What is ACEO? A Brief Introduction
If you are familiar with my work you will know that I love painting ACEOs. I came across them in 2006 after contemplating taking up painting again after a long hiatus and it was purely by chance that I found them.
So what exactly is an ACEO?
Well basically, an ACEO is a minitaure painting. They always measure 3.5″ x 2.5″ which coincidentally, is the same size as a regular trading card, e.g., baseball. The word ACEO is an acronym of Art Card Editions & Originals because that’s exactly what they are. Little art cards created by artists which can be bought as either an original (the actual original painting), or as a print (edition).
They were invented in 2004 by an ebay artist called Lisa Luree. Before ACEO there were, and still are, ATCs or Artist Trading Cards. They are exactly like ACEOs except for the fact that ATCs are never sold, only traded amongst artists. Lisa Luree realised that the general public were missing out on these fabulous little miniature artworks and made ATC available for sale to the general public. The ACEO was born.
What are they made with?
Anything you like. There’s no rule to the types of media you can use to create your ACEOs. Most of mine are acrylic on any type of paper I can get my hands on as I like to try and use every scrap of paper that I can. Off-cuts of paper are great for ACEOs!
Over the years I’ve seen all manner of materials used in the creation of ACEO.
- Oil on cardboard
- acrylic on wood
- Watercolour and ink
- Stitched fabric
- Encaustic wax
- Engraved metal
- Decoupage
…and there are many more combinations! If you can imagine it, you can create it!
The difference between Edition & Original
An original is exactly that. Some people mistake original for meaning, a one off, a one of a kind, but it actually means the original piece of artwork. The actual paper or canvas that the artist painted their creation on. This makes them more valuable than a print.
An edition is a print which has been made of an original ACEO. They can be ‘open edition’, which means there is no limit on the amount of prints that can be made. Or they can be ‘limited edition’, a set amount of prints usually somewhere in the region of 10, 25, 50 or 100. Limited editions are generally more valuable and more expensive than open editions.
You can find out more about the ACEO including storage suggestions and other useful information over at my Squidoo lens What Is ACEO?
3 Comments
See what others are sayingI just wasn’t aware of ‘ACEO’. I learned sth new today, thanks to your excellent post Lisa.
Miniature paintings… they sound just right… ‘n so doable… I do watercolor paintings from time to time, I’ve a feeling I’ll be giving ACEO a try pretty soon
Nice artwork, Lisa Marie!
“They always measure 3.5″ x 2.5″ which coincidentally, is the same size as a regular trading card, e.g., baseball.”
Too bad that you are limiting yourself to that. You could also create postcard sizes: 90x125mm, 150x105mm and open a whole new world and market for you: maximaphily. Please explore my websites for examples and details Including my blog http://dorincard.blogspot.com
Thank you Dorin!
ACEOs are the size of painting that I favour the most. I also paint in other sizes: postcard size, 8″x10″, 8″x8″, 6″x6″, 3″x3″, 12″ x 16″… you name it I paint it. I tend to stick to the small art format of under 14″ but I have painted larger than that. Thanks for suggesting it all the same.