How to get the right art piece and maintaining it

When you have an intention to get an art piece for your new home or even to fill up empty spaces in your offices, lots of questions will start popping in your mind. What is the right size for the wall? How do I clean a painting? Will the colours fade over time? Is it difficult to maintain an art piece? And many more questions. Fret not as we will cover as much as we can to help keep and maintain your painting in the best condition possible in this blog post.

Step 1: Where to display your art piece

The most important point to take note before deciding that this is the perfect spot for your art piece is to make sure that the spot chosen does not have direct sunlight hitting the space intended for your art. You should never display your art under direct sunlight or harsh lighting and especially ultra violet lights. Constant exposure will discolour your paintings and the fading of pigments and dye will affect the colour balance of your painting. So keep this in mind before deciding the perfect wall for your art.

Step 2: Getting the right sized art piece for your wall

Before getting overly excited while gallery hopping for your first art piece, take a step back and grab a measuring tape. The most important part before going shopping for your long awaited art piece, is to first know the dimension of the wall intended for it. If it is going to be a plain empty wall, simple. Just measure the length and height of the wall, note it down somewhere and viola you’re all set to go. If the art piece is going on top of a furniture, measure the length of the furniture and the height from the surface top of the furniture to the ceiling. Also do keep in mind the type of orientation you want for your art piece - vertical or horizontal.

The tip to choosing the right sized art is to choose a piece that will take up two-third or three-fourth of the wall. It sounds overwhelming but there will be no regrets choosing a piece at that size when you see it fitted on your wall. And when choosing art meant to go over furniture, it should be three-fourth the length of the furniture.

Step 3: Hanging the art piece on your wall

Now that you have your art piece and it is ready to go up for you and your guests to enjoy, the general rule of thumb is to hang the art piece approximately 150 to 165cm from the floor to the center of the art if it is going up on an empty wall. Do keep in mind that how you are hanging the art piece as it relates to everything around it so it is best to have someone around to help you support the painting while you spot and guide your helpers to get the art piece to the perfect spot.

If you are putting the art piece over a furniture, the art should be hung 15 to 30cm above the surface top or at eye level. And once again it would be best if you had help so that you can guide the art piece into the perfect position.

Step 4: Cleaning and maintaining your art piece 

Before you begin cleaning your precious art pieces, first things first. Check for loose and flaking paint, discolouration and cracks. If your art has shown the symptoms listed, best contact a professional restorer and do not attempt to clean it up yourself. You might cause more damage instead as these are signs of natural aging. Prevention can be taken like using varnishes and proper storage but over the years, natural damage will still naturally appear.

If the painting is all good and still looking gorgeous on your wall, to maintain it is pretty simple. Use soft bristle brushes or micro fabric duster to dust your paintings every four to six months. Key note here is to never use feather duster or brushes with stiff bristles. Using these two items will scratch the surface of the painting. Never use dry or moist cloths as well because moisture might cause loss of paint over time and threads from cloths may catch onto raised areas of the painting.

Hopefully this guide will be helpful in your quest to search for the perfect art piece for your living space. All the best and do drop by the gallery or showroom if you have walls that needs to be filled up!