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Share the joy of art with e-cards! May 16, 2008
Now you can Decorate Your Life™ and the lives of others by sending e-cards of your favorite items on ArtRev.com! An E-Card is similar to a regular postcard or greeting card, with the primary difference being it is digitally created and sent via email!
Sending an E-Card is very simple and you do not have to lick a stamp! Browse the ArtRev.com collection, click on the image that you would like to send as an E-Card, click on “Send E-Card” button below the large product image, add a message to personalize, and send! You will find something for every occasion!
Fun and quirky images to bring a smile… just because you can! View recommended images by Paula McArdle, Berit Kruger Johnson and Sarah Jane Szikora.
Say “I love you” to that special someone in your life with a romantic image by Benfield, Pino, Hofmann and Treby… perfect for anniversaries, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, or just to say that you’re thinking of them!
Share a little sunshine with sweeping landscapes and colorful vistas by Duaiv and Park to celebrate Earth Day, Arbor Day and the onset of summer!
Say if with flowers… every day of the year! Brighten someone’s day with a bunch of flowers created lovingly by Avi Ben Simhon, Bracha Guy and Cecilia Garcia Amaro… just in time for Mother’s Day!
Every day is Mother’s Day when you send mom a Lucelle Raad E-Card… just to say thanks or I miss your cooking!
Don’t forget to celebrate Father’s day and those important sports events and achievements… and who better to say it than one of the world’s sporting legends…
And to welcome a new baby into the world, ArtRev.com has a wonderful selection of animation works by Disney and Warner Brothers!
Have fun and share the joy of art!
Artwork Lighting Do’s and Don’ts May 16, 2008
Effective lighting can make or break the visual impact of your wall art and is crucial to art preservation and longevity.
What is art lighting?
For many artists, art and light go hand in hand. For instance, Rembrandt is considered the greatest master of Chiaroscuro (the contrast of light and dark) in history and his works are renowned for their luminosity.
Claude Monet, too, was a great master of light and famously spent hours in his garden in Giverny studying the play of light and painting his water lily pond in various stages of illumination.
Claude Monet, Nympheas a Giverny (1908)
While works by these masters look pretty good in any light, there are certain rules to adhere to in order to properly enhance and preserve your masterpiece. When lighting fine art, your choices are critical as even a slight difference in direction or type of light (fluorescent, incandescent, halogen, natural) can make all the difference.
What type of light should I use to light my artwork?
• Natural light (sunlight) – Many people believe that sunlight is the best type of light for art – it makes sense since art looks best in natural light. But while the art looks great, some art will deteriorate in this light. Natural light is hard to control in general terms. It causes a big problem for art as the infrared and ultraviolet (UV) rays of natural sunlight are so harmful that they can, over time, fade works of art. Works on paper, especially pastels, prints, photographs, and watercolors, are most susceptible.
• Fluorescent – Not recommended for art in most cases. Museums and galleries don’t use fluorescent bulbs as a common practice because they give off a high amount of UV rays which are harmful. In addition, fluorescent lights do not emit light across the entire spectrum of colors.
• Incandescent – Incandescent lights bring out the warm colors within the color spectrum such as the red, brown, orange, and yellow tones, but the blues, greens, and violets within your works of art will be flattened out. In short, these lights are better than natural or fluorescent lights, but are not the entire solution to your lighting problem.
• Halogen – The use of a halogen light at low wattage may prove best for most works of art. Although museum professionals have not "blessed" the halogen light because of the strong white light that it emits, halogens are among the best lighting solutions when installed properly. A low watt halogen-based bulb has been recently introduced which redirects damaging UV and infrared rays of light.
Some Do’s and Don’ts
- DO rotate your artwork regularly. This will reduce the amount of light exposure during the works lifetime and will reduce the risk of fading.
- DO invest in top-of-the line picture lighting. Museum-quality picture lights provide a generous, evenly distributed glow that will beautifully enhance your artwork – without the risk of fading.
- DO shop around for the right lights for your décor. Choose between the clean, finished look of cordless picture lights, dimmable picture lights that you can adjust, or the ease of picture lights with remote controls.
- DO use halogen art lights to display your artwork – making sure that they conform to museum standards for UV output.
- DO angle your picture lights at a 30 degree angle to avoid a glare and to lend the most appealing effect.
- DON’T hang your artwork in direct sunlight or near windows. The sun’s infrared and ultraviolet (UV) rays are so powerful they can fade works over time.
- DON’T hang your art under fluorescent lighting. Apart from being unflattering, fluorescent lights emit extremely high levels of ultraviolet rays that can cause fading and overall deterioration of your artwork over time.
- DON’T hang your artwork beneath or across from a spotlight. Even ordinary incandescent light bulbs, such as an un-shaded 100-watt lamp, can cause fading and dulling over time if placed less than 10 feet from a work of art.
The bottom line? Professional, museum-quality lighting can draw attention to your artwork and enhance its colors and richness. Overexposure to sunlight and certain kinds of artificial light will cause it to dull or fade prematurely. So please choose your art lighting wisely!
Ready, get set, decorate! April 23, 2008
Ready, get set, decorate!
A wonderful way to create interest in your interior décor is to design with art sets. What exactly does that mean? Pair two or more works of art that compliment each other to create interest on a wall.
That could mean pairing works with similar subject matter, colors and framing for an organized and synergized feel, as with this set by Gary Benfield below…
… And this set of four, a selection from Dali’s Divine Comedy…
Or, if you’re décor is more daring and eclectic, you can even match works of art with different content, colors and dimensions. In this scenario, ensure that there is a common theme that draws the art together into a synergized collection.
The example below utilizes the common thread of etchings, that is, all of the works in the collection are hand colored etchings by Impressionist Masters. Sometimes, the seemingly haphazard arrangement of the works lends to the final overall interest of the display.
View the artworks by Renoir and Cezanne featured in this collection…
Fundamentally, an art set is a group of two or more pieces of art that work together as a team. Large art sets can be used to fill up the space in large rooms and create a focal point. Smaller sets work beautifully in smaller rooms or to compliment the focal point in larger rooms.
You can place a smaller art set on either side of a large work of art or mirror, you can hang sets diagonally in stairwells or living rooms to add interest, as in the example with Miro’s works below…
…With your imagination and the diverse ArtRev.com art collection, the possibilities are endless!
