Customer Comments

Actual Installation
Custom Designed and Framed
by Sean at our store!

Customers comments: "Sharon and I thought you all would like to see the Quebec artwork that your shop framed. Looks nice! We're very pleased with the looks of everything! -Bruce"
Bring your custom framing projects to North Conway, where custom framing and transferring prints to canvas are always 50-80% less than most frame shops!

Visit the new gallery at 2548 Main Street,
at the south end of North Conway Village - next to the Sunoco station. Open 7 days 10AM-6PM Call (603) 356-8278. Email your pictures to info@framedartoutlet.com

New Shop at Home Service

Lots of Naked Walls?
Shop at Home!

If you're a do-it-yourselfer and just want to try a couple pictures in your home, take advantage of our liberal return policy and simply return what you don't use!

But, if you need more than a couple pictures, and want lots of free advice on how and where to hang what, we can help - an it's FREE in our service area!

First we establish the kind of look and feel you like. A visit to the Framed Art Superstore is a great place to start by previewing art. We can utilize our web site www.nakedwallartgallery.com for added selection to establish your general taste and goals.

Next, we want to learn a bit about the spaces involved, so then we come to your home with a van load of possibilities.

Most of our customers are in the middle of choosing new paint colors, fabrics or arranging furniture - truth is, we get excited about your project and want to share free advice beyond just the art!

We really want to be your art dealer, so our service is free with any art purchase and the art is the same low prices we offer in the store!

Call 603 356-8278 or email mike@framedartoutlet.com for more info.

Morning Luster by Mike Klung

Artist Mike Klung is one of our favorite contemporary artists. Some abstract and some traditional elements presented with abstract influences. We have had so many customers say they don't like abstracts, then buy Mike Klung's Morning Luster "Oh, but I like that" is the common expression when traditional art lovers walk into our gallery where Morning Luster has a place of prominence over our gallery's fireplace. This link will take you to our website to see several contemporary pieces by Mike Klung.
Remember,not only do we beat art.com prices for the best quality canvas transfers, but we always have FREE shipping on all our canvases! You don't have to be intimidated into buying today, you don't need a coupon, and you can call or email to talk to a human for free decorating advice!
Visit the Framed Art Superstore for over 500 of our favorite contemporary works of art on canvas!

New Oil Paintings in stock in North Conway

The North Conway art Gallery known for selection and value, just received another 200 new original oil paintings - stretched and ready to hang - framed or unframed:

20"x24" from $69 framed

24"x36" from $99 framed

36"x48" from $140 framed

48"x72" $400 - Gallery wrapped only - no frame needed.

To the right is my favorite new oil that came in today's delivery - inspired by acclaimed artist Will Rafuse, this cat on the sofa is available in 24x36 or 36x48 in a hand painted oil. Way too much fun!

So, if you're lucky enough to be in North Conway - (these are not available on line), stop by the new Framed Art Superstore in North Conway Village - 2548 Main Street - at the south end of the village next to the Sunoco. The gallery is open daily from 10am-6pm. Call 603 356-8278.

If you like Will Rafuse, and you'd like to see some of his actual work, our online gallery, the Naked Wall Art Gallery offers his published prints as a canvas transfer - fabulous quality, and they are exact replicas of his original work.

Art-A-Ron-Dack Chairs are here!

How can you make art a more relaxing part of your life?

The answer surely lies in the Art-A-Ron-Dack Chair.

After months of anticipation, The Framed Art Superstore in North Conway has received their Art-A-Ron-Dack Chairs from Dianne Mello and Sally Dinsmore.


The chairs are being auctioned off as part of a fundraiser with the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce.


Local artists have painted forty Adirondack chairs that are spread throughout town. Attached to each chair is a clip board for the silent auction.


Dianne Mello, continuing in the vintage style that has made her famous, has produced her very first Summer vintage scene.


Dianne's "People's Choice" winning chair features a couple lazily rowing along in their canoe in an image that captures the fun and relaxation that keeps visitors coming back to our valley.

Sally Dinsmore continues her tradition of capturing the true beauty of the valley with her waterfall, cascading over and down the chair and even onto the arms.

It's a scene that whisks your thoughts to the old swimming hole, enjoying pure Summer bliss (well, at least that's where it whisks my mind).

We are excited to have the chairs in our store. Since we decided to sponsor the program, we had been waiting with bated breath to see them. And they are gorgeous!

Now, we already have three bids in these chairs. They will be on display until Labor Day (Sept. 7th), when the bidding stops.

So be sure to stop by in our brand new location in North Conway Village (right next to the Sunoco station on the southern end of the village) and check them out in person.

But if you can't make it to town, you can also bid online by e-mailing to art-a-rondacks@mtwashingtonvalley.org or you can call Siiri Grubb at (603) 356-5701 ext. 312

Also, you can keep track of the bidding online as well. Go to The Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce website to make sure that you still have the high bid on your chair.

Be sure to get you bids in soon. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to not only own original, relaxing work of art, but art that you can relax on.

We hope to see you in the store and good luck in the auction!

The Framed Art Superstore is located at:

2548 White Mt. Highway

North Conway, NH 03860

(603) 356-8278

info@framedartoutlet.com

What's the simplest and most contemporary way to frame art? No frame at all! The industry calls it a Gallery Wrap or a Museum Wrap. A Gallery Wrap has the image wrapped around the edges of the stretcher bars, and a Museum Wrap has white edges and the entire image is on the face of the stretched canvas. As you can see by the sample pictures here, this creates an even simpler and more contemporary art presentation than even the simplest black frame. Available at the Naked Wall Art Gallery as either a gallery wrap or a museum wrap, the canvases can still be framed in the future if styles and/or your tastes change or you decide you want a more traditional look. Be careful though, if you want the choice of future framing, not all galleries and web sites offer the right size stretcher bars for this option. The thickness of the sides makes all the difference. 3/4 inch thick stretcher bars allow for the option of framing, while the 1 1/2" think versions do not. Another issue to consider is the image itself - if the picture will hang where you cannot see the sides, then you may not want to loose any of the image to the sides - for some images this matters more than on other images. Confused? The easiest solution is to call 1 888 669 - 6167 and talk to the naked wall experts at the Framed Art Superstore - the folks behind the Naked Wall Art Gallery. There's also lots of details available at http://www.framedartoutlet.com/

Washington Green Fine Art On Sale

Some of the finest and most sought after collectible art in the contemporary art world is being offered for the first time in the US. Washington Green is the premier fine art publisher in the UK, representing a portfolio of exclusive contemporary artists. By special arrangement with the Framed Art Superstore , a limited collection is being featured at the Met Coffeehouse and Art Gallery in North Conway. Washington Green translates original artwork into the highest quality collectible limited editions. Every piece is by a highly accomplished and widely collected artist and is beautifully presented with the finest quality framing. Each special work is signed and numbered and comes with a certificate of authenticity. The quality and desirability of this art stands on its own and deserves never to be discounted - in fact, it would be best to not discuss price at all. However, times being what they are, its nice to add amazing value to the equation. Normally, gallery pricing on this collection ranges from $600 - $1500. Special engagement pricing has been negotiated in the US market only and now ranges from only $400 - $700. See this amazing collection at the Met now. For more information, ring Salvatore Michaels at 603 356-8278. Due to the special arrangement to have this collection at our gallery, we do not offer them on our website. If you're not in the North Conway area, be sure to shop a wide variety of top published artists at http://www.nakedwallartgallery.com/

Framed Art Superstore Moved

Wow! What a month it's been. I've been missing from blogging due to a trip to New Hampshire to move the Framed Art Superstore to a new home. Here's the short story. We only moved to North Conway Village last October after 8 years on "the strip". We loved being part of North Conway Village, but we lost the lease on our space when the company we were sub-letting from terminated their lease. The building owner had no interest in leasing to us without a huge increase in rent. In order to remain a value-focused retailer, we needed to find affordable retail space.
We lucked out with the former Expressions Antiques at the south end of North Conway Village. Now, as of May 1st, we are all settled in and have even added a selection of antiques to our product mix.
The new store really lends itself to art, in that the building is an old house, each wall gets one picture, instead of having long retail walls in a gallery setting. This allows you to more easily visualize how a piece of art will look in your home, typically on a wall all by itself.

Stefano Ferreri Canvas Art

Still one of our favorites, artist Stefano Ferreri paints the most amazing pictures of wine and martini art. These are perfect as bar art, or for a contemporary dining area or as kitchen art. The colors are rich - made for today's popular decorating trends.

You can read the Stefano Ferreri biography from an earlier entry on this blog. You can't get more authentic than Stefano Ferreri for Italian or wine themed art, now can you?!

Bordeaux, shown here to the left, along with Franch Grand Cru, Chianti Classico, Grandi Gianchi Italiani, Grandi Rossi Fancesi, Cocktail Hour, Martini Bar or Una Bella Serata all by Stefano Ferreri are all available as canvas transfers, ready to hang with free shipping and our prices are lower than the big web sites like art.com or imagekind.com. So why not support the small business, get small gallery customer service from the Naked Wall Art Gallery and save yourself some money in the process!

Vintage Advertising Posters

A little History Lesson on Posters

In the 15th century, posters were hand drawn and painted, so you can imagine the time and patience it would take to create even a few posters.

In 1628, a physician named Tehophraste Renaudot created the first advertising poster, displaying items available for sale.

The art of Lithography was invented by a Czech named Alois Senefelder in 1798 in Austria. By 1848, the process had been refined to the point that it was possible to print 10,000 sheers per hour, however, Jules Cheret was the first person to produce posters in mass through lithography.

1867 brought us the first poster for a play, depicting an actress in a play. Artistic commercial posters were born. Now we see advertising posters everywhere! The small are seen in store windows and the ultimate of large are displayed on billboards. Either way, they both have the same effect: Your business message to the masses.

Today you can enjoy vintage advertising posters as fine art on walls of your home or office. Typically, you expect to see these framed under glass, but they look spectacular as a canvas transfer, and with finished edges you don't need a frame Not only does this make the nicer presentation actually cost less than poster framing, but give a clean contemporary that is very appropriate for vintage posters. See some of our favorites at the Naked wall Art Gallery.

Shopping or Art Online

It can be a bit overwhelming. What search terms do you use? We ask our friends and customers what they would search for if they had naked walls in their house and wanted to decorate them - amazing the terms people come up with... art is way too general, canvas art, posters, prints, paintings... how do you skinny it down to the find the artwork a normal person would hang on their wall? You know you want better than the mass-produced look of a Kirklands, or Target, but you don't want too edgy artsy-fartsy things that will scare children and animals. If you visit local galleries for posters, the framing costs a fortune, and can you afford an the original of "Landscape of the Muse" shown above by John McCormick? Where do you go?

Now it's easy to Dress Your Naked Walls... without losing your shirt!

Let's start with how this art business really works:
When an artist paints a picture - that's the original. An art gallery may sell it, or the artist may sell it at an art show or their own gallery. Simple enough. If that artist gets "discovered" like a writer, the artist gets "published" - a publisher will contract to produce reproductions (posters, lithographs, giclees, etc) and the artist will get a royalty from every print sold. Those reproductions can be prints on paper or canvas, and can be from any number of methods of printing, but basically its ink on paper or ink n canvas.

There are over 100 publishers of significance, with over 100,000 art images published - nearly all of them can be seen at http://liebermans.net/.
They only sell wholesale, but you can look, and now you see what the frame shops and art galleries see when they go shopping for art. It's a great place to search using their advanced search capabilities, and if you find something you like there, let us know and we'll order it for you! Just email us info@nakedwallartgallery.com .

So now you know why so many websites like art.com and allposters, etc. offer so much art. They also offer too many choices when it comes to framing - do you get glass or plastic, is the matting acid free? what color mats? how many mats? do you want the words to show? what frame? what about canvas? it can make you crazy. Most websites give too much selection of modern canvas art and endless complicated options.

We only offer canvas transfers with finished edges. That's the most popular contemporary option, where we take the paper print and transfer it from the paper to canvas, so it look most like the original artwork, at a fraction of the cost. In fact, by focusing exclusively on canvas transfers, our prices are lower than most frame shops charge to put a poster under glass!

At the Naked Wall Art Gallery, our Naked Wall Experts have carefully selected over 500 of the best works of contemporary canvas art from top artists and have chosen the most appropriate finish options. Every art print on canvas we make is an exact replica of the artist's original work - the closest you can get to the original without spending a fortune, they're made in America and we always provide FREE Shipping!

Over 50 new canvas transfers added to the Naked Wall Art Gallery

Chosen primarily for past customers of the Framed Art Superstore in North Conway, we've added art you may have seen at our store. Now you can order the canvas transfer version right online at the lowest prices and have FREE shipping! Most of the new canvas transfers are in landscapes and wildlife, but some of more fun pieces are in contemporary.

To tell you the truth, its hard to know what category to call a given picture - is a diving pig wildlife or contemporary?!

Of course we had to add our five vintage style North Conway Ski Posters! They're all featured in the Vintage section.

We now have over 550 of your favorite canvas transfers online, on sale, and ready to hang.

Contemporary Canvas Art... par for the course

More than just beauty, art serves a function in our homes. The art we choose can make us feel more energetic, or relaxed, more hopeful or ambitious.

So what art makes sense for these trying times? It is such a personal decision as to what you like but here are some hints as to why you might find certain pictures more appealing. If you want a room to be more relaxing, perhaps a piece with horizontal lines - could be a landscape or an abstract, but the direction and flow of the picture should be reclining. If you feel trapped in your life, you might be drawn to images with distant horizons.

Need more fun-time in your life? Wouldn't it be nice to smile everytime you walk past your new golf art!

Our need for simplicity is reinforced by the trend to go frame-less. Don't worry about the art looking un-finished - the edges are specially finished with gallery or museum edges for a clean professional look without the fuss and expense of a frame.
In spite of being called a Framed Art Store, our best selling art is unframed canvas art. Prints under glass cause glare in today's homes with open floor plans and lots of windows. Non-glare glass is expensive, so why not transfer the print to canvas which looks much better anyway!

Perhaps more important is that with stress levels what they are in our complicated over-stimulated lives, our decorating needs to be easy and un-fussy. Art without a frame is easier to buy, easier to match your decor, and easier to enjoy. The simplicity is pure genius. Just take away the frame, and enjoy the naked art, not the naked wall.

The reclining nude shown here by Pino is entitled "Evening Repose" - ideal relaxation lines for a master bedroom.

Our new website http://www.nakedwallartgallery.com/ features over 500 of today's best artist, all ready to hang and they come with free shipping anywhere in the continental US.

Find Shelly Wilkerson Poems Online

Shelly Wilkerson cat art - called the Cat Companion Collection, is all available as canvas fine art at the Naked Wall Art Gallery, but where can you find the poetry that Shelly writes to go with each painting? Visit the Shelly Wilkerson Poem blog of course!
http://www.catcompanions.blogspot.com/

I'm entering a new poem every day, so check back or become a "follower" and start every day off with a smile!

Oh, you want to know who this is at the left? No, it's not my sister-in-law with the horse - this is Rose - Shelly's Southern Bell - who is still waiting for Mista Right! That poem is not up yet, but will be soon!

Great Horse Art by karen Leibrick

Our search for great contemporary canvas art continues. I just got off the phone with my sister in law who is working on a blog about horse health issues, so horses are top of mind. Horse art has always been popular for us, and I'm particularly impressed with two new art prints on canvas - (we call that a canvas transfer). The horse artist is Keren Leibrick and Strider I and Strider II are two great pieces of horse art. Karen Leibrick stands out with these two paintings, not just because the horses are beautiful, but the uplifting feel the art gives a room. It's amazing how you can hang a simple canvas transfer print on a naked wall, and suddenly you feel like sitting up straight with a little more energy!

What does Contemporary Canvas Art have to do with Die Cast Toy Cars?

This is a brand new blog about art on canvas. So why is there a 1956 Lincoln convertible on my blog? It's Tom' fault!
We're still new at art blogging, so a little encouragement goes a long way. We welcome our first comment from my brother Tom Allen, of Buckeye AZ. He owns AZ Diecast a die cast toy car an truck store online. He's been collecting these die cast toy cars for forty years and selling them as a professional die cast dealer for twenty years.


Thanks for the encouraging words.
Hey, for amazing car art, posters, prints or canvas transfers of cars, you can visit the the website for the Framed Art Superstore - read all about how to order any art you want at outlet prices. For ready to hang contemporary canvas art, visit our new online gallery www.nakedwallartgallery.com

Artist Stefano Ferreri Biography

After searching the Internet far and wide, I could not find a biography for Stefano Ferreri for anything! He's the amazing wine and martini artist we've been so crazy for, but I was beginning to wonder if the artist actually was real!

After emailing his publisher, I got the answer no other gallery bothered to seek out!

So here it is, the only place on the Internet with the biography of Stefano Ferreri!

Born in San Giovanni Valdarno in 1946, Stefano Ferreri uses his childhood in Tuscany as a constant source of inspiration in his paintings.

Ferreri developed an appreciation for the full bountiful potential of the land that was worked by people with great skill, vision, and patience. Enjoying wine and understanding the people that produced the great vintages were both part of the culture that surrounded Ferreri as a young man.
He was trained at a local Art Academy and has cultivated a technique that is realistic and also rich with brushstrokes. Wine has become a favourite subject for Ferreri as he has taken the cultural inspiration of his Tuscan roots and transformed the imagery into strikingly dramatic glimpses of the rituals and visual details that surround the drinking of fine wine. His painting style creates a new contemporary realism by utilizing deep rich colours, the play of light on glass and liquids, and very unusual perspectives.

Early in his career, Ferreri’s works became popular with food and wine connoisseurs who appreciated his masterly technique and his knowledge of the subject. However, in recent years a wide range of collectors from many different backgrounds and interests are interested in his work. Wine has a universal appeal, as it has throughout history. Ferreri’s paintings are displayed in many private and public collections in Italy, France, and Northern Europe. He has won several awards and competitions in Italy, and his popularity continues to now grow in North America. All of his published prints are available as art on canvas, or a canvas transfer from the Naked Wall Art Gallery.

If you want one of his prints that are not on our site, send me an email info@nakedwallartgallery.com and we'll order it for you and add it to our site.

Stefano Ferreri Wine Art Rocks

We're constantly shopping for exciting new contemporary canvas art for our galleries and every once in a while, I find something to get really excited about. I found Stefano Ferreri's wine art in the fall of 2008 while creating a wine-themed window display when we opened the new Framed Art Superstore in North Conway Village.

The only problem? No sooner do I get the window display perfect, and someone buys the art right out of the window. I reorder four new canvas transfers of new Ferreri's paintings and again, these darn customers keep wrecking my display! I love it when that happens! Of course when you look at this art, you can see why, and when you consider we sell them this art on canvas for less than it would cost to frame the poster version, you'll want one or two of them yourself. Our online gallery offers them at a real deal and with free shipping!

If you are a wine or martini lover, you will love any of the canvas art by Stephano Ferreri. They are all available as prints, but they look best as a canvas transfers, and we like them with the museum wrapped edges and no frame. The classic photo realism style fits any elegant surrounding - maybe a dining room or wine cellar and still they are modern enough, especially without a frame they fit in any modern or contemporary decor. Visit the Naked Wall Art Gallery.com for this collection and over 500 more of our favorite art pieces. Featured here on this blog in the top left is Chianti Classico by Stephano Ferreri and Grandi Bianchi is the white wine picture.

Bahama Mamas
Steal away to tropic breezes,
To sample wine and rum and cheeses.
Leave the office, leave the bills.(Bahama Beaches cure your ills!)
Gladly take the salt and sand,
And play another poker hand!
"Get the girlie", play some gin,
And shop some places you've not been.
Bead your hair and try new dishes.
Live out all your wildest wishes!
Raise the stakes and raise the glasses! Bask in sun and burn your ----- !!

Shelly writes an adorable poem for every painting she creates. Through her poetry you get to know the characters before you "adopt" them.

Okay, come on - admit it you chuckled just a bit! This amazing Shelly Wilkerson limited edition canvas art reproduction measures 22.5"x30" and is limited to only 950 available. This canvas along with many other Shelly Wilkerson paintings are shown at the Naked Wall Art Gallery You know you want one of her collectible canvases so get on the list for our spring Cat Companion Sale! We'll be offering a special one-time only, first-time ever sale on Shelly Art. To be invited to enjoy a big discount, just send me an email and I'll put you on the list - but I can't put the huge discount out here on the Internet without getting other galleries complaining to Shelly's publisher. Trust me though, it's big! Oh, and tell me which picture you like best, and I'll email you the poem for that painting!
About Bahama Mamas in the artist's own words: "My buddy, Carol and I threw caution to the wind and took a group flight to the Bahamas a number of years back. Even after snorkeling and staring a barracuda straight in the puss, we decided that it was a trip well worth taking. The locals were fun and friendly and the rum runners kept you glowing all day.... which reminds me.... Don't forget your sunscreen".

Okay, having recovered from my lousy dinner at Dolce Vita in New Smyrna Beach, I'm back in the sadlle and ready to talk about art. My old friend Pat came to visit from Orlando yesterday. She has a beautiful new kitchen that's been six months in the making and still has naked walls in both the kitchen and the sitting area to which it opens.
Are you ready for this? She re-hung an old framed poster she had from before the kitchen. We've been friends for over twenty years, and she breaks my heart like this! Folks, listen up! When you spend the money on new floors, new cabinets, new granite counters, and all the bells and whistles, I know you feel like you spent enough after all that, and you put your foot down by the time the big purchases are made. But somehow, hanging a cheaply framed worn out piece of art just seems to devalue everything else that you just paid for.
Pat's homework will be to shop the Naked Wall Art Gallery for something fabulous that will compliment that beautiful new kitchen and thanks to our super low prices, won't even be a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of it all. Art is so critical to the room's ecor, frankly it can make or break the entire package. Especially when changes to today's elegant-casual look, a canvas transfer with finished canvas edges is a great idea - no glass to cause glare, no frame to fight for your attention or to clash with your new cabinets, just a great statement of your good taste.

Dolce Vita - Not Such a Sweet Life Afterall

Okay, after the year it took us to get around to trying Dolce Vita - the Italian restaurant everyone in New Smyrna Beach is talking about - I can honestly say forget-about-it!
I just got back from my birthday dinner. I pretended to enjoy it, since the other three people in my party seemed to enjoy it. Service was amateur at best, but that's the norm these days so no problem. We started with the usual bread and plate of oil - I may be spoiled by Bellini's in North Conway serving really nice oil and a side of cheese, but this oil was horrible and so was the bread. I guess the Docle Vita in New Smyrna Beach is just no Bellini's! My friends ordered various veal dishes and they seemed happy. I ordered garlic shrimp served on a bed of angel hair - I got 4 (yes, just 4) tough, really overcooked garlic shrimp on a bed of linguine. Very bland and as amateur as the server. For dessert I had the very rich and decadent chocolate cheesecake, which was predictable and delicious, but obviously comes frozen from Sysco, not a homemade something to rave about as one might expect in such a place. It desperately needed a nice strong coffee to help it down. Their coffee was so weak, Sal sent his back - when was the last time you were so sad you had to send back a coffee?! It looked like weak tea, and tasted like Sanka the best I can remember. Why bother?! The Dolce Vita is very Italian owned and operated, and I know they would not drink this coffee at their house so why do they serve it?! For $150, with only one bottle of $25 wine, not great value - I will not return to the Dolce Vita. We're back to our favorite New Smyrna restaurant - The Atlantis Grill on Flagler - great food, great atmosphere, reasonable prices, and a short walk to the ocean and the Flagler Coffeehouse for a nightcap.

MooseMan Wildlife Photographer Visits North Conway

Rick Libbey, better known as MooseMan, is the artist of the month of February at the Framed Art Superstore in North Conway, NH. Rick spends weeks at a time living a hundred miles from any other human, camping with the moose deep in the woods of northern Maine and New Hampshire. He takes his photos from his Kayak, which he says gives him the best mobiliy and silent means of moving about.

That's important when you meet friends like the Peekaboo moose above, or Dripping Gordon seen below. Rick first met Gordon in 2007 and spent about an hour with him noticing his size, age and scars from fighting other large bulls for mating rights.
In Rick's words "...then in July 2008 I was in the same marsh once again. I located not one, but two large bulls feeding together just before sunset. For a moose lover like myself; this is serious excitement. Then I heard some brush snapping about 300 feet ahead. Out of the thicket comes Gordon and he walked straight to me and got in the water a mere 10 feet away. This was one of the first images I took that evening of a great old warrior of the Northern woods.
We are offering MooseMan photos as a canvas transfer with gallery wrapped edges (no frame needed) the image wraps neatly around the edges for a simple clean look. We have produced Gordon on a large canvas that is 36x48, and it came our gorgeous! We have it in stock at the art store in 24x36 and on order on the 20x24 - those sold out at the artist signing event over the weekend. Call the store at 1 (888) 669-6167 to inquire, or stop by in your lucky enough to be in North Conway Village!

For a huge selection of great art on canvas, visit our new online gallery, the Naked Wall Art Gallery

How to Best Display Your Artwork

Some common questions: I just bought a canvas transfer at your gallery, how high do I hang it? I need something to fit between my glass doors... What size picture goes over a queen bed?

Over the last ten years of selling art, we've had an amazing number of customers ask these questions. You'd think we would use a lot of over-simplified answers, but we really like to learn more about the customer's particular situation before we spout out a bunch of ratios and short rules for hanging their beautiful new purchase. Sorry, but my answers always start with "well it depends, tell me about the room".

I was just pouring through some online decorating web sites with their picture hanging advice. Truth is, some are really quite good when they show examples with lots of pictures, but eventually you need to know what to do in your personal case. That's why at our new online gallery, the Naked Wall Art Gallery, we do plan to add a decorating tips section, but we invite you to email us a digital picture of your room or wall area you're working on and we will give personalized advice.

Say you have a love seat against a wall - what size picture should you hang? Well, using the 2/3 rule, (you should know that I only learn the rules so I know what to break) you would measure the love seat - usually about 60 inches, and calculate 60x.66=39 inches. So, hang a picture that is no more than 39 inches wide. Do the same for the available space above the love seat - Now we're shopping for artwork with all these rules attached. These are just guidelines, along with anything is better than a naked wall, and too big is usually much better than way too small. read on for our mini-case study:

One day while hanging art at the Met - North Conway's best coffeehouse, Sal needs something to hang over the famed purple couch. The original purple couch at the Met was a love seat really, and was about 55" wide and the wall behind it was only a few inches wider. Sal hangs this gigantic 52" wide canvas transfer called "landscape of the Muse" by McCormick. (link to what is a canvas transfer) My favorite piece of art in the whole art gallery and he's going to hang it so it looks stupid! I usually win these arguments, but we were in a rush and that was the only piece left to hang without going back to the Framed Art Superstore (that's our main gallery for you newbies) but there was no time. I caved on this one (knowing I'd change it around the next day). Sal was right (he's always right, but that doesn't mean I should win some arguments anyway). The McCormick canvas was perfect! That purple couch never looked so good!
The reason it works there? As you can see in the photo, the Met Coffeehouse has 16' ceilings for one thing, so a grand canvas fits the feeling of the room. Yes, feelings. Don't panic, we aren't recommending group therapy - yet. The point is, how artwork feels in a room is more important than the math. If a picture is bright, is there a sense of balance with brightness on the other side of the room? If you love the look of today’s new abstract art, then you should be looking at transitioning into what you love, not what fits the rules - of color, of math or matching the sofa you want to get rid of anyway. The only rule we never break is this - when buying art, only buy what you like!
As in life, if you're going to take a new direction, you have to start with something.

Shelly Wilkerson Cat Art (Cat Companions)

I love this stuff! I just got an email from Shelly - she and husband Glen live out west, so we don't see them often enough, but we see her art every day and that's a real joy! In my last post I talked about adding humor art to our lives - Shelly Wilkerson's art works really well - hang it in the family room, bar or kitchen - that's easy, but we have plenty of customers who have hung these in living rooms and dining rooms. If you think it's to casual for your living room, you might ask if your living room is too formal. Take the plastics off the couch and live a little, will ya? Your Friends and family will laugh out loud at some of this art, and at the very least, stuffy people even smile a little. Read Shelly's poems for each painting at www.catcompanions.blogspot.com

Check it out at http://stores.nakedwallartgallery.com/-strse-Wilkerson,-Shelly/Categories.bok and click on Wilkerson as the category. If you see yourself in the pictures - stop whining, just laugh and pour a glass of wine!
Not a wine drinker? If you're lucky enough to be in New Hampshire, drop in the Met Coffeehouse and order a latte - like Daisy in "Daisy's Mocha Latte" yes, Shelly, famous for cats and wine now paints dogs sans wine. Shelly unveiled her Bahama Mama's original painting at our gallery at the Met Coffeehouse http://www.metcoffeehouse.com/ in North Conway Village - voted Best Coffeehouse in the North Country, and of course part of the great atmosphere there is one of our art galleries. We're waiting for a painting of our two black labs with coffee - email me your support for this and I'll keep after Shelly!

Until she paints our dogs, my favorite is Harry's Lodge Meeting - My goal is to be one of those old geezers one day! The most popular is Miriam's tea Party, and we've sold several of the Bestest Friends as well. Each piece has a poem about the people in the picture, so once you get to know the characters you don't buy a Shelly Wilkerson picture - you adopt it! I haven't got the poetry online yet, but in the meantime if you email me with the picture you want, I'll email you the poem that goes with it.

Consumed with new art gallery website

Geronimo! Here we go again diving into another business venture while the whole economy is in hiding!
Not stupid though, people want nice things, but they want to save money. We sell nice things at a fraction of what people usually pay! So we said to ourselves - Selves - duh!
It's been about a week since we selected Homestead to host the website http://www.nakedwallartgallery.com/ for our new online gallery. Homestead is way easier than Yahoo in our opinion and seems to have much better features. I should point out we are no experts, but we've created a few websites for the Framed Art Superstore - http://www.framedartoutlet.com/ and for Soyfire Candle - http://www.soyfire.com/ . This has been the easiest and most exciting experience, making huge progress each day and the art looks beautiful on the site! We hope to be ready for customers to start buying our canvas transfers by March 1st at the latest.
The Naked Wall Art Gallery is different from our store in North Conway and our other websites because all we sell is frame-less canvas transfers. Each item is on the site, easy to shop, easy to buy, put in in your shopping cart and wait by your door! Selling art is usually a challenge with lots of options - we took away all the options - no frames, no mats - just pick your picture and it comes on canvas ready to hang with finished edges and life has never been so good!
At the Framed Art Superstore in North Conway, canvas transfers have been our best sellers for about a year now. Fewer people want frames anymore, especially under glass when you can have the same print transferred to canvas and looking like an original painting for the same price!
So, times being what they are, we need to expand our business in some way, so why not share our amazing deals on canvas transfers with the world!?
Our art buying is changing a bit too - we're in FL for the winter while our friends in North Conway NH are cursing us thinking we're just basking on the beach. Truth is North Conway is beautiful in winter so they shouldn't be jealous and besides, we're here with our heads stuck in a computer all day anyway. Oh yeah, art buying - one can't help but be influenced by the beautiful colors and bright light of summer - that's January in New Smyrna Beach! We just visited the big annual art festival here - over 25 artist from all over the country put on an amazing show, which gave us great inspiration and several artist we would like to feature in the future.
For the new naked wall art gallery site, we started by shopping through every major art publisher's collection of fine art prints. We have over 100,000 prints available to us, but that's way too many - it's just overwhelming and tons of them are really crap - that's technical jargon for ugly art that was a waste of paper and ink to produce as prints!
We selected our favorite 500 or so images. Okay, Sal selected about 400 of them, so I will probably be adding about 100 more of the best images in the coming week or so once we get the web site up and ready to take orders! Our tastes run a little different. We both love the latest abstract art - boy it's not what you would expect if you haven't been art shopping in a while - this is not the 1970 abstract art you're thinking of - today's new abstract art is gorgeous!
We also love wildlife - nothing with contrived though - you know the ones where you're waiting for an elf to pop out from under a bridge?! We like real wildlife - in New Hampshire we love the moose, in Florida we love the huge birds. We have three great Blue Herons that live in our neighborhood and I must admit they are a little intimidating since they are as huge and will walk right up to us, they squawk like a junk yard dog - I wonder if anyone has ever been eaten by a Blue Heron... oh yeah - art - in our Florida home we prefer bright abstracts and tropical themes - no, not my mother's pastel Golden Girl's theme! We've found a lot of very cool and hip looking tropical art. Here's a link to our coastal images:
http://stores.nakedwallartgallery.com/-strse-Coastal/Categories.bok

What I want to add (when Sal's not looking) to the Naked Wall Art Gallery will be fun things, like Will Rafuse music, kitchen and bar art. Notice the bartender and the chef we chose for kitchen art. I love funky fun and bright colored art. Most people relegate fun art to the kitchen and bath, preferably in only tiny pictures. That's too bad, because hanging something that makes you smile every time you see it would be great in the living room and in larger sizes. I love the fun flip flop poster we transferred to canvas to look like a museum piece - at first glance it looks serious, but you do a double take and smile yup, it really is a painting of a flip flop!
All this talk of flip flops make me think of Margarita ville - stepped on a pop top, blew out my flip flop - maybe it's time for me to cruise on home and put something in my blender! Good thing home is only in the other room!
Good night for now, maybe next rambling will start to take some direction!

Naked Wall Art Gallery Online opening soon

The Naked Wall Art Gallery online is now up for viewing and the shopping cart will be working soon. Please visit us and check out the art and share you feedback with us. http://www.nakedwallartgallery.com/