Ever since the new millennium began, the idea of bringing the highest and newest styles of fashion and art to every aspect of material life – even at the most basic of levels – has been an important part of modern existence.

From Ralph Lauren custom car interiors and dog houses to Prada cat collars and cell phone jackets, it seems no product or domicile is too small to be trendy, or hip these days.

Lately, the move toward a “cooler” lifestyle has even found its way into the workplace. In fact, having the trendiest minimalist furniture or the most “sheik” glass coffee table (with all the best and latest hipster publications on it, of course) often makes a difference in whether a prospective client will agree to a contract with a company, or firm.

But good visuals have always been known to attract attention – as the classic sayings go, “dress for success” and “first impressions are everything,” and, of course, “a picture paints a thousand words.”

So it comes as no surprise that even pictures are starting to become an important part of office culture development. As businesses around the world begin to revamp their spaces to stay up-to-speed with the culturally trained modern eye, even the walls are getting some major attention – better art means better business, better business means more money. (more…)

‘Tis the Season friends! While the world around us seems to go into a deep sleep, our homes remain jubilant and warm with celebrations of many kinds. As the streets become less occupied in these chilly months, our dwellings do the opposite. Keep your loved ones and guests entertained with a fabulous winter décor. (more…)

Many Peopla have been asking me about Gallery Wrap and if it’s right for their decor or style.

A gallery-wrap is a technique of stretching and mounting a canvas over thick wooden bars creating a sense of depth in the painting. The Gallery Wrap doesn’t have any visible staples or nails holding the canvas to the wooden stretcher.

There are two options with Gallery Wrap:

1. Continuous Wrap – The painting is literally wrapped over the edges of the thick wooden bars creating a sense of depth to the painting, even though many dislike this technique because the painting looses about two inches off the side so a 20×24 inches painting will become 16×20, I recommend wrapping larger artworks to enjoy the full affect of the wrap.
2. Border Color – The edges can be painted with another color, either a color that continues the edges of the painting itself, or a standard color to give the painting a sense of border.

In any case, the painting is hung unframed. So, bring a little bit of gallery flair into your home with a Gallery Wrap, the latest contemporary presentation trend. With Gallery Wrap, the oil painting extends around the sides of the canvas, which is precision-folded and attached to the back—not the sides—of the stretcher frame. And your Gallery Wrap canvas painting will look equally amazing as a stand-alone work of art without an exuberantt frame.
Gallery Wrap is my personal favorite, try it out today with a handmade oil painting from OverstockArt.com

Considered the greatest Mexican artist of the twentieth century, Diego Rivera was a Cubist Painter and Muralist. His radical political views and tempestuous romance with the painter Frieda Kahlo were then, and remain today, a source of public intrigue. In a series of visits to America, from 1930 to 1940, Rivera brought his unique vision to public spaces and galleries, enlightening and inspiring fellow artists and the community.

Diego Rivera was born in Mexico in 1886. He studied painting from an early age and in 1907 moved to Paris. When in Paris, Rivera encountered the works of great masters such as Cézanne, Gauguin and Matisse. Rivera was intrigued by Cubism and Picasso’s works, but he was looking for a new form of painting, one that could express the intricacies of his time and still reach a wide audience.

It was not until he began to study the frescoes of the Renaissance that he found his inspiration. With this influence and ability of expression in public art that Rivera returned to the Americas.

Using frescoes, which are Murals done on plaster, Rivera was able to insert his work and political views into everyday lives of the people. Rivera concerned himself primarily with the progress of human development. For Rivera, the size and public display of the murals, was the perfect canvas on which to address the fundamental social revolutions that were going on in the twenties and thirties. A devoted Marxist, Rivera saw in this medium the perfect complement to the elitist galleries and collections.

Throughout the twenties his fame grew with a number of large murals depicting scenes from Mexican history. His work appealed to the people’s interest in the name of progress and political beliefs.

Rivera is perhaps best known for painting a vast mural in 1933 featuring the early communist leaders with the Founding Fathers of the United States in the lobby of the Rockefeller Building in New York. That work was destroyed before it could be completed on location.

Rivera remained a central force in the development of national art in Mexico throughout his life. In 1957, at the age of seventy, Rivera died in Mexico City.

Perhaps one of his greatest legacies, however, was his impact on America’s conception of public art. Both his original painting style and the force of his ideas remain major influences on American painting.

Paul Cézanne is a painter mostly associated with serene landscapes, but what is the reason? What is the underlying story of this amazing turn of the 20^th century artist?

Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones, wrote an amazing article on the painting of Lake Annecy as an analogy to true face of Paul Cezanne.

This peacful landscape, done in the French Alps, “tells us everything we need to know about the artist” according to, Guardian art critic, Jonathan Jones. “You see it not just in a work like Le Lac d’Annecy, but every time he paints an apple. He loves the geometry of the apple – the sphere found in nature – but instead of coldly drawing it with a compass, his eye lovingly follows its contours, and his imagination passionately reconstructs the roundness and fullness of the fruit’s form.”

There are anecdotal remarks in this story, which paint a very interesting picture to that period in time. Cézanne was adopting a style quite at odds with his personality. As if Cezanne, by trying to become constructive, created Modernist Art. He almost seems incidental to his greatness. Read Jones’s article “Murder, Lust, and Landscapes”…

If you’re in London between 4 October 2006 and 7 January 2007, drop by the National Gallery to see the painting in the exhibition Cézanne in Britain (admission is free).

Many people wonder about the process of framing a handmade oil painting on canvas, so I decided to give a couple of pointers to help explain the process and may be you can use this information to frame an oil painting on your own.

1. The painting that is done on canvas needs to be stretched over stretcher bars. The canvas is mounted on the bars by stapling the edges of the art to the back side of the stretcher bars. First, staple one side and then, while giving it good tug, staple the other side. This process might sound difficult but all you need is a staple gun and a clamp to get really nice results. The tricky parts are the edges where you have to create a fold. This will become easier for you with experience. If the canvas stretching is done right, you should get a firm canvas that has no waves or flab.
2. If you have a ready-made frame which is the right size for your stretched painting, all is left now is to slip the painting from the back. Then use clips to secure the stretched painting into the frame. There are the L-frames which allow for the painting to be mounted in front of the frame and then screw the painting into the frame.
3. Add all the necessary hanging hardware which includes two wide screws and a nice wire that is wrapped around them.

Judging a good framing job is first and foremost to see how the canvas is stretched. You can immediately notice a stretched painting that has not been stretched properly. Flabby canvas, not strong enough wooden stretcher bars, corners folded crooked, these are all signs of bad framing.

A lot of people ask me about gallery wrap. That’s a good question, because gallery wrap is very popular these days. A gallery wrap is basically stretching the oil painting over very thick stretcher bars, without adding a frame. This makes the painting jump out at you. With a gallery wrap, you do loose about two inches off the actual painting, so if you have an oil painting that is 30×40 inches, after it has been gallery wrapped, you are left with a 28×38 inch oil painting. Another possibility is for the framing company to paint the edges of the canvas that was not painted on in the sides, that way you will loose less of the painting and the sides will look very appealing. Both will create a very unique peace of wall décor.

OverstockArt.com has an online frame shop where you can buy a handmade oil painting and try it out with many different frames. What’s nice about there tool is that you can place the framed painting on your own wall color and that way get a better idea of what would look best in your home. They also have the gallery wrap option. It is a very convenient way to see the painting framed and on your wall without having to buy it first!

Hope this helps anyone thinking of framing an oil painting, if you frame by yourself share your experiences.