1. If the exhibition is going to run for a long period of time, it’s worth framing your work behind glass to protect it from dust and finger prints.
2. If your area is in direct sunlight, consider UV protective glass.
3. If you’re using a mount, use acid free mountboard. This keeps a fresh white bevel and won’t leave burn marks on your artwork.
4. Avoid busy mount colours and frames, this is likely to detract attention from your art.
5. Choose colours that enhance your artwork – e.g. if you have painted a lady in a red dress, you might want to use a matching red on the inner mount, with a neutral outer mount.
6. Don’t use a very narrow mount, it will look like you’ve scrimped.  If you have a tight budget, use a larger ready made frame and get a mount cut to size, consider just mounting the items or heat sealing them on a block.
7. Leave plenty of space between each item.  A cluttered wall will cheapen your display.
8. Add a printed label below each piece with the title, artist and medium (and if you’re planning to sell your work, add the price).

If you want to add anything, then let me know, I’m happy to update the list!

Kevin is an artist with character, and among other things, he produces some very quirky artwork.

You can see some of his other work here: Bearskinrug

Florence Coates won the prize draw for £100 to spend in store… and rather than the raffle that we had anticipated, she won at the toss of a coin!

It just shows that you have got a great chance to win in local events.

There was 20% off framing and all open edition prints in store, and Jane Forster was in with her hand made cards at a special launch day price of £3.50. Jane’s cards are still available in the Marple shop for £3.95.

The Fine Art Trade Guild is the association that represents the art and framing industry. It promotes best practices, and helps inform members, so we can all improve.

The vote was made on Thursday night (20th November 2008) by the North West members.

Tony was happy to be voted in, commenting that “I’m surprised and pleased, I’d like to make it a social meeting, with an art topic where members can share their experience and abilities, and showcase their work”.

“If we all use the abilities of other members, we can push forward the Industry, creating a higher standard of work.”

The post involves organising member meetings in the North West over the year, being the interface between the members and the board.

We’re having a grand opening event on Saturday 22nd November for the Marple branch of Lazy Daisies.

We will have :

• face painting & balloons
• lots of original paintings
• hand made greetings cards by Jane Forster & Margaret Steeden
• 20% off everything in store & all framing orders on the day (Except original art)
• a free prize draw for £100 to be spent in the Gallery (drawn at 4pm sharp)

The framing will be done at our Hazel Grove Gallery where Christy Gallagher, specialist in framing & computerised mount cutting, manages the workshop.

Christy entered 2 frames into The North West Fine Art Guild framing competition & her entries came first & third.

The new gallery is here:
Lazy Daisies III
38 Stockport Road, Marple, Stockport
SK6 6AB
0161 449 9229

This a competition for all framers in the North West. It will be judged by Branch members and others, at the next Branch Event on 24 April 2008.

You don’t have to be a member of the Fine Art Trade Guild to participate, so if you’re a framer in the area and would like to show off your skills, contact Sam Marshall on 020 7381 6616 to register.

Visit the Fine Art Trade Guild website for further details.

We’re having a big clearout to make space for our new look gallery;

We’ve got a massive collection of open edition and limited edition pictures and prints, greetings cards and mirrors, some stock is framed in ornate or modern frames, and some prints are available without frames.