The Palette

What a Certificate of Authenticity Actually Proves

What a Certificate of Authenticity Actually Proves

A Certificate of Authenticity sounds like a promise about money. It is not. It is a record of facts about the painting, and knowing exactly what those facts are, and...

What a Certificate of Authenticity Actually Proves

A Certificate of Authenticity sounds like a promise about money. It is not. It is a record of facts about the painting, and knowing exactly what those facts are, and...

Humidity, Temperature, and Safely Storing a Canvas

Humidity, Temperature, and Safely Storing a Canvas

You bought a painting you love, and now you need to put it away for a while. A move, a renovation, a room you are not ready to hang it...

Humidity, Temperature, and Safely Storing a Canvas

You bought a painting you love, and now you need to put it away for a while. A move, a renovation, a room you are not ready to hang it...

Nocturnes: Why Dark Paintings Work in Bright Rooms

Nocturnes: Why Dark Paintings Work in Bright Rooms

Most people with pale walls reach for pale art, and the room ends up feeling like a well-lit blank. A dark painting does the opposite. It gives the eye somewhere...

Nocturnes: Why Dark Paintings Work in Bright Rooms

Most people with pale walls reach for pale art, and the room ends up feeling like a well-lit blank. A dark painting does the opposite. It gives the eye somewhere...

Seascape vs Landscape: Which Suits Your Room

Seascape vs Landscape: Which Suits Your Room

You saw a painting of the ocean and felt calm. You saw a painting of hills and felt at home. Both feelings are real, and both are useful, but they...

Seascape vs Landscape: Which Suits Your Room

You saw a painting of the ocean and felt calm. You saw a painting of hills and felt at home. Both feelings are real, and both are useful, but they...

Reading an Abstract Painting: A Beginner's Field Guide

Reading an Abstract Painting: A Beginner's Field Guide

Standing in front of an abstract painting, most people ask the wrong question first. They ask "what is it?" and when no answer comes, they decide the work is not...

Reading an Abstract Painting: A Beginner's Field Guide

Standing in front of an abstract painting, most people ask the wrong question first. They ask "what is it?" and when no answer comes, they decide the work is not...

Hanging Original Art in a Rental Without Nails

Hanging Original Art in a Rental Without Nails

Renting does not mean living with bare walls or cheap posters. You can hang a real original painting without a single nail hole, and take it with you when you...

Hanging Original Art in a Rental Without Nails

Renting does not mean living with bare walls or cheap posters. You can hang a real original painting without a single nail hole, and take it with you when you...

Wildlife Art That Is Not Kitsch: How to Choose

Wildlife Art That Is Not Kitsch: How to Choose

You know the painting we mean. A wide-eyed wolf howling at a full moon, or a pair of loons on a mirror-still lake, printed by the thousand and hung in...

Wildlife Art That Is Not Kitsch: How to Choose

You know the painting we mean. A wide-eyed wolf howling at a full moon, or a pair of loons on a mirror-still lake, printed by the thousand and hung in...

Linseed Oil vs Alkyd Mediums and How They Age

Linseed Oil vs Alkyd Mediums and How They Age

Two oil paintings can use the same brand of paint and the same colours, yet age in different ways. One stays crisp and bright, another warms slightly over the years....

Linseed Oil vs Alkyd Mediums and How They Age

Two oil paintings can use the same brand of paint and the same colours, yet age in different ways. One stays crisp and bright, another warms slightly over the years....

The Quiet Power of a Single-Object Still Life

The Quiet Power of a Single-Object Still Life

A single pear on a bare table should not be able to hold a whole room. A crowd of colour and motion should win every time. Yet walk into a...

The Quiet Power of a Single-Object Still Life

A single pear on a bare table should not be able to hold a whole room. A crowd of colour and motion should win every time. Yet walk into a...

An original framed painting on a workshop table beside a magnifying glass and appraisal paperwork

How Much Does a Painting Appraisal Cost?

A painting appraisal is not a fixed fee. It depends on the piece, the appraiser, and what the appraisal is for. Here is what to actually expect to pay, broken...

How Much Does a Painting Appraisal Cost?

A painting appraisal is not a fixed fee. It depends on the piece, the appraiser, and what the appraisal is for. Here is what to actually expect to pay, broken...

Original oil landscape painting in a black frame hanging on a living room wall above a wooden side table

How to Insure an Original Painting: A Collector's Guide

Most people find out the hard way that their home insurance does not really cover their art. A standard homeowners or renters policy treats a painting the same as a...

How to Insure an Original Painting: A Collector's Guide

Most people find out the hard way that their home insurance does not really cover their art. A standard homeowners or renters policy treats a painting the same as a...

A Simple Plan for Saving Toward a Larger Original

A Simple Plan for Saving Toward a Larger Original

Here is a pattern we see often. Someone wants one large painting for the main wall, decides it costs too much right now, and instead buys a small piece to...

A Simple Plan for Saving Toward a Larger Original

Here is a pattern we see often. Someone wants one large painting for the main wall, decides it costs too much right now, and instead buys a small piece to...

A single framed original oil landscape painting on an easel in a quiet gallery corner

Art Appraisal vs. Art Valuation: What's the Difference?

Appraisal and valuation get used interchangeably by most people, and that mix-up sends collectors to the wrong professional more often than you'd think. They are not the same service, they...

Art Appraisal vs. Art Valuation: What's the Difference?

Appraisal and valuation get used interchangeably by most people, and that mix-up sends collectors to the wrong professional more often than you'd think. They are not the same service, they...

Why the West Coast Keeps Showing Up in Canadian Painting

Why the West Coast Keeps Showing Up in Canadian Painting

Ask a painter in Vancouver what they paint, and sooner or later the answer comes back to the same short list: the light, the water, the trees, the mountains. It...

Why the West Coast Keeps Showing Up in Canadian Painting

Ask a painter in Vancouver what they paint, and sooner or later the answer comes back to the same short list: the light, the water, the trees, the mountains. It...

Macro detail of craquelure cracking in an old oil painting's varnish and paint layer

How to Tell If a Painting Is Valuable Enough to Appraise

Most paintings people ask us about are not valuable in a market sense, and that is fine, since most people are not trying to sell them. But if you are...

How to Tell If a Painting Is Valuable Enough to Appraise

Most paintings people ask us about are not valuable in a market sense, and that is fine, since most people are not trying to sell them. But if you are...

Choosing Art for a Cold North-Facing Room

Choosing Art for a Cold North-Facing Room

A north-facing room is the best place in the house to look at a painting and one of the coldest places to sit. The light is soft, even, and steady,...

Choosing Art for a Cold North-Facing Room

A north-facing room is the best place in the house to look at a painting and one of the coldest places to sit. The light is soft, even, and steady,...

Framed original oil painting leaning against a gallery wall next to a certificate of authenticity and receipt

How to Resell an Original Painting

Selling an original painting is not like selling a used sofa. There is no fixed depreciation curve, no blue-book value, and the buyer pool is small and specific. If you...

How to Resell an Original Painting

Selling an original painting is not like selling a used sofa. There is no fixed depreciation curve, no blue-book value, and the buyer pool is small and specific. If you...

Office Art for Video Calls: What Reads Well on Camera

Office Art for Video Calls: What Reads Well on Camera

Spend a day on video calls and you start to notice what everyone put behind them. Some backgrounds feel calm and thought-through. Others are a busy wall of small frames...

Office Art for Video Calls: What Reads Well on Camera

Spend a day on video calls and you start to notice what everyone put behind them. Some backgrounds feel calm and thought-through. Others are a busy wall of small frames...

Impasto: What Thick Paint Texture Tells You About a Painting

Impasto: What Thick Paint Texture Tells You About a Painting

Stand next to a thickly painted canvas and tilt your head. The surface changes. Ridges that looked like shadow a second ago now catch the light and glow. That is...

Impasto: What Thick Paint Texture Tells You About a Painting

Stand next to a thickly painted canvas and tilt your head. The surface changes. Ridges that looked like shadow a second ago now catch the light and glow. That is...

Small-Space Art: Making a Studio Apartment Feel Curated

Small-Space Art: Making a Studio Apartment Feel Curated

A studio apartment is one room doing four jobs at once. The instinct when a space is small is to buy small, so people fill the walls with a grid...

Small-Space Art: Making a Studio Apartment Feel Curated

A studio apartment is one room doing four jobs at once. The instinct when a space is small is to buy small, so people fill the walls with a grid...

How to Read a Provenance Record Before You Buy

How to Read a Provenance Record Before You Buy

Provenance is one of those words the art world uses to sound serious, and most buyers nod along without being sure what it means. In plain terms, provenance is the...

How to Read a Provenance Record Before You Buy

Provenance is one of those words the art world uses to sound serious, and most buyers nod along without being sure what it means. In plain terms, provenance is the...

Art That Survives a Steamy Kitchen: What We Recommend

Art That Survives a Steamy Kitchen: What We Recommend

Buyers ask us this more than you would think: can a real painting live in a kitchen? The honest answer is yes, but not just anywhere in the room. A...

Art That Survives a Steamy Kitchen: What We Recommend

Buyers ask us this more than you would think: can a real painting live in a kitchen? The honest answer is yes, but not just anywhere in the room. A...

UV Glass vs Museum Glass: Which Protects Your Painting

UV Glass vs Museum Glass: Which Protects Your Painting

Walk into a framing shop with a piece you care about and you will hear three names for glass, usually delivered with a knowing nod toward the most expensive one....

UV Glass vs Museum Glass: Which Protects Your Painting

Walk into a framing shop with a piece you care about and you will hear three names for glass, usually delivered with a knowing nod toward the most expensive one....

Choosing Bedroom Art for Better Sleep: Colour and Subject

Choosing Bedroom Art for Better Sleep: Colour and Subject

The bedroom is the one room where the art is not for guests. It is the last thing you see before you close your eyes and the first thing you...

Choosing Bedroom Art for Better Sleep: Colour and Subject

The bedroom is the one room where the art is not for guests. It is the last thing you see before you close your eyes and the first thing you...

How to Light an Original Painting With LED Picture Lights

How to Light an Original Painting With LED Picture Lights

You can buy a beautiful original, hang it on the right wall, and still walk past it every day because it looks flat and lifeless. Nine times out of ten...

How to Light an Original Painting With LED Picture Lights

You can buy a beautiful original, hang it on the right wall, and still walk past it every day because it looks flat and lifeless. Nine times out of ten...

5 West Coast Landscapes That Calm a Busy Living Room

5 West Coast Landscapes That Calm a Busy Living Room

Some living rooms fill up on their own. The couch, the pillows, the toys, the mail on the side table, the glow of a screen that is always on. When...

5 West Coast Landscapes That Calm a Busy Living Room

Some living rooms fill up on their own. The couch, the pillows, the toys, the mail on the side table, the glow of a screen that is always on. When...

Acrylic vs Oil for Humid and Coastal Rooms: Which Holds Up

Acrylic vs Oil for Humid and Coastal Rooms: Which Holds Up

People ask us which is tougher, oil or acrylic, as if one clearly wins. It does not work that way. The two mediums do not age better or worse in...

Acrylic vs Oil for Humid and Coastal Rooms: Which Holds Up

People ask us which is tougher, oil or acrylic, as if one clearly wins. It does not work that way. The two mediums do not age better or worse in...

How to Talk to an Artist About a Commission

How to Talk to an Artist About a Commission

A commission goes wrong for one reason more than any other: the buyer never said out loud what they actually wanted. The artist guessed, the guess missed, and now everyone...

How to Talk to an Artist About a Commission

A commission goes wrong for one reason more than any other: the buyer never said out loud what they actually wanted. The artist guessed, the guess missed, and now everyone...

Varnishing an Oil Painting: When It Happens and Why It Matters

Varnishing an Oil Painting: When It Happens and Why It Matters

The last thing that happens to an oil painting usually happens months after the artist thinks it is finished. It is a thin, clear coat of varnish, and most buyers...

Varnishing an Oil Painting: When It Happens and Why It Matters

The last thing that happens to an oil painting usually happens months after the artist thinks it is finished. It is a thin, clear coat of varnish, and most buyers...

Mixing Original Art With the Prints You Already Own

Mixing Original Art With the Prints You Already Own

You probably have prints on your walls right now. A film poster, a museum shop print, a photograph a friend gave you. Then you buy your first original painting and...

Mixing Original Art With the Prints You Already Own

You probably have prints on your walls right now. A film poster, a museum shop print, a photograph a friend gave you. Then you buy your first original painting and...