting until we find the frame that perfectly complements it.
Sometimes this can take quite a long time and a considerable number of frame choices. It’s important not only to get a frame that looks right, it must also be in keeping with the feel of the painting, the story or subject behind it. For instance, when I painted Gaia Weeps, I knew the frame had to be integral to the artwork.
The figure in this work is based on an image of Our Lady which I found in Exeter Cathedral. While the painting plays with eras, symbolism and materials, using a mixture of traditional oil and gold leaf alongside plastic bags, all on a substrate of MDF, I wanted to get an almost Medieval feel, so I knew she needed an ornate dark wood frame. I wanted her to look almost as though she was a panel from an old church, but with a twist. I nicknamed this genre ‘ecological iconography’.
Once the frame is selected, I leave my painting with Stephen, he orders the moulding from his supplier, and within a short time he has made up my frame. The whole process normally takes around two weeks. Generally I have my work framed without glass, mainly because it looks better that way, but it does add to peace of mind when it’s shipped.
So, if I’m selling framed wall art, why do I not photograph all of my paintings in their frames?
The simple answer is that each hand made frame costs £70 or more. I’m an artist, not an art gallery. I also like to give you the chance to state a preference when you buy a painting. You may already have a frame colour or style in mind. There’s the issue of storage too. Framed paintings require more specialist storage and even then, frames can become damaged if the paintings are not hung on the wall.
If you love one of my paintings enough to hang it on your wall, one thing you can be sure of is that I take the utmost care in the process of framing the work. To me, the frame is as much part of the piece as the work of creating the painting in the first place.
I want you to find joy from your one-off framed wall art for the rest of your life.