Box Canvases

I don't use box canvases Ruth, I prefer the standard thickness, but the thought of painting the edges of either is just ghastly in my opinion, and would give the work the appearance of being a Giclee print. I may be wrong but I don't know of any well known painters, ie. Ken Howard, Hockney etc who would go along with that either, so for me it's a big fat NO...

It's been brought up before indeed..... I don't use them for any but very small works, and that's just because I can stand 'em up easily - the size would be no more than 7" by 5"; normally I don't paint that small (can't see well enough!) but I've done a few which worked, I felt; and people will buy them who are too short of space for anything bigger. But I just loathe painting the sides, I really do .... I've seen a lot done like that, and I'm afraid it just makes me think of cheap touristy tat (of which we already have far too much where I come from) - there was an article somewhere or other, not I think in one of ours (The Artist, and Leisure Painter) extolling the virtues of these things, and one sentence - "And the best thing is, you don't have to frame them!" - just stuck in my throat and had me reaching stealthily for a blunt instrument. Words like twee, naff, and some stronger ones, came into my head. Think about it a minute though, more seriously - you paint a picture for any number of reasons, to encapsulate a scene perhaps, to say something about it. What does it say if one takes the blessed thing over the edge of the canvas? That one wants to be neat and tidy? What's that got to do with painting? If you use a box canvas and paint a monochrome strip on the sides to avoid the stark white standing out, or to disguise the fact that you've got a few marks on it, OK, I suppose. But then, why a box canvas in the first place? They'd be robust, I suppose - there is that. But I'd still like to put a proper frame round them, hard though that might be (deep rebate required) .

I often paint the edges of box canvases black. In acrylic. Before I add the oil paint. I make sure the black goes round the corners so I don't have to worry about spreading the paint right to the edge with the knife.

we know old frames had a recess that the canvas fitted into ,and lay flat against the wall ..lately I have bought box canvases of e bay,,at a reasonable price .if you buy five a time ,,,,,make your own frames out of two inch border rail ,, It seem white matt finish is a fashionable thing for colour. ,for interest ,,has anyone used aluminium frames .or plastic ,? whats the difference in prices .