Green Wooden Picture Frame, Hand-Painted and Made to Measure

This green wooden picture frame is made to measure for paintings on stretchers, for prints and for photographs. I paint and patinate every one in my workshop, building the colour up in thin brushed coats so the grain of the timber stays legible through the green. There are two shades, light green and dark green, and the rustic character of the finish suits rooms where natural materials are meant to be seen. The model is part of my range of custom picture frames, each built to the exact size of the work it will hold.

Moulding profile

The face opens with a hollow at the sight edge, which runs into a bead standing slightly proud of the surface around it. Beyond the bead the face falls gently and drops by a low step onto the flat, the widest and lowest part of the moulding. The flat ends in a cavetto of quarter-circle section that rises towards the outside; a low narrow flat carries it into a quarter-round ovolo, which closes the face at the outer edge, the highest point of the profile. The sight edge therefore sits lower than the outer edge, and the painting is set back within the frame.

Specification

• style: rustic
• colour: light green or dark green
• finish: brushed paint with the wood grain left visible, hand-patinated, sealed with shellac and wax to a satin sheen
• moulding width: 55 mm
• moulding thickness (face to back): 36 mm
• rebate: 7 mm wide, 10 or 20 mm deep, chosen in the order menu
• material: low-tannin timber of the kind used in museum and conservation work
• corner joinery: mitred corners reinforced with wooden splines, joined before painting
• glazing, backing and mat: available to order, priced individually
• artwork retention: spring clips as standard, brass plates with screws on request
• hanging: picture cord as standard, single D-ring on request, portrait or landscape chosen in the order menu
• suitable for: oil and acrylic paintings on canvas; prints, drawings and photographs under glazing

Dimensions: you give me the size of the painting and I make the frame to fit it, 2 to 3 mm larger as a technical allowance. The moulding covers about 4 to 5 mm of the edge of the work, so the visible opening is slightly smaller than the painting, while the outer dimensions of the finished frame include the moulding on all four sides.

Paintings and interiors that suit a green frame

The frame works best around oil and acrylic paintings on stretchers: landscapes, still lifes, genre scenes and contemporary work in a muted palette. Green sits comfortably beside earth browns, white, beige and brick red, and it supports foliage, sky and stone in a painting without competing with them. The light shade stays quiet around pale, high-key work; the dark shade draws a firmer line around a composition with deep tones or strong contrast. Prints, drawings and photographs can go into this profile as well, under glazing.

In an interior the frame belongs with natural wood, linen and stone: country houses, Provençal schemes, boho rooms and plain classic rooms with pale walls. I have gathered more of this direction in my guide to rustic and vintage picture frames.

How it is made and finished

I cut the lengths at 45° and join the corners with wooden splines before any paint goes on, so the frame is rigid from the start and the corners stay tight. The colour is then built up in thin brushed coats, which keeps the figure of the timber readable through the green. The aged look comes from hand patination, a controlled darkening along the edges and at the breaks in the profile that underlines the geometry of the moulding. Finally I seal the surface with shellac and wax to a satin sheen. Every frame follows the same sequence, but because the painting is done by hand, no two are quite identical, and that is intended.

How it differs from mass production

Factory mouldings are wrapped in printed foil or given a uniform coating that seals the surface and makes every metre look the same. On this frame the timber is the base of the finish: brush marks show at close range, and the patination is worked by hand along the edges and the breaks of the profile, so it follows the shape of this particular moulding. The corners are reinforced with wooden splines rather than held by V-nails alone, and a frame built this way keeps its geometry through long display and in larger formats.

Functionality

The frame is supplied without glazing, ready for a painting on a stretcher. The rebate depth is chosen in the order menu to match the thickness of the support: 10 or 20 mm. Works on paper go under glazing, with spacers holding the sheet clear of it; I quote that configuration individually. The same moulding can also be made without a rebate, as a floating frame for canvas, with the painting standing free inside it and a narrow gap all round. For paintings in oil I set out my approach on a dedicated page: framing oil paintings.

Frequently asked questions

Which shades of green can I choose?

Light green or dark green, selected in the order menu. Both are painted by hand over the bare timber, so the depth of colour varies slightly from frame to frame.

How thick a painting will the frame take?

Choose the rebate depth to match the support: 10 mm (about ⅜ inch) for supports up to that thickness, such as canvas boards and panels, or 20 mm (about ¾ inch) for a stretcher up to 20 mm thick. If your stretcher is deeper, send me its measurements before ordering.

Is the frame made to measure?

Yes. I build each one to the size of your painting, with a technical allowance of 2 to 3 mm, so there is no need to look for a standard format.

Complete framing – additional options

Every frame I make can be completed with full archival and museum-quality framing: anti-reflective UV-filtering glass (four classes to choose from), acid-free museum mat board, spacers wrapped in acid-free paper and a Dibond backing. This kind of mounting protects the work from light, acids and distortion. I set out the full glass and material specification on a separate page: archival and museum framing for paintings and photographs. All components are available at extra cost, as an individual quote on request.

Fixing and hanging

As standard the painting is held by spring clips, factory-fitted: they rotate, so swapping the work is quick. On request I prepare brass plates with screws, supplied loose for a permanent fixing you fit yourself. For hanging there is a picture cord as standard; a single D-ring is fitted on request, and portrait or landscape orientation is chosen with the order.

Made-to-measure ordering

Enter the dimensions of your painting in the calculator on this page. The base price shown is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the painting is not the whole length the frame needs: the 45° mitres take extra length, more so the wider the moulding. The calculator accounts for the full use of moulding with the mitres and any options you select; glazing, backing and mat are quoted separately. For this moulding width the calculator handles artworks up to 180 cm around the perimeter; anything larger is made to individual order, so send me the dimensions and I will price it. The lead time is 20 to 30 working days.