Correction: Have just spent a lovely time.......

Do you have an A.C. Moore crafts/framing store near you?

I was wandering around my local story the other day, waiting out a fierce rainstorm, and saw some fantastic thick "box" type frames. No fancy moldings, just a clean look. They are in a variety of sizes (I think from 5x7 up), and I saw them in black, white and a silver metallic. A basic "museum"/photo gallery-look frame. Relatively inexpensive (IMO!). If there's a store near you, you should pop in.

This is the way I usually self-frame: Get frames like this (with a coupon--even better), and put the money I've saved myself by not buying custom frames into any specially-sized mats I need cut.

Jo-ann stores also always run coupons for custom framing. But if your art is a standard size, then you can mat and frame yourself.

I wanted to frame up my photography but didn't want to spend a lot of money, so I got these frames from Walmart, mat included..$10 each. But I didn't like the mat color, so I used acrylic paint and painted them. Easy and low cost.

Your work is impressive, but my photos are all different sizes. When you used acrylics did you use colors? From the pic it's hard to tell. How did you finish your photos in the back? Appreciate your help.

My thought is: how important is the framing to any art work?

Very important - archival quality matting protects the piece, and getting the right color mat or mats enhances the appearance of the image.

To minimize matting cost, avoid the chain stores like Michaels and locate a place that cuts mats on-site. Have the pieces matted to standard framing sizes and buy frames on sale from the chains. For reasons I don't understand, the chain store frames are quite reasonable but having a mat cut isn't.

Check thrift stores for frames that will work with your images and discard the art - I carry a list of sizes of the pieces that need frames, and a note on the best style for the picture.

For prints or watercolors matting and framing is very important to protect and enhance the art. Sign up for emails from Michaels and you will regularly get coupons for 50%+ off framing.

Frames can often be found very inexpensively at yard sales and thrift stores. Easy to restain or paint and mats can be found in places like Walmart fairly inexpensively. For really nice art or unique pieces I prefer custom as you can have double or triple matting, different shaped openings, etc.

Even tho your photos are various sizes you *could* use all the same size frames and have custom mats cut to fit the photos.

For original oil paintings I actually like the unframed look sometimes.

I painted the mats from stark white to off white to better match the photography. I have painted colored mats different colors though. In this case they are digital photos I had printed at kinkos for $5 each, so they are nothing that needs preserving or archival anything.

I also bought a mat cutter and have cut my own mats if they aren't the right size.

Annie - can you come out to Chicago and spend a week with me? :)

Boy do I need someone like you to kick my butt in gear!

So many projects - not sure where to start....!

Thank you for all suggestions.