Decorating mode - showing scale

Monday: One of the nice things about our Virginia cave, it has good walls to display art on. Our last cave had more windows than walls.....67 if I remember right. I've never been one to hang my own work, but if I did, this cave would work well....even for some larger scale works.

I often clatter on about the "best walls" and about preferring to paint for those than any other. Generally, size is important when it comes to those walls. Art also needs to be good neighbors with it's surroundings. If it's a home it also needs not be offensive or violent in nature. That probably goes for most commercial installations too. I prefer more often that not, a mixture of new and old when it comes to art. I do like abstraction or strong design statements in art.... even in the most traditional setting they work well together. And, art must, especially if you want a comfortable, livable, environment, be cohesive with our lifestyle choices.

In any event, in today's world we have choices as close to us as our phones or computers. Of course a little "plastic" also makes it a painless experience to acquire anything our little hearts desire.....and without any travel or outside interference. Our whims are then delivered and if savvy shipped free and perhaps free of any sales tax too. And, of course the art world is now in it big.

Obviously all this is affecting artisans... especially how we market our work and more importantly how we'll do it in the future. As an artist we just have to visually get the message across. Most art websites do a wonderful job, but, a single image of our little creation won't tell the whole story. Thumbnails don't reveal scale. We also need reference points; how it might fit our buyers needs. Lately I've been using my website as a guinea  pig. Up till now, I used gallery settings in conjunction with my paintings images and it clearly shows scale. But, it's not "real"... it's a controlled commercial environment and not representative of the end user.

In the past we regularly received Sears and Penny "Wish Books", now it's RH (Restoration Hardware) and it's wonderful room set-ups to show us how to use their product in a collected style....our reference point to do our own thing. It seems logical this would also work for art and artists too. Cool idea but perhaps beyond our limitations because it would require some sort of staging as in the Hallsley model - perhaps a pro to set it up and take digital shots...... or maybe we could accomplish this at some level in our homes or studio.

In my last post I have a painting on one of those "best walls" at the Hallsley home.

THE PAINTING

932 Blue Skies 62x48 oil on linen gallery wrap

The painting's image has no sense of scale until the setting is exposed. I wonder if this simple presentation on the internet is not more compelling to a buyer than a bricks and mortar presentation.

THE ROOM

 

Hallsley- dining room

I'm not sure how this can be accomplished by the rank and file, but I think it's a worthy project to explore a bit further. The room above shows my intention as an artist very clearly and how I expected the painting to be used in the first place.

This painting was also part of my "AIR" collection and briefly at my Crossroads gallery. The paintings surroundings are clean and well lighted. My gallery's most important function as an artist to me is seeing it on a wall in controlled surroundings. This could also be accomplished in a studio or a home. 

Single wall presentation

Both paintings were actually used at Hallsley. The photo gives a good sense of scale.  This is a big painting at 60x82 (overall with frame) and comes across big in real life.

However when placed in a setting it could have been bigger and very deceiving with regard to scale in this photo.

A bit better but still looks small.

Better if it were raised 6" to 8" 

These are all good examples of scale and settings or no settings and how it looks on our screens to a potential client. BTW this is not a particularly large room and that's a 5 foot x 7 foot painting. As a designer I'm also not concerned lamps are intersecting the painting and neither is the table width bothersome. Art becomes monolithic with the setting and part of the family life.

The abstract 8x5 canvas by Curtis Strange is intersecting with a 7 foot grand. A very effective  way of unifying two major statement pieces. 

 

One simple vertical painting is perhaps the important finishing touch and helps set the pace for this room. In my mind this is how art is intended to be used. I call these "best walls", the only walls I care to paint for because I care where my work ends up and how it's presented. The "quicksand", we only control it's creation not the end use. However we can show how it might work and perhaps our website or blogs is the place to do it.