Scott Menaul's Blog

When I tell people I make “custom art,” it isn’t always clear to them what that means. I have been doing it for so long that I forget that it is an unusual concept to a lot of people. So how can art be customized?

It helps to understand my creative process. My abstract art is created using digital 3D rendering techniques that let me sculpt “glass” and control their lighting and composition. Then I produce the art on canvas (or paper or almost any material I want) using the giclee process. I run my own giclee printer and handle all of the prints myself so I can make the piece at nearly any size—from a small 8″ by 10″ to large 40″ by 60″ (and even bigger if we start using special printing methods.) Most of my work is gallery wrapped, which means that I stretch the canvas around wooden stretcher bars instead of framing it. The stretcher bars (what the canvas is mounted on) are handmade by a local craftsman that can make custom sizes. I stretch the canvas on to the frame by hand and even go as far as to constructing my own shipping boxes if needed.

Here is a breakdown of how I can customize my art:

Custom Sizes — Since I control the creative, printing and framing processes, my art can be produced at almost any size. This doesn’t just mean I can make it bigger or smaller; I can also make the art taller or wider or even expand it across multiple canvases. For example, you might like one of my pieces but it wouldn’t work above the wide couch where you want to put it. I can turn it into a horizontal piece or triptych that fills the space. Read The Evolution of Atlantis to see how custom sizes worked for clients with different demands on their space.

Custom Colors — The properties of the glass and lighting in my art determines the colors in the piece. By changing these I can drastically transform the artwork to suit different decors and environments. The original art may be cool blue tones but if you have a rustic country house you need warmer colors, and I can do that. For the clearest illustration of this, look at original Musings and its variations Autumn Musings, Musings Natural, and Romance. Each was created as clients came to me and said “I like this piece but my place is these colors…”

Custom Composition — My artwork often contains geometric elements such as rings, spheres, cubes and pyramids. A client saw Aqua Rings and asked us to add spheres inside of the glass rings (as well as change the colors), and so I made Glass Rings and Spheres.

Custom Materials — Most of my art is on fine art canvas but I can also produce it on paper and watercolor paper or even unusual materials like vinyl, aluminum, ceramics, semi-transparent film that goes over windows, and more. This opens up creative possibilities such as mounting the art on wood, wrapping the piece around a column or cutting it to custom sizes and shapes and mounting in clear plastic objects (we’ve done all of that and more!)

Totally New Artwork — You can always come to me with an idea even if you don’t see anything in my art galleries that matches what you’re looking for. When I created art for the high rise condo Signature Place in St. Petersburg, FL, the interior designer asked for original artwork for the main lobby (in addition to the 60+ custom pieces that went in all 30 elevator lobbies). Knowing their size requirements and color palette, I created Dancer in the Breeze and Daisy.

That should give you a good idea of what it means to make custom art. Let me know if you have any questions or ideas. I love hear them! You can call me at 727-726-7411 or leave a comment below.