Do you have art in your house and can you tell me about it please?

[ohfook]

I was at a friend’s house for the first time this week and they had loads of lovely art (original pieces) up on their wall and it just looked so good that it made me realise that I want to do the same.

My friend’s art was all centred around the same theme and colour scheme. I would say well over half were by the same local artist too.

I do not have an eye for colour at all so I suppose my question is, if you have a lot of art in your house, does it look better if you pick a colour scheme and go with it or can a mish-mash approach work just as well? Also do prints look a bit shit compared to the real thing or can prints look good too?

Last question where do you actually buy your stuff from and roughly how much do you spend? I have a very small budget!!

We have a very eclectic collection - some sea views painted by MIL, professional photos of a place we love in Spain, signed theatre posters. What FP and I disagree on is how to display them. He likes to do gallery style with one picture on each wall, where I would prefer to fill a whole wall.
Only have what you love to look at.

I live a couple of minutes from the sea and I have mostly artwork done by local artists that reflects the coastal theme.

None of them are ever going to be hugely valuable but I like them and my house is quite coastal in decor and furnishings so it all blends together.

We have a large selection bought from auctions over about 20 years. All sizes, subjects and media including ceramics. DH’s hobby is auctions and we go to a lot of viewings. Most expensive piece about £800 but quite a few pieces picked up for £60 - £120. Suits our home and made recent estate agent pics look ace.

Plenty of art, mostly originals from student art exhibitions. No particular themes, I buy pieces that cheer me up or have a particular beauty. Not only pictures, occasionally sculpture as well.

Sometimes it takes a couple of tries to find the perfect place for something.

The only thing I have that was chosen to fit a colour scheme is a large print of Paul Klee’s the feather tree, hung in the kitchen.

TBH I don't think orginal art is necessarily better. I have one original painting that my H got me as a present and I love. The thing I have more of is editioned prints, usually by artists not quite in my price bracket but also not super-recognisable images either.

I also have plenty of framed exhibition posters from galleries - sometime from less well known artists at little galleries, and sometimes blockbuster exhibitions or posters of well known pieces that I love. And I absolutely agree with other posters that colour coordination has no role to play. I buy what I like, and the main problem is finding wall space for them!

This has just prompted me to walk round the house, 72 paintings and prints. I may have over done it! I collect Georgian cartoons. I also have some very early C17th prints and some C18th naive oil paintings. I love the cartoons because of the humour, although its usually within the context of current affairs some translate fairly well over time and still seem relevant.

Naive paintings tend to command quite high prices but I've been lucky sniffing out paintings on FB, in antique shops and buy a lot in auctions.

Just buy what makes you smile or subjects that resonate with you.

OP, if you're in Newcastle have you been to The Biscuit Factory? Always worth a look - they have changing exhibitions through the year.

I have a number of paintings by local artists, all under £1,000, I prefer originals to prints. I do t think about colour schemes but I always think about where a piece will go before I buy it. I have run out if wall space so am saving up for a big piece by my favourite artist, which will cost around £8,000.

I have a whole mish mash of art. All of it is pieces that I just loved to look at for whatever reason at the time of buying. I do have several items from one artists, but all together it probably clashes and there is no rhyme or reason, but who cares? I like each one very much and I’d rather that than an enforced scheme where I didn’t enjoy it.

I have some sea scapes from this artist: https://www.soniascottjob-art.co.uk/ She is local to me, and I love the energy and impact of her work. (I’ve changed my name for this thread as I don’t want her to work out who I am!) Find something you love, not something that fits in with your colour scheme and you will get so much more enjoyment out of it.

Apologies, haven't RTFRT so may be repeating but for me it's about some kind of emotional connection rather than necessarily worrying too much about a theme. We have some large oil and gouache abstract paintings inherited from family (done by a professional artist family member) which I love.

I also have some bits of framed embroidery that I like, and various pieces of ceramics dotted around. Also a few cards and prints propped against windowsills but not sure that counts 😁 I will say that having art around you is good for the soul.

I have a lot of art, the most expensive was a very large oil painting that cost £4,000 from a gallery in Norfolk, but I love it and never get tired of looking at it. It’s the focal point of the whole room. We had just inherited some money from an aunt though and it was definitely a wild impulse buy while on holiday, it’s the most expensive thing I’ve ever bought second to our house and car. I also have prints and other originals, some of my dads paintings, some of mine, some that the kids did when they were little, other paintings picked up at charity shops, art fairs, antique fairs. It’s a total mish mash really. Sounds wanky but I do buy art that “speak to me”. That’s the point of art, you should have a reaction to it. Large antique shops or warehouses are a great place to find art, often seaside towns like Hastings and Rye attract a lot of artists and antique “emporiums” sometimes have piles of original art just in a pile in the corner that has some occasional treasure if you rifle through. I think art should give your home some personality. Nothing worse than bland mass produced art that’s obviously been bought to match a sofa colour or room scheme.

Ooh I am and I haven’t looked there. Thank you for the tip!

Whenever we go on a trip we look in the art gallery and occasionally buy something.
We have several pieces by an artist whose landscapes we particularly like, the rest are random pieces we have liked and picked up, that remind us of various trips we took.
I do have a couple of framed prints by well-known artists that I particularly like.
Our decor is neutral to set off the art - patterned wallpapers or curtains tend to clash or compete a bit, we think. I think the most we’ve spent on an individual piece has been about £600.

I only have original art in my house. Someone used to banter with me saying I must have loads of money but you can pick original pieces up , if you know where to look, cheaper than popular prints.

I have my favourite colours and style of art that I like and it gives a contious flow throughout the house that I like.

We have a lot of art, only 2 original both bought from local artists while on holiday. Others prints that we have framed and look lovely. All a bit random and really buy something as we like it rather that thinking about matching things.

I have a mishmash. 3 original landscapes by local artists that I bought at local art club exhibitions, 3 pieces of embroidery I did, one big Victorian piece of embroidery that is a family heirloom, various large and small landscape prints (mostly of my home county), a bunch of family photos grouped together in a whole mix of frames.

I also have 3 matching prints which I got from a relative's house after they died - their adult children said to come and take a memento. We thought they were original pencil studies of an Edwardian seaside town, but when I eventually got around to researching the artist's signature, I found they had published several books of this sort of study, and I viewed the relevant book in the British Library and found the original owner had just cut out some pages from a copy of the book and framed them! I still love them.

I also have a fused glass picture which I commissioned after a particularly difficult time in my life. I had seen the artist's work on TV at some point, and looked her up. I sent a bunch of reference pictures and a description of what I was looking for and she created it. pod4art.com/

I think the notion giving yourself lots of opportunities to see art is a great idea.

One bit of advice, if you see some art that really grabs you and think “oooh, thats a bit expensive” buy it **

I still think about a piece I saw on a trip to London 20 years ago. It was just out of my budget at the time so I didn’t get it, I’ve been thinking about it ever since. 😢

The next time I felt that way about a piece it was a sculpture and I bought it. It makes me happy looking at it every day.

** within reason obviously, don’t go without food, go into debt or miss your mortgage payment for art.

My husband likes to oil paint coastal scenes of where we live, so we have a couple of his best paintings up. He has also painted our cats and these are in the hall.
I collect prints of Robert Smith's (The Cure) paintings which he sells for charity, and I gave a few in my lounge.
I'd love an original, but these sell for a few thousand!

I have some artwork from a local artist

Local art galleries, local art groups will have exhibitions, often coffee shops or restaurants will display art for sale, auction houses.

Now you have made your mind up you will see art everywhere.

We have a few pieces from Welsh artists because I’m Welsh and over the years that’s where we’ve ended up being if we’ve managed a night away while the kids are with grandparents and we get all giddy and spend money (not lots, a couple of hundred max) on art. I do have a lovely drawing I bough in the charity shop for £10 too. We have a mix of photos, limited signed prints and one original painting. I love them all. I would like to get something else with a very small inheritance because they give us all pleasure and it will be a nice way to remember my loved one.

We always get them framed by a local framer if they are not already framed.