When Art Can Be A Gift

Art is not something ordinarily something you think of when wracking your brain for gift ideas, but why not give the gift of art?

People without a lot of art knowledge sometimes fear buying art even for themselves. I wish this didn't happen. If you hear a new song that you like, you want to hear that song. If you like bananas or salmon, you choose to eat those foods. If you like only blue shirts, you wear blue shirts. I'm just saying what kind of art you like should be as natural as these other kinds of choices. Choice really is a natural thing.  You either like something when you make a decision, or you are neutral, or you really don't like the thing. You should never buy a piece of art for yourself if you don't like it!  If your boss's wife loves it, be unselfish and let her buy it.

Years of Growth

Buying art isn't as permanent as a tattoo, and people don't seem to avoid body art. So, be bold, treat yourself!  Buy yourself a piece of art! How many times have you ever been sorry you bought yourself something you really like? Not ever. Really. (Unless, of course, you have a spending problem!)

Magnolia Time

It follows that your friends and relatives also have definite personal likes and dislikes. One likes cats, and the other dogs. One likes classical music, the other reggae. So you need to consider what they already have chosen to have around them. What colors do they have in their surroundings? Neutral colors, pastel colors or bright colors? You probably even know their favorite color. Do they like antiques or modern furnishings? Curves and frills or clean lines?

When to buy art? Give the gift of art when you know it would look fantastic with your friend's decor. It doesn't have to be large or costly. If you have a special relationship with a person, the fact that you bought it for them makes it special. Give them art as a housewarming gift, a wedding gift, or a Mother or Father's Day gift, or just because.  There doesn't have to be a reason! Purchase when you know you've found just what that special friend has been looking for! At least take a quick photo, and text or email it if you just want to share where it can be found. If this person is someone you shop with a lot, you know you have a good idea what they like, and you could just buy them a little spur of the moment art gift.

Another time to buy the gift of art is for someone elderly or ill who needs cheering up. Send them a get well or cope card, and enclose a small watercolor ACEO! It may be just the lift they need to make their day!

Leaves On The Move

If you are traveling and know your friend has a special memory of where you currently are, send or bring them a little art gift.

Castle Builder

How many times have you ever been sorry you bought yourself something you really like? Not ever. Really, unless you have a spending problem!

Remember, if you wait, you may never find that piece of art again. Even if you think you will remember, somehow you don't - or worse, it's gone!

You can find or inquire about any of these paintings at my online shop, DreamON.Etsy.com .

Pretty Party Tempered Glass Cutting Board

As a test, I ordered a tempered glass cutting board when it was on sale on Zazzle to see how the design would look in person.  It came from my large watercolor collage called "Chaos." This product was thrilling to see!  It is so pretty.  The little bits of confetti cuttings from an old watercolor painting that made up the collage look like little jewels through the glass.  The rust and cobalt blue design looks gorgeous against the backdrop of cream from the underside of the cutting board.  It looks so festive, and it just looks like a party is happening.  So I changed its name to "It's A Party."  Click on the link below to see.

It's A Party

Abstract Art Rust and Blue Glass Cutting Board  is available in my Zazzle store now.

This cutting board would make a great wedding gift or housewarming gift. I am going to keep this one, and I look forward to using it at our next festive gathering.

 The following is a link to my store on Zazzle.  I am still learning how to use Zazzle, so I it's a bit of a work in progress.

http://www.zazzle.com/mhamiltonart*

Thank you for looking!

Have You Ever Wondered What ACEO means?

In this day new abbreviations are popping up like weeds. They are used for lots of things that, unless you're in the know, you don't know what in the world it means. There are remedies for medical conditions with abbreviations used in television advertisements like COPD or ED. I found they abbreviate cat breeds like DLH or DSH in the kitty's vet records. Abbreviations are commonly used for organizations, because without shortening, I guess the names are just way too long to fit in a blank space on some form or another. These are things like CIA, FBI, ALPA or YMCA. You get the idea. Anything can abbreviated to express, I guess, someone's displeasure with saying or writing the whole thing out.

Poppy Letter

ACEO is one of these abbreviation "thingys" that has come to mean art of a certain size. To be an ACEO, the art must be exactly 2 1/2 inches x 3 1/2 inches (64 mm × 89 mm). ACEO stands for Artist Cards, Editions and Originals. It's known by the acronym, ACEO. Artists began with trading small samples of their work with one another, often through the mail. Then they were known as ATC (or Artist Trading Card), and they still are. There was no money exchanged; they were simply traded between artists. Then, somewhere along the way, they became popular with people who did not make art, and a price began to be charged when there was nothing with which a non-artist could reciprocate the trade, other than money. Because they were no longer just traded, another abbreviation was born to express the amount an artist would charge for an artist card - ACEO. ACEOs began to appear in online auctions such as eBay. The more an artist is collected, the higher the value of the card goes.

Leaves On The Move

An ACEO can be created of almost any medium an artist can produce in this size. They are the same size as baseball cards, and they can be collected in the standard size sleeves or sheets available at art or office supply stores (and other locations). They can be matted, framed and hung as a single piece or in a collage arrangement with similar sized miniature works of art. They can be used for scrapbooking. They can also be used as a refrigerator decoration. I'm sure there are other uses also.

Cheerleader

What, you might ask is an Edition? This refers to a reproduction or print of an original artist card. If the Edition is a Limited Edition, it is numbered by the artist to express how many likenesses are going to be created of a certain piece of work. You then would see something that looks like this (75/500) on the card which means that card is number 75 in an edition of 500. If, however there is no number, it generally means it is an Open Edition. Open Edition means that the artist could make an unlimited number of copies (reproductions or prints) as in thousands, millions, etc.

To be an Original is much more valuable because it is "the one" that the artist created for the first time with his or her own hands. It is an original, but not necessarily one of a kind (OOAK). If the description reads "Original OOAK" or "OOAK", it means that the artist is saying that this creation is the only one of its kind that will ever be created, or that is permitted to be duplicated by law.

Sunrise

I have scattered some of my original ACEOs throughout this article. All of them are currently available in my Etsy store DreamON .

I hope this helps define what an ACEO is for those who might still be wondering. Enjoy!