Art Frames
Do you frame your art after you have completed it? Even if you do, or do not, what kind of frames appeal to you? I never really framed any of my work, much to my disappointment I have moved so much that carrying around framed work would just be too difficult. However, I have framed other artist's pieces in the past and I have always found that the wooden frame is the most elegant, especially when there is a border of gold leaf on the beveled part.
I loved carved wood frames. I just recently picked out an ivory-painted wooden frame carved with never-ending swirls. It's very whimsical - there goes $220!
I frame everything I paint with a wooden frame carved with a whimsical design. I often will paint over the frame so that it is a color similar to those found in the painting. My paintings are huge, so I don't feel bad painting a "perfectly good frame" because I know that it's going to have to be the centerpiece of the room it ends up in, whether I sell it or keep it.
I've never strayed from buying wood. Maybe bamboo, for smaller pieces. (It's more environmentally friendly, you know.) Whenever I go frame shopping, I can just hear my dear old grandmother in the back of my head... "Metal frames are cheap! Don't you dare!"
Amy
My first oil painting teacher seemed to have a preference for gold-wooden frames for his impressionistic landscapes. He would buy up a bunch in advance in his standard sizes, just because he knew he would use them, even though they'd all be different designs and for different paintings. I thought they complimented his paintings very well.
Wood is my favorite for frames as well, though I have never purchased a frame for any of my art as of yet. All I've done is matted a couple of pastel drawings. This is because: My paintings have yet to be glazed, I am poor, and don't know that I am worth framing yet!
I usually don't frame my minimalist paintings, or my dreadfully polite, neo-impressionist landscapes, because I believe they stand on their own merit. Besides, I have a house full of the stupid things, and framing them would cost a fortune.
On the other hand, I loved putting my crappy cartoonish self portrait in a gaudy, ornate frame, Which probably speaks volumes about my emotional maturity.