The "fine" art of matting

Yes, this is art! And not as easy as one might think. There's the "art" of holding the blade straight. Measuring correctly, figuring distances, cutting what you figure....and the the whole art of color selection - which I'm not very good at.

Years ago, mom showed me the basics of mat cutting. I haven't done much since. But her unframed paintings are piling up and it's time I get them framed and show them off. I like to find frames in thrift stores - I tend to look for very simple, streamlined, gold frames. But I think I'm going to have to branch out. Learning how to cut the mats this past couple of weeks has got me excited to find wonderful used frames at thrift stores and see how I can alter them using new mats.

This first painting (all of these are by mom) had such pretty flowers in it. I wanted blue mats. Only 800 shades of blue? LOL! Colleen can quickly see the "red" in a blue mat. I sure can't.

(OK, there is also an art to photoing framed paintings with no reflection in them! I flunked that art as well!)


This next one is triple mated. I learned that I can't hold a mat cutter straight! Navy, medium and light blue. 1/4" apart. One of these days I'm going to try a 1/8" border.

Mom painted this at age 79, post stroke. Amazing, isn't she?

I reversed the pattern on this with light blue on the top, then medium, then navy blue. The look pretty good hanging next to each other. Another painting mom did post stroke, age 79. She said, "my hand doesn't go where I want it to go". I can't see what she's talking about - looks perfect to me. And I happen to love adobes!

This is just a double mat. LOL at "just a double mat". It's the first one I did and I was able to use the center cuts from these mats for the top flower photo. So another "art" is learning how to lay the measurements on the mat to get the most out of it. Sort of like getting 11 ATCs out of a 12x12 sheet of paper?

I have no wall space left! So next up, I have to rearrange mom's paintings so I can get more on the walls. I have a lot more in the basement that I will mat when I find frames for them. I am so blessed. I live in an art gallery! Who (besides my sisters and brother) have this much original art on their walls? It's wonderful!

Thanks mom!

PS. I had to delete my blog feed, so you may need to resubscribe. Just go to the blog website and scroll a little down the right and re-enter your email. I am going going to use feedburner and have deleted everything else.