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Hey Jim! These Romans sure have this
hanging thing down to an Art.
Hanging a painting is more than just having the space. Most people consider the space where a painting will go but few think about the long term. How much do you like that painting?
Is it something that fits into your life style or is it just about owning an original?
What's your main criteria for owning art?
How does art affect the rooms mood?
I sold a painting to a couple that painted the interior of their house “sidewalk gray”. They explained to me they had diverse tastes in art and were collectors.
They owned paintings, lithographs, sculpture, ceramics and glass.
The idea was to create unique environments within their living space that would enhance everyday moods.
It became clear as I talked to them that they had set aside specific amounts of money to buy art. They purchased based on their emotional response not what was trendy or fit their decor.
These people didn't see art as an accessory but an integral part of their living environment. They would change the art from time to time mixing and matching to create a new environment or suit their mood. Some rooms had many paintings and others had only one.
They truly had a passion for art and their sole purpose was to enjoy it.
Psychological effects of colour
There have been thousands of studies that have arrived at some general conclusions concerning the effects of colour on people.
The colour blue for example is very calming and relaxing and is related to the ocean or a warm summers day.
Green represents life, renewal , and spring.
Red is a hot colour that will generate activity maybe even aggression.
Yellow is a passive colour and is used to lighten the palette.
As you begin to move through colour and their effects all you have to remember are the 3 primary colours, Red, Yellow, and Blue.
The colour chart is broken down into groups like Red yellows, yellow reds ( both orange) yellow green, blue green, the list is literally endless.
Essentially if you have more yellow than red in orange the more subdued that colour.
If you know the primary colours and how they can be combined to make other colours than you can play with how they make you feel.
Here’s a project! Go to a dollar store and buy a cheap
 water colour set, some paper and a couple cheap brushes, go home and start mixing. You’ll have some fun and learn something about colour theory, that’s how I learned.Brighten up or sophisticate a space.
I won’t start beating colour theory to death, quite frankly it’s boring stuff anyway.
The one thing to remember when hanging work is how it makes the room feel. We’ve already dealt with the mood so lets take a look at the physical space.
Do you want an open concept, closed concept, sophisticated or modern.
For all intents and purposes I’ll stick with these general concepts.
  Open Concept: You may want paintings with large fields of colour or washes. Water colours with large sweeping strokes of colour playing off combinations of blue, green and yellow.
 Closed Concept: Still life or nudes in dark close settings with lots of shadows and extreme dark and light areas.
 Sophisticated: Architecture or abstract forms with lots of detail or inferred detail.
 Modern: Hard edge shapes with brilliant colour or minimalist patterns like stripes. Pop Art, Op Art.
A featured Wall
Hanging a painting on a specially painted wall with lighting specifically for that painting can transform your living space into a spectacle of richness and sophistication.
Hanging more than one painting
Sometimes several smaller paintings can be used to emphasize a space while creating a congruent collection of original pieces.
Mixing and matching styles of art can be an interesting way of exhibiting paintings and sculpture that you are particularly proud of.
Should you mix prints with originals
I am an advocate of original art so I probably wouldn’t hang prints and originals together unless the prints were etchings or mono prints. I would hang poster works in a bar area or room by themselves. There are some amazing mechanically reproduced prints/posters available that can be allot of fun for a rec. room.
Details on market prints/ posters/ photographic reproductions etc… will be the focus of a future blog.
Should your original be framed
My initial response is ask the artist, If the painting doesn’t come framed and has the edges painted, I would say the artist intended no frame.
When it comes to framing there are many schools of thought from presentation to sophistication.
When framing a contemporary piece of art keep in mind you want people to focus on the painting not on the frame.
I have seen amazing works of art ruined or over-powered by wide or elaborate frames. To frame a piece of art can be more expensive than what you paid for a painting.
Lighting
My favorite thing is good lighting and can give paintings, prints, sculpture, ceramics and even glass a gallery quality look.
When you enter my studio the vivid colour of each painting is what impacts most people. I have purposely set the lighting to enhance certain qualities of specific paintings. My painting area is so well lit that no shadows fall across my paintings even as I work on them.
I would highly recommend experimenting with how you light art.
Here are some things to remember
Try more than one place when hanging a painting
When you hang a painting the centre should be the same level as your eye.
What is the mood of the room you want to create?
Lighting can make or break a great piece of art
There will be a followup article on the actual process of hanging a painting in April/2010
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