Friday 13 November 2009

13/11: FRIDAY 13TH STUFF !


Well I'm not superstitious but given the dreadful weather conditions in the South East of England today, I'm more than happy to stay indoors and crack on with the horse pastels ... I have one ongoing and a double portrait which I've drafted out but probably won't start until Monday.

The owner of Meg (gorgeous Saluki) kindly emailed me photos showing the portrait which has now been professionally framed. The frame complements the portrait beautifully but in this photo unfortunately you probably can't see all the delicate colouring.




As you can see from the photo, the mount has been cut with a deeper/wider margin at the bottom and this initially worried her.

I guess its one of those things that you don't think about until its pointed out. I always supply my portraits with mounts and sometimes purchase stock items from Daler Rowney in standard sizes. Because they could be required to fit a frame hung landscape or portrait style the four sides are equally wide.

But I also purchase mounts from either of my two favourite Picture Framers (Finally Framed in Sidcup and Picture This in Birchington). Both framers are very obliging when I need work done quickly. They always cut the mounts with a wider bottom border. I think the technical term is 'dropped border' and I'm told that this is to counter the optical illusion of the picture dropping down in the frame once it is hung - particularly if hung from a hook which causes the picture/frame to tilt downwards slightly. This local framer obviously uses 'dropped borders' also.

So apologies to those of you who already knew this .... but I think its worth mentioning :o)

3 comments:

  1. I have never heard of the drop border..very interesting. and I can see why they do it if it's tilted when hung.

    Excellent job. He/she. looks so regal. I love it.
    Just a matter of interest...Do you just sign the back of your works. ?

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  2. No, I usually sign the front of the portrait but try to place the signature where it isn't obtrusive. (as in this one, my signature is at the bottom of the neck - right side). I do have a problem signing on sanded surfaces though - I usually resort to using a graphite or coloured pencil with a very hard/sharp tip :o)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a lovely piece, Sue, but I think I've already said so on the Pet Portrait forum.

    I was always told to mat a piece with a slightly larger border at the bottom but I don't recall it having a name (learn something new every day!). I knew it was for balance too but never even considered why.

    Thanks for furthering our educations!

    ReplyDelete

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