Enjoy Your Own Art! Creating a Home Gallery

Do you have finished artwork hiding in drawers, on shelves or other unseen places because you haven't had the time to figure out how to display it?

I do! Like many part-time artists, I don't have a formal studio, but rather a nice little corner in our living room where I have piles of sketch pads, works-in-progress, and finished pieces carefully stacked on my bookshelf to keep them up out of the hands of my curious young children. This means that I tend to forget about pieces or tuck them away in a portfolio until "later". 

Well, I finally decided that later was now, and I wanted to see what I could do to get some of this art up on the walls here at home! I feel sort of silly when family and friends come over and I have to dig through my piles to find anything to show them. :)

So, I started thinking about what I needed to put some of my pieces and came up with a couple of basic points. I wanted:

• A simple, neutral color for frames - this creates a unified display and puts the focus on the art.
• Frames that included mats, glass (or plexiglass) and were ready-to-hang.

Recently, while out and about for the morning, I decided to stop by Michael's to browse around. Not one to be very vigilant with coupons or sales, I was happily surprised to wander in while they were having a 40% off frames sale. Yeah! 

I was able to find some very nice, affordable black metal frames that have a great double mat inside. I really like double matting as I think it tends to showcase the art nicely, especially the botanical illustrations that I have been doing lately. 

I chose to go with the double white mat (rather than double black) and found several different sizes to fit pieces I knew that I wanted to frame. I bought just two on my first visit and then went back later in the week to get three more when I saw how nicely they worked.

The frame backing is just like any photo frame with the little metal tabs that slide under the grooved edge.

 

The framing process took just a few minutes for each piece of art. I had a little trimming to do to make sure the art fit into the mat/frame. I did not even tape the artwork down, though you could use framer's tape to make sure it stays in place. Once that was done, I just replaced the backing and voila! Beautiful, framed, finished art, ready to put on my wall. 

(having a bit of trouble with the blog orienting this picture vertically, instead of horizontally, but you get the idea...)

Now what? Well, fortunately, we have a great open floor plan and lots of wall space. I chose to hang the whole lot on our staircase wall. It can be seen well from both the main and upper levels of the house.

It's amazing how nice it feels to have my own art hanging on the wall! 

And the finished pieces look so nice showcased in the white mats and black frames. You may notice that I have an oddball black mat in the middle. That particular drawing was a little too big for the mat in the new frame, so I repurposed an old one for the time being until I can get one that matches the rest.


Though these are not sealed-up-custom-framed to be preserved for all eternity, they look pretty darned nice, if I do say so myself. So, don't let your beautiful work languish in a drawer or in a folder somewhere on your desk! Pick up a frame or two here and there when you come across a good sale and in no time at all you can have your very own art show to enjoy at home.