You’ve decided you’d like to have some artwork for your home but you don’t know where to start. This article may answer some of those nagging questions.

WALL SPACE & SIZE OF ARTWORK

Before you buy some art It makes sense to think where it will look best. Artwork is usually the main feature in a room to draw people’s attention, so it needs to be in a place where it will be noticed. This may sound obvious but some people buy art to fill a space on a wall which can give the impression of cramming it into a gap.
A piece of artwork needs to suit it’s surroundings so space around the piece needs to be considered.

FRAME

Unless the artwork is designed to be frameless, consideration needs to be given to the style & colour of the frame. Frames do exactly as their name suggests, they frame the work providing a border between the picture and it’s surroundings. You could say the frame is the threshold between fantasy & reality. Most modern pieces of art suit a simple contemporary frame with a neutral colour. My paintings are all framed like this. See my website for examples. Of course there are more elaborate frames which suit  traditional style art but most modern artists supply a frame appropriate to their work.

MEDIUM

Oil, acrylic, watercolour, graphite, charcoal? These are some of the main mediums used to produce a painting. Oil and acrylic don’t require protection by glass but take into account any reflection from light sources if you’re thinking of buying a glass protected artwork. There’s nothing worse than hanging your artwork & finding that the picture is obliterated by the glare of lighting. Non reflective glass is an option but some people find this type of glass a visible film between the viewer and the art.

CONTACT WITH THE ARTIST

This is very important to a lot of people as I’ve discovered from selling my work at exhibitions. People love to ask questions about the work. What inspired you to paint it? What area is it based on? Did you listen to music while you painted it? These are a few questions I’ve been asked about some of my work. If you have direct contact with the artist during the buying process, the artwork has more meaning than just an object bought from a gallery. This is one reason I’ve chosen to sell directly to the public rather than through any particular gallery.

There may be other things to take into consideration before you buy that haven’t been discussed here. If you need advice on any of my artwork please get in touch using one of the options on my contact page.

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