Snake Wall Art

Snake Wall Art in Tall and Wide Formats

Orientation is the real decision here, and it depends on what the snake is doing. A coiled snake is essentially a circle and belongs in a square or a portrait format with room around it. A snake in motion, stretched along a branch or across sand, is one long horizontal line and needs a wide frame; put that image in a tall one and you either crop the animal or leave dead space above and below. A vertical shot only makes sense when the snake is climbing or hanging, which is a genuine posture but a less common one.

Head studies are the third option and they behave like portraits. Filling the frame with the head, the eye and the scale pattern gives you something closer to a graphic study than a wildlife picture, and it holds a narrow wall well — beside a door, or in the slot between two windows.

Scale pattern is what separates a good print from a dull one in this subject. Diamond, banded and reticulated markings are strong repeating geometry, and at a decent size they read as pattern from across the room and as an animal up close. A plain-coloured species photographed flatly has neither quality and tends to look like a length of rope.

Room fit is not universal and there is no point pretending otherwise. A fair number of people are uneasy around this subject, so a large head study in a hallway that guests must walk past is a choice with consequences. A study, a games room or a personal space is the usual home for it, and the more abstract the treatment, the wider the audience.

Green tree species bring vivid green and yellow, desert species bring tan, rust and cream, and monochrome treatments strip it all back to pattern. Decide which of those three your room can carry before you shortlist, because once it is on the wall the palette matters more than the pose.