You want to keep your painting looking good, right?
That probably involves framing it.
Hi, Aaron here – thanks for checking in and I’m delighted that you’ve got your hands on a piece of my artwork!
I’ll get onto frame sizes in a second, but while I’ve got your attention, I can’t express enough how important it is to please get your painting behind glass and out of the sun!
The sun will fade the colours if you leave your painting unprotected, so if you love your painting, please find it a home somewhere that doesn’t get much sun. If the perfect hanging spot means direct light is unavoidable, I’ve put some links down below to places selling special anti-UV glass.)
Choosing a frame
Bespoke framing
I’d always recommend custom framing where possible – if you take your painting to a local framers, just ask what they’d recommend! If you really love your painting, it’s definitely worth the investment.
A slightly cheaper option is to use an online picture framing tool to play around – find a frame which suits your style, and of course matches the artwork!
My favourite UK site for custom frames is Eframe because you get special UV protective glazing as standard, with their custom frames.
Standard frame sizes
Most of the artwork I create for people is in two sizes: A4 fashion portraits, and A3 wedding portrait scenes. I’ve linked to some off-the-shelf frame suggestions below:
These paintings fit any frame with an A5 / 6″ x 8″ aperture. I recommend a mount, for a nicer looking finish – the space around the edge shows off the illustration better.
These paintings fit any frame with an A4 or 8″x12″ aperture. I recommend for a nicer looking finish – the space around the edge shows off the illustration better.
My larger scene paintings are almost always suitable for A3 size frames, or 12″x16″.
The actual size of my paper is sometimes larger at 12″ x 17″, but I often paint with the extra inch in mind as a ‘spare’ or ‘bonus’ inch eg blank sky so clients have the option to reposition within the frame for symmetry or even get a slightly longer custom frame if they prefer.
This is the size I usually paint when it’s a full day wedding painting booking.
This painting suits frames fitting 420 x 594 millimeters or 16.5 x 23.4 inches, but I’ll always paint a little bigger so it’s got room to sit securely in a mount.