Playing With Mat Proportion in Your Art and Framing

There are a number of standard ways to use mats, but when you play around with the proportions of your art and framing style, you can come up with some interesting and attractive new ways to enhance your pieces.

There are a number of standard ways to use mats, but when you play around with the proportions of your art and framing style, you can come up with some interesting and attractive new ways to enhance your pieces.

Consider the scale of the piece that you will be framing. Think about the way that your art would look if you chose wide or narrow faced frames, or changed the borders of your mat. The size, shape, and balance of your mats can play just as important a role in the final appearance of the artwork as the color.

Here are some mat options are ways you can increase the impact of your art and framing:

• Border width: Tradition dictates that the bottom dimension of a mat be slightly wider that that of the other three sides. Though this is still considered an appealing technique, it doesn’t mean that this is the only one that you can use. While weighted bottoms may be suited for images with a traditional or vintage look, don’t be afraid to consider other options.

 

• Design flow: All rules aside, the design flow of your final art and framing product is very important to its overall impact Look at the way that you have laid out your frame and mat(s) and make sure that when all is said and done, your eye is drawn to the picture first, and not some other element. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the image has to be larger than any other component of the completed piece. It just means that the design elements should enhance and not distract from the focal point. This may mean that your art and framing have:

   

  • A mat even in size with the frame
  • A larger mat than the frame
  • A smaller mat than frame

   

• Making do: There are times when you will need to “compromise” with your frame and mat combination for your image. This will mean that you will be working with an existing frame or that the art and framing don’t match each other’s sizes. To resolve those challenges, try to be creative with your proportions and balance. Keep your pictures centered, but vary your orientations within the frame. This could include any of several different styles such as:

   

  • Centered landscape
  • Centered portrait
  • Portrait in a portrait frame
  • Raised landscape

   

  When all is said and done, your own judgment and taste can help you to go a long way with your art and framing as you try new and unique styles and proportions using mats.