An exciting new collectible was born on Ebay several years ago. There have been artist's trading cards, small paintings that were traded among artists much like baseball cards. Well, an Ebay artist said why not make these art cards and sell them to the public? Novel idea but would anybody want to buy paintings that are only 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches (the one solid requirement)? We started making them and put some up for sale and wham - started the ACEO craze! ACEO (art cards editions and originals) took off like a house on fire and are still a hot category on Ebay even with the downturn in sales in most other categories. People found new ways to present them - in albums, in groupings on walls, even in mobiles. Stores are beginning to realize there is a need for frames that hold 2 1/2 X 3 1/2" paintings and now you can find them in Walmart, Aaron Bros, just about any larger store.
ACEO's became popular not only for their size but also for the fact that now collectors can purchase these tiny artworks from many artists. They are affordable - though some of the most popular and talented artists' works can go for as high as $500.00. The majority are still under $10.00 and there is always that chance that one of the artists in your collection reaches fame thereby increasing the value of the artwork.
Some artists have a particular topic they love to paint. Cats, dogs, horses, and birds are quite popular - floral gardens and tiny landscapes. Some just paint skeleton people and there seems to be a large following of collectors for those - and ravens are quite popular now. I've even seen ACEO's in glass and metal, as well as collage. I, myself, have a character who has become fairly popular with some ACEO collectors. Its a tiny "over-the-hill" gray haired chubby woman who has no inhibitions! She thinks she's beautiful and flaunts it. Her name is LuLu and that's her at the top of the article and posing with me in the thumbnail along with her friend LiLy.
Where can you find some of these pieces of art? Well, my artsite has a section dedicated to them:
http://www.ACEOart.net
and Ebay has a large assortment of them all the time.
Take a peek in both places and I promise you that with your very first piece of tiny artwork you will become totally addicted :-)
Patricia Ann Rizzo
http://www.watercolorsbypatricia.com
I can attest to this, I bought my dream house from Ms Pat and it sits on my bulletin board.
ReplyDelete