Support the local arts...and your favorite band

We both have a serious love for music (listening and playing) so as the decor continues to come along we feel music will play a big part in our decorations. Awhile back I was browsing GigPosters looking for some of our favorite artists and trying to dig up local posters of when they were in town. As luck would have it I came across a poster for one of my absolute faves (My Morning Jacket) and a show at the local LC Pavilion. The poster was done by a local artist named Cody.

Artwork by Cody Holland via www.GigPosters.com

After a couple emails between the two of us, I found out he lived less than 10 minutes away and was willing to print the poster for me to pick up for the very fair rate of $20! I picked up the print a week later and was off to JoAnn Fabrics during one of their routine 50% off custom framing sales. 

Originally I was intending on doing a very basic white matte border and black frame (I already had a frame laying around). However the keen eyed JoAnn employee said that the white border would really wash out the artwork as its very light in color as well. After flipping through pages of sample mattes, I decided on a textured black matte. Very unique and certainly not the cheapest, however I justified it because of the outrageous deal I got on the print. A week or so later my matte was ready for pick up. I decided to frame the poster myself (saved a few bucks) as opposed to paying Jo-Anns to do it. Here she is!

We have yet to decide on a final spot for our new poster so until then it sits on our iKea Lack shelf in the office leaning against the wall. Have you ever had a framing experience like this where you went in with one idea in your mind and came out with a completely different version? Is anyone else out there using displaying concert posters as artwork?