What is an ACEO card?
ACEO cards (Art Cards, Editions & Originals) are mainly meant for collecting and selling.
ACEO's are affordable mini artworks that may be framed and collected.
I mainly love them for "doodling".

The size is what makes an ACEO.
The only standard requirement for an ACEO are its height and width.
(2 ½ x 3 ½ inches, 6.4cm x 8.9cm)
They are the same size as baseball trading cards. The reason for this is that Art Cards are made to be traded! They are a great way to collect affordable art.

Some history
ACEO's are fashioned after Art Cards that were popular as far back as the 1600's in France. People used them in place of photographs to capture the portrait of a loved one that they could carry on them. The starving artist might trade an Art Card for a meal or exchange for something else he couldn't otherwise afford.
Artists often traded them amongst each other to learn new drawing or painting techniques.

They can be made on any surface you can think of. Paper, wood, canvas, fabric, glass, metal even old playing cards if you want to. You can use acrylic paints, oil, watercolor, gouache, pencil, crayon, foil, ink, enamel, collage or even mixed media.
Some ACEO cards come with rounded corners (like a playing card) others have square corners.
The style of an ACEO varies from artist to artist. Folk art, realism, abstract, impressionist. It’s just a matter of what you prefer as a collector and what you are better at as an artist.
Artists generally sign and date the back, and may also include a title and contact information.
Some artists only sell original artwork. Some sell originals and prints (editions).

Today ACEO's have become the fastest growing collectibles and can be found on auctions such as Ebay. Simply typing ACEO into the search button of Artwanted will give you hundreds of ACEO's to browse at your leisure.

What is the price? ACEO cards can range from $5 to over $60 dollars depending on the Art and Time involved in a card.

How do you display?
Framing or storing in archival quality 9 pocket sleeves (Walmart/Kmart) originally designed for trading cards (Pokemon, baseball, etc); ideal for ACEOs.

…and remember: ACEO's are highly Addictive! One is simply not enough.

Abstract watercolor on cold press heavy weight paper 140 LB (330 g/m2)
Copyright Olga van Dijk 2008©
Unauthorized copying or use of images is prohibited.