Hand-Painted Brown Picture Frame for Oil Paintings

I make this hand-painted brown picture frame for oil paintings to measure, for one particular canvas. The brown is warm and muted, and a light patina on the raised parts of the profile makes the frame read as aged, painted wood rather than a printed imitation of grain. The colour stays in the background, so the frame gives the painting a firm, quiet border without competing with it. Among my picture frames gilded and partially painted, it is one of the models finished in paint alone.

Frame profile

At the inner edge, beside the painting, the face opens with a small hollow that turns into a bead, raised a little above the surface around it. Beyond the bead the face falls gently and, over a low step, meets the broad flat, the widest and lowest part of the moulding. The broad flat ends in a cavetto, a concave quarter-circle rising towards the outside, which passes over a low, narrow flat into an ovolo, a convex quarter-round that closes the face at the outer edge, the highest point of the profile. At 55 mm wide, the broad flat takes up most of the face, held on either side by the two raised elements: the bead beside the painting and the ovolo on the outside. The outer side of the frame is flat.

Specification

• profile: a hollow and bead at the painting, a broad flat, a cavetto and an ovolo at the outer edge, with a flat outer side
• moulding width: 55 mm
• moulding thickness (face to back): 36 mm
• rebate: 7 mm wide, its depth set by the artwork thickness chosen in the order menu
• artwork thickness: 10 mm or 20 mm, chosen in the order menu
• colour and finish: warm, muted brown, painted by hand, with a light patina on the raised parts of the profile and a satin sheen
• surface protection: shellac and wax
• material: timber with a low tannin content, of the kind used in museums and art conservation
• corner joinery: mitred corners reinforced with wooden splines
• style: classic, with a rustic, vintage character
• personalisation: another colour from my curated, richly pigmented paint range
• mounting: sprung clips as standard, brass screw plates on request
• hanging: picture wire, portrait or landscape chosen in the order menu, a single D-ring on request
• glazing, backing and mat: optional extras, priced individually outside the calculator
• suitable for: oil paintings on stretched canvas; prints, watercolours and photographs with glazing
• lead time: 20 to 30 working days

I make the frame 2 to 3 mm larger than the painting, so the work goes into the rebate without strain, and the moulding then covers about 4 to 5 mm of its edge. With a 55 mm moulding, the finished frame is almost 10 cm, about 4 inches, larger than the painting in each dimension.

Which paintings and interiors it suits

The frame is meant first of all for oil paintings on stretched canvas: landscapes, still lifes and portraits, and especially work in a warm, earthy palette, which a muted brown surrounds without pulling the eye away from it. The broad flat gives the picture a calm margin, and the bead beside the canvas marks its edge. With glazing added, the same frame takes prints, watercolours and photographs. I describe how I approach this kind of work on my page about framing oil paintings.

A brown with a light patina sits naturally in classic, rustic and vintage rooms, and in eclectic schemes where warm wood tones balance a cooler, modern background. For a large canvas that needs a much heavier border, I also make a wide brown picture frame for canvas paintings, with a 150 mm moulding in a far darker brown.

Craftsmanship and finish

I cut the moulding to the size of the painting, mitre the corners and reinforce each joint with wooden splines before any paint goes on. The colour is brushed on by hand, in layers. Once it has dried, I work a light patina over the raised parts of the profile, the bead and the ovolo, so that a cooler tone from the coat beneath shows through. The patina keeps the section legible, with the broad flat reading lower than the two raised edges around it. I seal the finished surface with shellac and wax, which deepens the brown and leaves a satin sheen.

The timber has a low tannin content and is of the kind used in museum work and art conservation, so it does not discolour the finish or work against the painting it holds.

How it differs from mass production

A mass-produced frame usually comes in a fixed size and a fixed finish, cut from moulding that was coloured before it was cut. Here the order is reversed: I cut and join the frame to the measurements of your painting first, and only then paint and patinate it by hand, so the colour runs unbroken round the corners and the patina never falls in exactly the same places twice. I keep no stock of finished sizes, and the brown can be replaced with another colour from my paint range.

Functionality

The frame is made for a painting on a stretcher. In the order menu you choose the thickness of your artwork, 10 mm or 20 mm, and I prepare the frame to suit it. For works on paper and photographs, glazing, a backing panel and a mat can be added, each priced individually.

The same profile can also be made without a rebate, as a floating frame for canvas art, with the painting set inside the frame and a narrow shadow gap around it.

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.

Mounting and hanging

This frame is intended for paintings on canvas and stretchers, so it does not include glass as standard. To hold the painting, I fit sprung retaining clips as standard; they pivot to the side, so the canvas can be removed and replaced quickly without tools. On request I supply brass plates with screws instead (provided loose, for permanent self-installation). The hanging orientation, portrait or landscape, is chosen at checkout. Picture wire is standard, with a single D-ring available on request.

Ordering made to measure

The base price shown on the site is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the painting is not the full length of moulding a frame needs: corners cut at 45 degrees take extra length, and the wider the moulding, the more they take. The calculator accounts for the full moulding consumption with corners and for any options you choose, so you only need to enter the dimensions of your painting. The calculator accepts artwork up to a perimeter of 180 cm, the limit set for a moulding of this width; larger formats I make to individual order, so please write to me first. The lead time is 20 to 30 working days.