No Matt Board?

[Glade]

Traditionally watercolors are matted and the frame is a fairly thin low profile frame, often metal.


What say ye here to wider frames with no matting? If an 11 x 14 Acrylic or Oil painting can look good in a wide frame then why not a watercolor?
I have seen some smaller prints and possibly originals framed in stock size “photo frames” and thought they looked pretty good.


Just wondering – hoping one day to do something worth framing…


Glade

[AmyLC]

I have no problem with wide frames. Some of my paintings at home are in wide wooden frames. Metal frames are often used for shows because they are cheaper and the galleries like them for uniformity. Also it is very easy to put paintings in them and change paintings when desired.

The mat does serve a purpose that is more than decorative, however. The mat is used to keep the painting from touching the glass. You want and need that air space in between the two or the paintings can become damaged. A framer could probably provide that space using "spacers" along the under-edge of the frame that wouldn't show.

[Horsa]

I have some pieces that I have matted for photo frames in wood, and they look nice that way.

If you like the mat-less look try "floating" mounts, or framing with spacers at the edge to seperate the glass and the paper.

For myself I like mats, they hide my messey edges. I don't mask around the edge of the piece while I am painting, but rather tape down the edges of teh paper. So my edges often have ragged trails of wash, colour test swatches and more in the margins, all of which can be neatly hidden behind a mat.

Looking up I see that I have one small painting above my desk where I used the edges of the frame to provide the mat effect of hiding the messy edges. It looks good, and I didn't realize it was unmatted.