Breaking News…This is now a Prize Challenge; enter for your chance to win!

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It’s not always simple to choose artwork for a space. Maybe you enjoy a print, a photograph, or your own original watercolor, but it doesn’t fit the space as well as you’d hoped. Or you love the colors, but the composition isn’t working.

What to do? Why don’t you slice it up?

I’m not suggesting you cut up any valuable or treasured artwork. But sometimes all it takes is a different viewpoint. So try this: divide one image into sections, frame each section separately and hang as a grouping. It’s a fresh look.

This technique can add interest to strong images too. You can increase the impact of an image by enlarging it and displaying it in several frames. I did this with a dandy Martha’s Vineyard photograph, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out (above).

I grew up in New England and as a kid spent some summer vacations on Cape Cod. Fond memories of grey shingled cottages, the warm sand between my toes, the smell of clam chowder, lobster bibs. To this day that area holds a special place in my heart, and we get back to visit here and there.

Now that we’re redecorating our master bedroom, I am trying to bring in some of that East Coast beach feel. I searched stock photography and found some great images: docks, pathways through the dunes, beach fence, and a cottage. Then I printed out “comp” versions of the images I liked best.

I got a steal on four sale 8″ x 10″ frames at Michaels, so I sliced up and pasted some test groupings of four. Chuck and I chose the one we liked best of a dock in Martha’s Vineyard (yippee–we agreed first time!). Then I bought and downloaded the image, did a bit of math to crop, and printed each quarter of the image on photo paper to fit the frames.

Here’s the original photograph:

I am tickled with the finished project (top); I plan to do this for our room with at least another of the images.

So there’s your inspiration. This week’s Challenge: Slice up an image and display it creatively. You can make a grouping like I did or you can even rearrange its parts in one frame — talk about instant abstraction.

See what your room needs, get slicing and have a blast. And everyone who enters gets a chance to win a fabulous new design book!