Framing and matting

[Queen K]

Just yesterday I responded to an ad on facebook from a woman claiming to have and I do quote, "an original watercolour" by a well known artist. Price started at $90, went down to $55. I got it for $35 because guess what? It has numbers on the bottom such as 156/250, which means it is a print. She's totally busted. Dont' have people who have collected art for years and years come over and try to fool them. Don't be stupid.

She said, "I paid a lot of money to mat and frame this." Which also means she knew it was a print at the time, unless she is the stupidest person alive. So she deliberately tried to fool people in her facebook ad, but worse, the mat she chose is pink, and behind ugly. Which gets me to why I bought it. The artist is rarely seen up for sale, not even in prints. This particular work is a woman with 12 beautifully done birds, some birds are so delicately done and faint you may miss them. So I got her down to $35.00 with an idea. Matting is expensive, no? Especially on a large work.

Has anyone done or heard of using an artist's paint to recolour a mat? I love the underlying mat colour,it's navy blue. Love the frame. The pink however is....ummmm WOW. And it's a big mat with delicate lace work done to show the navy blue.

My idea is to paint the mat. Advice?

[Piecemaker]

Can't hurt. Worse case is you will need to purchase one mat for the print, if you want to keep the rest of the framing.
I haven't googled it, but there is probably someone who has painted a mat and made a video about it. A couple of light coats of spray paint would be my first go to. If you need a specific colour, check the automotive paints at Canadian Tire. Lots of variety.
Plan B: Another thing to consider is how much it would cost to just replace the one mat. If may be less expensive to do that then buy paint and tinker around.
Plan C: Flip the mat over if the colour of the back side of the mat is a hue that would look better than pink.

[Queen K]

Thanks Piecemaker, I finally got to read this and will look at spray paints. I have never worked with paint in any more creative way than to paint walls. So spray paint is definitely an option. I even thought to find a test mat, something I can easily get at some thrift store. Find a light coloured one to make it equal.

To be sure I will not be giving up easily. Mats are expensive thought, paint might prove to be the answer.

[normaM]

buy new matting, you already have the frame. The spray paint might migrate onto the print ( spray paints tend to not quite dry)

[stuphoto]

If you insist on painting it, spray Primer does dry better than the paint like Norma said.
However I agree with her, just replacing the matt would be better.
Then you know it is acid free, which is of course what often ruins the artwork.

I like the service at Roberts Frames, and their prices always seem fair to me.
However Opus is probably a more convenient location for you.

[Queen K]

I haven't done anything with it yet. Accepting lots of work lately.

I have thought to go to Opus and ask what they have in paints, not spray paints though.

[stuphoto]

You are creative Queen,
There are enough art grade paints there to choose from so that should work nicely.
Plus why not use your imagination and paint the matt to suit the imagine.

I honestly hate matts just because they often attract our attention more than the image its self. It sounds like your print was a perfect example of that.
However I could almost picture a custom matt working together to draw the eyes into the image.

[pbear]

Don’t limit yourself to thinking just about paints. There are many vellum papers that you could add on top to change the pink colour. Also fabrics......
I love walking through Opus just to imagine.