I love collecting paintings of upcoming artists and have got eight canvases in the past couple of years. What is the most effective way to display them? Can you also suggest some guidelines for correct framing?

Seema

Paintings should follow wall grammar. Our walls are mostly rectangular, and hence the pattern followed should match the wall. The overall composition should not be aligned next to any corner, but have sufficient margin left on all sides. The painting composition should have equal space left on either side of it. The rectangular wall generally dictates that paintings be put in landscape format as this reflects the wall formation. The overall composition should look like a rectangle or a square. The paintings should be placed at least three feet, and up to six feet, from the floor.

Proximity of viewing the paintings is important to decide what size painting to hang. Large paintings can only be appreciated where there is sufficient distance between the wall it is hanging on and the viewer. Hence, for smaller width areas, a composition of small paintings should be done.

Choosing an ideal frame is essential. For small paintings you should go for larger-bordered but thin frames. This would accentuate it while ensuring it does not lose its identity in the overall composition.

Paintings with similar frames can be placed close to one another, but paintings with dissimilar frames — in colour, texture or pattern — should be placed at a safe distance so that they do not compete for attention.

Lighting for paintings is critical. For paintings which have a glass protective surface, overhead spotlights are not recommended as they create a glare. For these, diffused indirect illumination is ideal. For paintings with canvas surface, movable spotlights can be used overhead.

I got my room painted recently but within two months small irregularities, like damp marks, have appeared . My room looks terrible. What can I do to fix it and prevent further damage?

Ramesh

First, identify the source of the leak and cause of dampness because unless you fix that the problem will keep recurring. It could be due to a crack on the external wall plaster, which would require re-plastering of the exterior wall.

To protect against dampness, the walls need to be stripped of their paint and plaster and the brickwork joints need to be raked. Grooves in the brickwork then need to be filled. Thereafter, apply Sika (waterproofing chemical) Latex power in proportion of 1:4:6 (chemical:water:cement). This should be applied in three coats with a brush. The first two coats have to be left to dry after each application. Immediately after the third coat, plastering should be done and then the normal procedure of paint finish should be carried out. Another tip would be to apply a textured paint finish to your wall as small irregularities would get camouflaged with the texture.

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