Shabby Chic

To frame these two beautiful pastel portraits our client wanted something modern, but with a French, shabby chic feel. We accomplished this by selecting a clean, modern, bare wood moulding and giving it a shabby chic finish. To get this look we first primed the wood and then painted it in a red/brown tone to match the pastels used in the artwork. Once dry, this was over painted in a warm, off-white colour and again left to dry. The frames are then gently sanded to reveal just the right amount of the colour underneath. A couple of washes of thin off-white we're then applied to soften the effect and after a final dry the frames were waxed and polished. This has given the frames a lovely warm, soft feel that perfectly matches the pastel portraits of these two sisters.

Some Nic Vickery originals

 

A couple of originals by artist Nic Vickery here, a beautiful tree and landscape which we've framed in oak, with a double mount. And a stunning pastel stag which we've made a handpainted frame for and then floated the artwork over the mount board. A gorgeous picture :-)

More of Nic's work can be found at https://www.facebook.com/nicvickeryanimalartist

 

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Which came first?

 

"Which came first?" A Giclee print from an original pastel by Nic Vickery, we've gone for a simple wide oak frame and it looks lovely :-)

You can find more of Nic's work at https://www.facebook.com/nicvickeryanimalartist

 

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Rachel Woodruff

 

Here we have a beautiful selection of pastel works by artist Rachel Woodruff.

We've framed each one in a different style so Rachel can test out various options with some of the galleries she's working with. At the top we have a hand painted frame with double mount, on the right a chunky black frame with single mount and for the piece of the left, we've used a slightly smaller black moulding and floated the artwork over a grey mount.

All very different styles of framing but the artwork shines in all of them. You can find more of Rachel's artwork at http://users.ox.ac.uk/~anat0155/inpictures.html

 

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Roxy

 

This stunning animal portrait by artist Kate Maxwell is done in pastel on Pastelmat paper. The paper has a velvety texture which reduces the need for fixative and takes the pastels beautifully, resulting in the amazing depth of colour Kate be able to achieve in this piece. The 'model' is Roxy, faithful hound of an old school friend of mine, Adrian Baughan.

We've framed the artwork with a hidden mount under the double mount...just in case any pastel does escape the magic paper. A silver frame and Artglass to reduce the reflections finish the piece off nicely :-)

 

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