5 Guidelines to Choosing Mats for Pictures

Keep in mind these are guidelines to choosing mats for your framed pictures, not rules, I hate rules. There is a kind of rudimentary science to design and color choosing, and the following tips are from years of professional picture framing experience. As a service worker, your job is of course to give the customer what they want, but as a framer it was also my job to steer them away from doing anything they won't end up liking when it's finished. Because if it looks bad, they will complain, trust me.

There are two main reasons to mat your photos and artwork on paper, prints, etc. Number one is to separate the picture from the glass, (otherwise the glass sticks to the work). Number two is to give the art 'breathing room' from the frame. When a frame is right up on the art I don't like it at all, it looks crowded to me.

1. Reconsider choosing white. As an artist, I was taught to mat in white, but after years of picture framing my perspective has changed. White always washes out a piece and is distracting to me. Neutral colors like light gray tones, taupes, gray-blues, etc. - yes; stark white - no. Never choose a mat that is brighter than the brightest point in the picture. Also try not to use any mat that is darker than the darkest point.

2. Wider is better. People have a tendency to want to put this tiny little mat on their pictures. The practical use for a mat is to separate the art from the glass, but stylistically so that the piece can 'breathe'. Two inches of total mat width is fine for pictures 11 x 14 and smaller maybe, but anything larger go at least three inches wide.

3. Use colors from the piece, this relates to the first rule. I try to choose a somewhat neutral top mat that is one of the second or third most prevalent colors from the work. Never choose mat colors based on what room the piece will hang in, always choose what is best for the art only.

4. Use multiple mats, or double-thick mats even, this will add depth. I like to use two mats, tying in the bottom color with the frame color. The top-mat I tend to go with neutral tones and earth tones and any combination thereof. So if the frame is dark silver, maybe a light gray top-mat with a dark gray bottom mat. Or an oak frame with a light cream top mat and wheat colored bottom mat for example. Using three mats even is good for some pieces, and you can stick the darker color in between the lighter top mat and same light color bottom mat.

5. Use cotton rag mats. Acid free mats are actually (I don't know what the percentage is) not completely acid-free all the way through. Cotton rag mats are, they are the true archival mat. They only come in nice natural, fairly neutral earth tones. Your local picture framer should know what they are and be able to give you a quick display if he or she is nice. If they don't know what you're talking about, I would rethink having them as my framer maybe.

And as I said these are guidelines not rules, if you want a 6" wide triple-mat with bright yellow tones, then so be it. Ultimately it's up to you and your personal taste as to what you like and what you think looks good with the art. But there is a basic process that is fairly standard to sort out what works and what doesn't. Hopefully I've shed a little light on that process with the tips above.