Fine art original paintings are produced on a number of different canvas types. They are mainly executed in oils. Additional transparent and iridescent paints add three dimensional quality to the work. Metal, leather and wood are sometimes incorporated in to the already textured and layered paintings. Some canvases are framed or fitted on top of glass panels creating further diversity.
Mixed media
Original artwork in mixed media is produced in numerous surfaces including wood panels, glass and stone tiles and unusual wall coverings made of wood bark, shell and textiles. Mainly painted in oils they also have 3D raised designs and finishes in transparent glass paints. The results are always unique and unexpected where different materials are played against each other but together they create a coherent and complex image, open to the interpretation by an observer.
The work
Choosing a canvas for a room
Scale is the first decision and the one most often got wrong. A canvas wants to relate to whatever sits beneath it: above a sofa or a console, roughly two thirds to three quarters of that width usually looks right. Anything much smaller reads as an afterthought on a large wall.
Palette comes next, and it is worth being braver than instinct suggests. A painting that repeats the room’s colours exactly disappears into it. The pieces that work hardest usually carry one colour the room does not otherwise have, picked up somewhere small: a cushion, a stem of glass, the binding on a rug.
Light, framing and hanging
Oils with transparent and iridescent layers change considerably with the light, which is why a canvas should be seen in the room it is going to rather than judged from a photograph. A piece opposite a window behaves differently from one on the same wall as it.
Canvases can be framed or fitted onto glass panels, which gives a very different edge and suits a more contemporary room. Hang so the centre of the work sits at standing eye level, which is lower than most people choose, and light it from the front rather than from directly above.
Commissioning
Pieces are available from the Bowdon showroom and by commission, sized and coloured to the room they will live in. Bring a photograph and a measurement of the wall and we can work from there.
Questions we get asked
Can a piece be made to a specific size?
Yes. Sizing to the wall is the usual reason for commissioning rather than buying something finished.
Can you work to a room’s colours?
Yes. The palette and the light the room gets are the brief, and both are easier to judge with the rest of the scheme settled.
How long does a commission take?
It varies by medium and size, and a lead time is given with the price before anything is started.