The end of a painting is always one of the hardest things for an artist. You, or at least I, want to keep noodling around with it. “Oh, I should just tweak this,” or “maybe I should add/change/take out/put in this….”. But, the end does have to arrive, especially when something has a deadline, or sorts.
So, the pastel commission painting, of the event rider on the lovely gray horse is done. Now, because it has to be shipped, unframed, to the owners, it needs to be packed well, and mindfully. First, because this was done on a board, I used foam, removeable sticky things (so technical, huh??) to adhere the painting to the backing board. Then I created raised edges around it, pulled Glasseine tightly around that, taped it all tightly, added a board on top of all that and there it is. Added a hand written thank you note, on one of my own painting image notecards, and I will add my suggestions for when they have the painting framed.
I like to educated people about pastel paintings, especially when they are purchasing one from me. Up to this point, I have waffled back and forth on the pricing of pastels vs oils. Something a lot of people have trouble with in general, is pricing your work. Up to this point, the pastels have been priced less than the oils. I want to be sure that people don’t think of them as lesser artwork. They are not. Look at Degas, look at Cassatt, and many others whose pastels have stood the test of time well. You do need to frame them differently than oils, but they are just as equal in their artist merit as an oil painting. You just need to be more thoughtful about your framing of them.
A little on framing, then we’re off. Pastels should always be framed behind glass. You can use plexi, but you must spray the plexi with an anti static spray if you do that. I recommend glass. You may choose whether or not to use mat(s) with your frame. I let the painting tell me what it needs. If I were framing this commission piece, I think I would not use a mat(s), but would use a wide frame, with a linen liner, and be sure it had good spacers between the painting and the image (black spacers). I like to use double mats when framing with mats. I also perfer wide frames, but that is just my own personal choice. As to the color of the mats, I usually have a lighter colored mat on the outside, and a darker color that picks something up in the painting, as an inner mat. Always, always add spacers between the actual painting and the mat or frame. Acid free foam core works well on the back of mats, and the spacers you can buy, which have an adhesive backing, to stick to the glass, inside the frame, black so you can’t see through to the inner part of the rabbit (inside of frame).
So. That’s it for this piece. Now off to mail it. As a side note, since these posts are picked up by another equine art blog, I will be putting some non-equine painting, and other things in other pages on this blog. I have a landscape painting, I’ll add here this time, that I will be working on and showing you, as well as some miniature paintings, both equine and landscape. So, check out the other pages as well as this front one. Peace.
©Copyright 2008 by Elaine Hurst. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Elaine Hurst’s website.
Today’s artist is 
Leslie often combines the power and majesty of the horse with the power and majesty of nature, putting horses together with rolling seas (Wave Racers, above; Beauty and the Sea, below), falling snow and even towering cloud formations.
