The Lucy Art Story So Far...

I am an abstract artist based in Ossett, West Yorkshire. I first started painting/drawing whilst very young and then let it slip during my teenage years and didn't pick it up again until my late 20's. I started just doing paintings for our new house. After seeing the art friends wanted some and said i should try selling them and so i did. I tried Ebay to start with, but i didn't sell my first 6 paintings and at a cost of £10 per listing the costs where rising and i was literally 2 mins from giving it up when a lady bought my first painting for the minimum bid of £45 and Lucy Art was born from there (which is named after my daughter Lucy). I built confidence from this, adding more art and all these sold, so i created a website of my works (www.lucyart.co.uk) which i was producing from my garage at home and linked this to ebay and vice versa and it was an instant success. Within 6 months i had packed my job in and moved to an 800sq ft studio near my home and a month after that persuaded my wife Paula to follow suit and help with the day to day admin of the business. After a further 6 months i was always thinking how to expand the business as i could only create so many paintings, so i looked at digital printing, printing any photo on to canvas and stretching around a 38mm deep wooden frame. I spoke to our web designer and we quickly offered it online, customers took to it very well. We used an outside company to create them in the early days then quickly bought the printers and i asked my Dad who was approaching retirement if he would like to work for me making frames and stretching the canvas prints he said yes so we were in business. This side grew from strength to strength, i then took on another member of staff a young art graduate, John Goddard who was then our graphic artist. Taking on staff is quite scary and a big responsibilty but after a while you work out how best to manage individuals and i do enjoy having a nice close team around me and this only helps with customer service and ensuring we all produce the best quality products, all of the time and our large database of regular customers only proves we must be doing something right.
With the business getting busier all the time we needed more space and my landlord looked at extending existing premises, but it took too long to get all plans passed etc and we found the perfect spot in my hometown of Ossett, West Yorkshire. It was an old car showroom over 4000 sq ft just on the edge of the town centre on a busy road and with large front and side windows for our displays. When initially looking for new premises i wasn't sure if i needed such a big gallery space as 99% of our business was online but as we started refurbishment work i just decided let's go for it and we even created an extra display area in the old car garage. I must admit i definately bit of more than i could chew and costs just got totally out of control and had a nightmare with the builders who we had to sack 3 weeks prior to our opening date and if it hadn't have been for my Dad, who is builder/joiner by trade, there was no way we would have got finished. We got the keys at the end of March 2007 and opened the gallery 18th August 2007 and to say myself and all staff were running on empty for the grand opening is an understatement, but it was a good day and night. Before the big move we employed further members of staff, Linda who was my friends Mum and a fantastic addition to the team. Lucy then sent in her cv and had experience of working in an art gallery so she seemed the perfect candidate. Next in was Dan who has really impressed me and is excellent at his job and great with the customers.
The gallery was really busy until Feb 2008 when we really started to see the effect of the global recession and the credit crunch kicking in and an extremely hard 2 years followed and we had to streamline the business, but i believe it has made us a better and stronger outfit going forward and a lot of lessons have been learnt along the way. Business is really good again and whilst writing this we are looking forward to a busy Christmas period and we have lots of exciting ideas for 2011 including a new website, perspex art and framed artwork to buy online and all created in house to ensure top quality.
The gallery is at 29 Station Rd, Ossett, West Yorkshire. WF5 8AY.
We produce:-
Original art on canvas, painted by me with free colour change service.

Canvas prints, which is art we source, print and frame in house and all has our slant on to make them unique to us.

Photos printed on to canvas, which is exactly that and you can upload your images online or call in the gallery. You can also have them printed as posters or fine art prints.

Photo Wallpaper, we can produce custom bespoke wallpaper from any image so you can give any room a view.

We also offer bespoke framing and perspex acrylic art.

Canvas prints by John Goddard of Lucy Art to feature on ITV1's 60 minute makeover 11th Sept 09

Canvas prints by John Goddard of Lucy Art to feature on ITV1's 60 minute makeover 11th Sept 09

New From Lucy Art, Acrylic Perspex Art

New Perspex Acrylic Art from Lucy Art. Any image transferred onto 8mm deep clear acrylic panels, images ranging from modern landscapes, abstract art paintings and contemporary art. To see the full collection click here, http://www.lucyart.co.uk/products.php?cat=4

Photos Of canvas art paintings to suit your space

Thought i would share some pictures of my canvas paintings in situ. Below are shots of a show home that i painted some original canvas art for.











The art shown here is "Duo Rojo" which has been changed in colour to suit the designers choice of interior. The contemporary art on canvas can be purchased here, http://www.lucyart.co.uk/viewcanvas.php?productID=217&displayPage=2&cat=1&colour1=red&colour2=0&style=0











The art shown is "9 shades of teal and choco" which the designer asked me to customise to suit the colour scheme. Colour changes can be achieved at no extra cost, just order online and post in your samples and instructions. It's that simple. To view the canvas art used in the show home please click here, http://www.lucyart.co.uk/viewcanvas.php?productID=627&size=3&displayPage=1&customise=0&cat=1&colour1=0&colour2=0&style=0













This is a version of "Rettangoli Rossi", which
has been hung Landscape, unlike the version i show online which is portrait. Thats the beauty of how i work, i create the look you want not what i want, i am simply here to help you get the look your after. This piece of original contemporary art can be found here on the website to purchase in these or any colour and size to suit your space, http://www.lucyart.co.uk/viewcanvas.php?productID=17&size=3&displayPage=1&customise=0&cat=1&colour1=red&colour2=0&style=0










The last piece is "Triple Vogua" which has been hand painted in acrlyics to match the brief of the interior designer. The original version of this piece of contemporary canvas art can be purchased here and change to suit your space,

Canvas Prints and Photos To Canvas Explained

We thought it would be nice to explain the materials and quality of service we put into our canvas prints and photos on canvas.
Firstly once you the customer have ordered canvas prints or a photo onto canvas, we take your order and issue a delivery date within 48 hrs of the order being placed, the delivery is within 5-7 working days from the day you placed the order. One of our graphic artists, John or Dan will then look at your image and prepare as per your instructions. We remove any dust and scratches, date stamps or small inperfections from the image before resizing the photo to the correct size. If you have requested any special effects, ie Pop Art, Comic Art, Watercolour Effect, Sepia or Black and White we will email a proof for your approval. WE NEVER JUST PRINT YOUR IMAGE WITHOUT ENSURING IT IS OF GOOD ENOUGH QUALITY. The personal touch is evident in all we do, we are a family based business and all members of staff are extremely friendly and will help you out wherever possible.
Next we go to print using pure white 415 gsm cotton canvas, using our Canon and Epson printers and only genuine inks so we can offer the manufactures guarantee that the ink will not fade for a minimum of 75 years. We also varnish all prints as standard which can take the lifespan of the inks to 200 years. Obviously none of us will be around to deal with any refund claims if it fades after 199 years but you can rest assured you are buying a quality product.
Once printed we wrap around an 18 or 35 mm deep timber frame which we make at our West Yorkshire studio and art gallery to suit your requirements. The canvas is the mounted on the frame and stapled on the back. We then varnish the prints to give them the ultimate finish, this really brings the prints to life and gives you the extra UV protection.
The canvas prints, once dried are then ready to be packed and shiped via Parcelforce to your desired addresss.
WARNING! There are many companies online that offer this service but we have been doing it for a lot longer and have the experience to ensure we only send out what we would have in our own homes. Many also use compatable inks which cannot give you the same colour range as the genuine thing. Remember you get what you pay for in this world, although we are extremely competitive on price and unrivalled on quality.

New Homepage Launched Today

Was hectic today as we launched the new homepage. We felt this was needed to get the message across to potential customers that they can customise all artwork in the "Original art" section of the website. All canvas art paintings and most of the canvas prints can be customised to suit your interior space. Today also saw the launch of free postage to all UK mainland customers, until 31st May 2008. See www.lucyart.co.uk for more info.

Affordable canvas art to suit your decor by artist Rob Haigh

The best Christmas present you can give a loved one is an original piece of art created to order in any size or colour, by international selling artist Rob Haigh. Rob's work has been used on TV programs such as 60 minute makeover and Selling Homes. Rob's work is exclusively for sale on his website, which is named after his daughter, http://www.lucyart.co.uk/products.php?cat=1
Please order early to avoid dissapointment. Canvas prints, canvas art, giclee prints, glossy photo prints and enlargements, photos to canvas also available. Full online ordering facility available.

Canvas prints and canvas art make great Christmas gift idea

At www.lucyart.co.uk, we have the greatest original Christmas gift idea. Why not give your loved one a canvas print of there favourite photo. We can produce your photo onto canvas from any format, ie Negative, Slide, Digital images, Paper prints etc. We have a full online ordering facility and you can choose to email, post or upload your images, http://www.lucyart.co.uk/photo2_main.php
We turn around with 7-10 days from date of ordering.