Have you heard of an ACEO?
Neither had I, until I saw a flood of videos explaining their resurgence in popularity - people love to paint them, and these tiny cards provide a gateway where anyone can become an art collector, curating their own personal collection.
Art Cards Editions and Originals are incredibly popular on eBay specifically - that's where they are titled "ACEO," otherwise you could call them a mini painting. I've never sold on eBay before, but these tiny pieces of art are changing hands and making videos go viral with collectors opening their hauls for their audiences to enjoy along with them.
With the determination of Elle Woods headed to the law library during a study montage, I researched, watched videos, made notes, updated my business plan, and started measuring and painting.
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ACEOs have one rule: the format. The art must be 2.5" x 3.5" - that's it. Any medium, any subject. When it is first produced and sold by the artist, it's called an ACEO. When it is traded by someone else, it's called an Artist Trading Card, ATC for short. These are essentially the same size as baseball cards, with the same idea in mind: to change hands or to be jealously kept in someone's personal collection. |
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I love the idea that a buyer, who now becomes an art collector in their own right, can build and showcase their own personal art gallery. It makes art so accessible in this format. Imagine, tiny originals flying around the world and landing in a connoisseur's mailbox to brighten their day, or becoming the crown jewel in their carefully curated collection. How cool!
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Collectors are choosing to keep their tiny works of art in trading card albums or frame them, but personally I like the look of the tiny easel. When I painted this trawler with the morning light gleaming on the windows and rust dripping down the hull, I had a "I can't believe I painted this moment!" and with a small pain of sadness, I'll pack up this painting this week to send to the winning bidder in an auction that is raging right now. It has been wild to watch... 21 bids so far and an hour to go... |
But not every painting has a crazy amount of bids, and that is great in its own way as well. A painting might really speak to someone! I recently sold a small painting of pumpkins to a returning collector and I wrote him a letter about what I was thinking about when I painted it. I was remembering rushing home after school right around Halloween, flipping through the TV Guide to find out when It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown would be on. This was an event in our house growing up! He wrote back and said he had a similar experience! How cool is that? That a painting of mine could resonate with someone across the country and bring them joy... amazing.
This entire experience is breathing new life into my artistic journey, and I'm so grateful to the art enthusiasts that have resonated with my work. I've just started offering prints of my most treasured paintings, and even shrank some larger works down to ACEO-size prints to add even more variety and detail to a carefully curated collection.
Have you made an ACEO before, or collected one? What was your experience like? Do you have a certain subject or motif you try and collect?
