Very few artists are lucky enough to possess the skills to make all of their artwork look spectacular on a standard gallery-wrapped canvas. Fewer have the natural talent to create gorgeous canvas paintings stretched on stretcher bars that look good anywhere. Most will need to deal with framing at some point, regardless of the base material used for painting on.
All artists have their preferences of tools to work with. Some prefer to sketch in pencil, paint directly onto canvas, plywood, or any type of hardwood art board, others stick to paper.
Protecting the art and preserving its longevity is done with framing. Traditional picture frames are designed for print art. Shadow box frames are the modern twist framers use for deeper works of art created directly on harder surfaces, such as art boards and stretched canvas.
At The Picture Gallery, we are proud to introduce additional framing options that are perfectly suited to artists who use any type of oil to paint on art boards or directly onto canvas. All of our other picture frames are terrific for any art on paper. Art on harder surfaces created using acrylic oil or other artist-grade oil paint will require a frame with a deeper recess.
Made to measure frames to fit around your artwork
Each of our frames is made to order and cut to size directly in our factory. A frequent problem that artists encounter with frames is being limited by the standard sizing. Art stores tend to sell boards of standard sizes, then wholesale suppliers supply standard frame sizes in bulk to retailers that match the general sizes of art boards sold, which ultimately restricts the available sizes artists have access to.
If you have a custom project or prefer to treat board panels with clay, plaster or an emulsion for adhesion before painting on a board of any custom size, our made to measure art board frames may well be of benefit.
What are art boards?
Hardwood art boards have a smooth side and a textured side. It is one of the techniques artists use to be able to work various textures into the finished product. The smooth side is treated, usually with plaster or another material used to fill in cracks in the wood. Even though it is treated to be smoother, it still needs a base coat applied to seal it.
The affordable option is a treated plywood board. The pricier route is to buy a gesso panel, which are wooden panels designed for directly applying paint onto, then hanging the painted hardboard panel on the wall unframed. Gesso panels are essentially pre-primed wooden panels, already smoothened for artists to paint directly onto.
For framing panels, the art boards need to be housed in a frame with a deep enough recess. The art boards supplied by The Picture Gallery are suitable for any art boards with up to a 5mm recess. Our frames have two outside depths of 29mm or 47mm.
Plywood sheets are available in multiple thicknesses, lengths and widths. You can buy oversized sheets of hardwood and cut it to any size, or join pieces together to make an oversized painting board, such as if you wanted a hand-painted wooden art piece as a wall filler.
Our art board frames are supplied with Velcro fasteners to secure the art in the frame; however, we advise our customers that for extra security, it is beneficial to glue the artwork to firmly secure it in place prior to hanging on the wall.
If you are unsure about the final version though, the Velcro fasteners are an ideal option to frame your artwork, hang it on display to get a feel for whether you like its positioning, and once you are satisfied with the finished product, go ahead and glue it for maximum stability and long-term durability.
Click any of the links below to view our new range of picture frames with a deeper recess…
Should you require any assistance, feel free to get in contact with a member of our team at The Picture Gallery based in Bedford. Please refer to our contact page for the relevant telephone numbers. For all online inquires, we have arranged a list of Frequently Asked Questions. If your question isn’t answered, our support team will be happy to assist.