Palo Verde Green, plein air watercolor painting by Ellen A. Fountain, shown framed in a simple metal frame with a 4 inch wide off white mat.

Once you've created your masterpiece (OK, maybe not, but it's your best watercolor yet), it deserves a great presentation. The traditional way to present a work on paper is to frame it under a protective glazing - glass or sheet acrylic, with a mat or mats to add a visual border to the painting and keep it from touching the glazing, and with some kind of backing material to protect the painting from the back. This first tip shows you the basic steps for framing a painting in this traditional way. Later I'll be adding some tips for other ways to present your watercolors that don't need glass.

Simple Framing for Watercolors