Respect Your Art

In my quest to avoid procrastinating this week (am I procrastinating on procrastinating?) I purchased some frames for my garage sale art, mentioned in a previous blog. Perhaps part of the reason these two lovely paintings were stacked among the vintage Tupperware and cast-off sports equipment was due to the shoddy quality of the framing. Acid-laden cardboard and masking tape don't really proclaim "Valuable Investment: Handle with Care," do they?

So, whether you are an artist or a collector, PLEASE, frame your art with attention to quality. The acids in regular adhesives and papers (and much matboard) will, over time (and sometimes it doesn't take long) seep into the paper your art was created on and cause irreparable damage. Ever seen a newspaper left out in the sun for a few days? Or a bulletin board covered in construction paper with the notices removed, leaving a patchwork of faded spots? Don't treat art this way.

Watercolor paintings should be framed using conservation-quality materials, that is, matboard, tape and backing, under glass (some would say UV protected) and hung out of direct sunlight. I know, it's expensive, which is why I do most of my own framing, but really, if you don't treat your art with respect, why would you expect anyone else to?