Showing posts with label how to hang a picture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to hang a picture. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 04, 2021

Three ways to hang a picture

This is about three different ways to hang a picture - whether that's a painting, a drawing or a fine art print - and whether it's a small, medium or large artwork.

Hanging gear for hanging pictures
- photographed at Green & Stone

As I indicated in my last post during August I'm going to highlight previou posts which are useful and popular - or maybe less well known!

Today is about hanging artwork and the three posts I'm highlighting are:

I hope you find them useful.

You can also find more about How to hang a picture in the Framing section of my Art Business Info for Artists website

Monday, February 08, 2021

Framing your artwork - a summary

This is a summary of my various blog posts about framing artwork - written over the last 15 years. Much of it is perennial advice.

Today I searched my blog for a particular post I wrote about the sort of frames which artists use for contemporary artwork in London Galleries.  Which is when I realised how many posts I'd written about framing!

All about Framing Artwork - a Summary

A frame has four main purposes. It serves to:
  • support and protect the artwork
  • make it easier to hang
  • separates - and connects - the painting from its surroundings
  • enhance its presentation - and avoids our attention being distracted from the painting

However that's just the basics - there's a lot more to framing artwork! 

Below is some of what I've written about frames on this blog. Links in the title of the blog post take you that post.


"Symonds Yat - blue green and gold" by Katherine Tyrrell
coloured pencil image 12" x 16"; frame 50cm x 60cm
ivory double mat and framed in American Oak by 'b2'
- with protective film for transport


How to frame your art


Getting ready for an exhibition is always a time when I try to remember all the tips I've ever had from anybody about how artwork should be framed. I thought it might be timely to try and record some of them and this post is a summary of tips for how to mat and frame artwork.


Protecting Frames


  • Protecting your frames (2007) - passing on a tip from my framer about how to avoid damage to your frames (see also image at top)
(my framer) always cling films the framed picture so that the frame edges are covered when they are stacked. This provides good protection and helps to prevents marks being made on the frame during the stacking process. It also means I can avoid using cardboard corner protectors which (a) add to the space required and (b) results in exhibitors normally asking for them to be removed prior to stacking if space is limited!


Frames and Style


Five of the series of paintings of Poplars on the Epte by Claude Monet

One of my framers told me a long time ago that the bulk of his business came from replacing frames on artwork. The collectors liked the artwork but the frame simply didn't fit in their home - and it had to go.

 

Frames and Selling Art


SOLD ARTWORK: Types of frames relative to sale price


  • Do frames help to sell art? (2015) - this tells you what happened when I went to an annual art exhibition of a prominent art society - and started to count what sort of frame the SOLD artwork had....

Frames and Money Management


how to avoid frames eating your profit
Published in "The Artist" 2016

A frame can make or break a sale. Framing can also cost a lot and eat into your profits. However, with a bit of effort you can achieve good looking framed art while controlling costs and increasing profit.
  • Poll Results - Size Matters! () - I asked in a Making A Mark Poll what was the primary reason for the size of your artwork and 125 people responded.
Just under a third are mindful of pragmatic and financial considerations with respect to framing for exhibitions and sales.
The disinclination to spend any more than around $160 seems to be approximately the same as UK artists disinclination to spend more than £100

Framing and Art Competitions


Frames stacked on the Receiving Day
for the Open Annual Exhibition of an Art Society

Don't be parochial - and don't make personal preferences the deciding factor in framing choices. You are NOT framing for your home - you're framing for an exhibition and (presumably) to sell.
Make sure you can get your work framed correctly. Book your framer well in advance. Do not assume that they can turn around your frames in the time you've allowed. Remember that framers do have holidays! I'll never forget the August that I couldn't find a framer who could dMore about Framingo my framing in time for exhibition deadlines!

 

Framers


the studio of an 18th century German framework gilder

Hanging Picture Frames



More about Framing Art


You can find out more about Framing on my Art Business Info for Artists website.

The section on Frame Art includes
  • How to frame art
  • General tips about framers
  • General tips and frames
  • What sort of frame design / moulding / wood? - Different styles and types of frames
  • Framing for open exhibitions and art competitions (summary) - also see dedicated page
  • Framing for gallery exhibitions
  • Framing for commissions (summary)
  • ​Protecting your frames
  • How to store finished artwork

Sunday, January 03, 2021

Making A Mark: the 20 most popular blog posts for artists (Part 2 2006-2019)

This is a list of Making A Mark blog posts from previous years (2006-2019) - unrelated to art on television - which have proved to be perennially popular - and were the most popular in 2020

It follows on from yesterday's post Making A Mark - the 20 most popular blog posts for artists in 2020 (Part 1) - which highlighted how art on television - rather than in exhibitions - became very popular in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Summary

As last year five of the ten are "how to" posts - although interestingly not the same five as last year! If you write a good "how to" post on your blog about perennial topics it can be of value and generate traffic for very many years - but popularity and relevance can come and go.

I'm also noting which are NEW ENTRIES and which have moved up or down compared to last year's post Making A Mark - the 20 most popular blog posts in 2019. The Pandemic has had an obvious impact on some.

Please note that I've excluded all television posts from previous years as they get their moment in the limelight in the most popular posts in a year - see yesterday's post Making A Mark - the 20 most popular blog posts for artists in 2020 (Part 1)

#1. Favourite quotes about drawing and sketching

The mobile version of Favourite quotes about drawing and sketching (2013) was the most popular post in 2020 - by some considerable distance.
Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worth while, and it will do you a world of good.
Cennino Cennini
L'Écho, study for Une Baignade, Asnières (Bathing Place, Asnières) by Georges Seurat
Conté crayon on Michallet paper. 31.2 × 24 cm

Last year it was #2 - and was outranked by my somewhat encyclopedic annual guide to the BP Portrait Award in 2018. 

Last year I said I kept meaning to do an update to this post and this year it's definitely going on my 'to do' list.

#2 How to hang a large or heavy picture - using heavy duty hanging hardware

How to hang a large or heavy picture - using heavy duty hanging hardware (2015) has moved up one place as the BP slipped out of the rankings

I can only think nobody else has written a decent post about this topic. It's certainly the case that is something you don't want to get this wrong - which is why this post beats the next one on traffic! Includes pics of kit you need and helpful videos!

However this might also reflect activities associated with Covid-19 lockdowns (see the next post!)

#3. How to hang a picture - using D rings

How to hang a picture - using D Rings (2015). This post is particularly relevant for smaller paintings and drawings.

PLUS:
  • I've now also got a page about How to hang a picture on my Art Business Info for Artists website
  • I also wrote a summary blog post about How to hang a picture back in April 2020 when it suddenly struck me that lockdown is when everybody decides to 
    • redecorate 
    • and/or completely rehang their art collection 
    • and/or finally get round to hanging those paintings they've bought which have never quite made it on to the wall. (I know that's one of the things I did!
Hanging hardware


#4. Creating a signature on your art

Creating a signature on your art (2009) - moved up five places this year.

This is one of those perennial issues which comes up time and time again concerns the best way to sign your art. 

This is of course quite different to another type of signature - Signature membership which I also wrote about in 2009.

#5. Who knew Giles from Gogglebox was an artist?

Who knew Giles from Gogglebox was an artist? (2018) is a NEW ENTRY in the top ranked older posts

It just goes to show that art and television seems to be a very popular connection. (Television posts are banned from this post - but this one is allowed in because Giles does not do art on television!)

#6. Artists and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)

Artists and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) (2016) is another climber - up four places from #10 last year.

Again this is one of those perennial topics which is often searched for but rarely produces a decent response. I think this one still comes top on Google.

#7. How to create a 'search description' for your Blogger post

How to create a 'search description' for your Blogger post (2009) - This is a NEW ENTRY and one which I suspect has cropped up due to the change from Legacy/Classic Blogger to New Blogger. 

#8. What kind of art do people like to buy online?

What kind of art do people like to buy online? (2016) is another NEW ENTRY.  This post covers:
  • the similarities and differences between the type of art that British and American people buy online
  • how this compares to the type of art that people like to paint.

Based on sales data in 1 January - 31 December 2015 (Source: Artfinder)


I suspect this post has popped up because of the unique nature of 2020 - when an awful lot of art exhibitions and art fairs did not take place. Hence more and more artists have turned to trying to sell their art online.

I think maybe it's now time to revisit this post - maybe via a poll or survey to see whether anything has changed in the Covid-19 era.

In the meantime - for all those interested in this topic - please take a look at the big section about How to Sell Your Art on Art Business for Artists

#9. How to sign an art print


How to sign an art print (2011) has dropped four place since last year. However it's a detail that matters - and for some reason there's not many "how to" articles!

#10. How to do a reverse image search


How to do a reverse image search
(2011) is another blog post about a perennially popular search query - which has also dropped four places. 

You can find the updated version here - How to do a reverse image search in the Copyright section of my Art Business Info for Artists website.

Addendum


One of the things I tried to do when I started this blog was to write about things which I thought artists needed or wanted to know about - but which weren't covered terribly well online. 

That's still the case - and if you ever get a query where you cannot find a satisfactory answer, do please let me know and I'll see if I can come up with one! Although I try to avoid practical matters I've no experience of!

Friday, April 10, 2020

How to hang a picture

In the current context rehanging your art collection is one off those jobs you give yourself after you've cleaned out and reoganised all your kitchen cupboards and wardrobes  and rearranged all your books on the shelves.

Here's a page about "How to hang a picture" which you might find very useful.
This page covers:
  • TIPS on how to hang paintings, drawings, fine art prints and photographs
  • Basic kit for hanging pictures
  • How to hang art in a frame on a wall - including tips for using specific frame hanging fixture kits
  • Specific hanging tackle: D rings, picture wire, picture cordand stud finder!
  • How to hang a heavy picture on a wall
  • How to hang and align pictures.

Hanging gear laid out in a frame at Green & Stone, Chelsea

The page also brings together on one page all my previous writing about how to hang art.

More posts about framing