That's the short version. The rest of this guide goes step by step, with the common mistakes to avoid at each stage.

1. Work out what the artwork is made of

This decides more than anything else, because it tells you whether the piece needs glass.

  • Oil or acrylic on canvas: no glass in most cases. The paint is sturdy, and glass hides the texture you paid for.
  • Watercolour, pencil, charcoal or pastel on paper: always behind glass or acrylic. Paper marks, fades and curls without it, and charcoal smudges at a touch.
  • Photographs and canvas prints: prints on paper go behind glass; prints stretched on canvas can be framed like a painting.

What goes wrong: charcoal and pastel sketches framed with the glass pressed flat against them. The dust transfers onto the glass. A mount (the card border, covered below) keeps a gap between the two.

2. Choose the frame width from the painting's size

A small 8 × 10 inch portrait in a 10 cm moulding looks like it's drowning. A 30 × 40 inch canvas in a thin 1.5 cm strip looks like nobody finished the job.

There's no fixed formula, but a useful habit is to hold two or three corner samples against the painting and step back a couple of metres. The right width is the one you stop noticing.

What goes wrong: choosing the frame from a sample on the counter instead of against the artwork. Mouldings look completely different next to the actual colours.

3. Pick a colour that repeats something in the painting

The easiest way to get a frame "right" is to pick up a colour that's already in the artwork.

  • Gold suits traditional and devotional pieces, Tanjore-style work and portraits with warm skin tones and silk sarees. It's also forgiving: it reads as "special occasion" in almost any room.
  • Dark wood or black suits modern pieces, black-and-white photographs and pencil or charcoal portraits.
  • Natural or white wood keeps a light, airy painting light.

It's tempting to match the frame to the curtains instead. Resist it: rooms change every few years, and a portrait of your parents is meant to last far longer than the curtains.

4. Decide whether you need a mount

A mount (also called a mat) is the card border between the artwork and the frame. For works on paper it does two jobs: it keeps the art away from the glass, and it gives the eye a pause before the image starts.

For paintings on canvas you usually skip the mount, though a thin inner fillet of gold or linen can lift a portrait the way a mount would.

5. Protect it properly

If a framed piece will hang where sunlight reaches it, ask for UV-filtering glass or acrylic for anything on paper. For pieces in a busy family room or a child's bedroom, acrylic is lighter and won't shatter.

Glow-in-the-dark artwork is a special case: it needs light to charge, so don't hide it behind tinted or heavily reflective glass. See our guide to glow in the dark versus radium for why.

6. Check it against the wall last

Once the frame suits the painting, check it in the room. Hang it with the centre of the picture at about eye level, roughly 145 to 155 cm from the floor. Over a sofa or sideboard, leave about 15 to 25 cm between the furniture and the bottom of the frame so they read as one group.

And measure the wall before you choose the painting size, not after. It's the most common surprise when a large family portrait arrives.

Framing at Glow Arts

We frame in teak wood, and you can see finished framed pieces at the gallery on Road No. 14, Banjara Hills. If you're ordering a custom portrait or an oil painting, tell us where it will hang and we'll suggest a size and frame before we start. You can also browse framed work in the gallery.

Already have a painting, print or photo that needs a frame? Bring it in. We frame artwork from elsewhere too, not just pieces we've made.