Pair Art Together with Colours

Colour is one of the easiest ways to pair art together. You want both artwork that are hanging beside each other to have similar colours in them. For example, think of how the art is connected. If it is different art, maybe it has the same colour of navy blue in each painting. You want to make sure the colours go together. Neutral colours are grey, brown, black, white. Similar colours should look the same but may be slightly darker, lighter or brighter.

Pair Art Together with Style

The artwork should be in the same or similar style so that it makes sense as to why they are hanging side by side. For example, two black and white photographs, to colourful abstract paintings etc. If the styles are very different abstract and a realistic painting then they won’t go together. You might get away with different styles of art hanging near each other for a gallery wall because in that arrangement it is a group of multiple artwork not just two pieces.

Pair Art Together with Lines

Your artwork can connect with lines either obvious lines or non obvious. An obvious line would be a thick black paint stroke that starts on one painting and then comes across on the other painting. A non obvious line could be a horizon line on a landscape. Ideally the lines should match up to make the art look more connected!

Pair Art Together with Frames

Lastly, if you are hanging art together as a diptych -two pieces side by side you want to make sure they are in the same frame so that they go together. Again, this doesn’t apply if you are hanging art on a gallery wall because that would be a collection of art 6 or more. You should be able to choose the same frame and matting because the art is of similar colours and styles that it will go with the same frame. If you need help framing your art check out this blog post about framing.

3 tips to style a shelf so that you can display your art collection proudly in your home. Learn from artist Jackie Partridge on how you can display art on a shelf! Do you have open shelving in your home? Or maybe you would like to add shelves to display your art collection, family photographs, some candles and fresh cut flowers. Maybe you have even tried to style your shelves before and they just end up looking either too crowded or worse.. BORING!

With some knowledge about composition and art display you will be able to style better shelves in your home. Read my three tips below!

3 Tips to Style a Shelf

Tip 1 - to Style your shelf- Experiment and play

Part of styling is about having fun and arranging items to what you feel drawn to. Everyone has their own personal design style and this shows up in how we dress ourselves and how we decorate our homes. Through playing and experimenting you will naturally discover what your eye is drawn to and what you enjoy looking at. Remember the whole point of open shelving is displaying the items you love. Through the experimentation process you will discover what works by fiddling and tinkering until you find the spot that is just right for your objects. You can really play with different textures on a shelf by having a mixture of textured objects that interest you.

How to style your shelves with art. Art displayed on shelves

Tip 2- to Style your shelf-Add books

You can use books to stack them horizontally and put items on top of them to create different heights or levels. You can also display the books vertically by using hardcover books to stand up on their own or you can use book ends. A large heavy object like a plant can also act as a book end. Books help take up space and can be arranged as beautiful and colourful objects. They also look natural- we are used to seeing books on a shelf. You can arrange your books by size or even by colour. The Home Edit does a great job of arranging books by colour in what they call rainbow order.

Tip 3 - to Style your shelf-Create variety and a focal point

It helps to understand composition to make a styled shelf look beautiful and not too crowded. Even if you don’t understand composition just know that you need a focal point. You should aim to have one focal point per shelf. You can create a focal point on a shelf in a number of ways - including through contrast - dark objects next to light or soft next to rough etc. You should create space around the object you want to show off. You might pick an object that is larger or bright to be your focal point. The focal point should stand out from a distance and be what your eye is attracted to when you look at your display shelves.

How to Style your shelf. Artwork on a shelf

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Avoid these three things:

Avoid making things look to symmetrical or perfect
Avoid making the shelves look to crowded -just in an artwork there should be areas for you to rest your eyes
Avoid keeping things the same-take a look at Pinterest for inspiration. You can follow some of my home decor and art displaying boards for ideas. With shelving you can change out items to add holiday or seasonal decor like flowers, leaves, pumpkins or pinecones. The possibilities are endless. Just remember you can rearrange your shelves at any time which is part of the fun!

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How to Pair Art Together