Tony van Hasselt: Creative Realism In Watercolor (DVD)

FRAMES & TEXTURES

MOST of the ART 

on my website are framed pieces.  The watercolor paintings and all drawings all have professional mats.  The ones in this group having frames contain glass. 

All the Oil and Acrylic paintings that have frames do not have glass.  Those painted on wraparound canvas do not require a frame.   Other  materials I paint on range from stretched canvas to gessoed hardboard in 1/8" to 1/4" depth.   Quite a few of these I textured specifically for the subject or left smooth for thin glazes.
One way of using texture is to trowel on thick gesso or modeling paste right over your rough sketch.  There are many sizes & shapes of palette knives available for this.  Once dry it can be painted, emphasizing the relief efforts for an impasto look.

A frame much like the final brushstroke of the artwork can make it or break it.  Paintings that had a lousy cheap frame on looked so much better once I got them reframed by a professional.  Much can be said about the choice of colors, depth and width that finish off artwork that you have labored over.