Peter Roberts, from the Picture Workshop, explains the choices he made when framing this piece:

Look at the picture and decide which is the main colour being shown. While doing that, also talk to the customer or artist and get a sense of their ideas. The customer said it was a sort of sea scene, so I decided not to put the picture on a white mount and “pulled out” the central “wave”.

The colour of the mount will change what you see first in the picture. I chose a soft green blend that isn’t in the picture but harmonises with the colours in the centre and shows them all off.

To my eyes, the picture looks unfinished with just one mount (even though the customer said that was all he wanted) and so I chose one of the “dribble” colours. I could have picked up a red, but that might have looked too prominent, so I chose to pick up a blue. This time I matched the mount colour to the “dribble” colour exactly.

I then needed to choose a frame. Soft green and blue look really good with silver and so I chose a flat silver frame that I felt was the correct width for the size of the picture.

This is an original piece of art being entered into an exhibition. Therefore I would never think of putting cardboard behind the artwork, because that will harm it over a long period of time. Instead I chose foamcore, which is an acid-free plastic backing.

Similarly, I know that the mounts I have chosen are not acid-free. Ninety-eight percent of the mounts available in South Africa are not acid-free and will harm the edge of the artwork over a long period of time (about five years). I therefore put an acid-free paper called “barrier paper” under the bottom mount next to the artwork. The mount will deteriorate over time but the artwork will not be harmed.

I always use clear glass unless specifically requested to use nonreflective (matt) glass. You get reflections with clear glass but it adds “life” to the picture.