I would say go check out the galleries and see what they have hanging on their walls. (I understand this is more an effort for you than most) The white mat black frame thing is good for photographers but generally regarding most artwork, I frame to the best advantage of the art. Sometimes that calls for simple framing and sometimes for something more.

I know it is a struggle starting out and investing money in framing. So my best advice is buy the best you can afford at the time. I think archival mat board and foam core are a must, (good for you for doing that, I know several artists who don’t.) After that it is up to you and your budget.

I’m going to miss all those colors though and probably get them for drawing on with oil pastels. Ragmat is good drawing surface.

I went to archival for what to paint and draw with sooner than for good framing, because most of the time whoever gets my art is doing the framing. But I am starting to look at getting into some galleries in town and so all this advice is very good.

Does that apply to style of framing too or just to its conservation qualities? Would it be all right to say, keep it simple with a Blick Spectrum wood frame in white with a double white mat in rag mat and an archival foam board back board for gallery paintings — or do I need to start looking at the higher end frames too? The “Spectrum” ones are gallery deep, they’re for stretched canvas and could hold pretty much anything.