art in your home

[puppydavies]

does anyone buy art? commission paintings? collect sculpture? i'm curious who - if anyone - buys art for their home, and what draws them to choose what they do.

i just ordered some photographic prints from an online contact i've long admired. i have very little money and even less space so it's not something i do often but sometimes i can't help myself. you can pick up prints (photographic or screen) for just a few £ from someone just starting out and i like the idea that i'm giving more than just verbal appreciation and support for people's work.

tell me what's on your walls (or plinths ) and how it came to be there.

hi puppy !
well, there's a lot of stuff on my walls
I have a mixture of prints (etchings/a monoprint), watercolours including a big Victorian one, portrait of my grandma painted by a now fairly well known artist when he was a student, a picture of me by same, an acrylic of me by an ex while he was a student at Wimbledon, lots of watercolours by my dad and my grandma, some nice fraqmed photographs,mostly taken by me, and a few pictures done by my mum as an art student and later on for ds when he was small. The only commercial print is a picture by Craigie Aitchison from Tate Britain.

i have a huge photo in my lounge that is one of mine. (i take and sell photos) on the other wall are some venture pictures from 2 years ago (still paying for them)

aha it clearly helps to hang out with artists to get your walls well furnished i have to admit the only pictures i had for years were ones i was given by photographer friends.

i wonder whether (aspiring/retired lol) artists are more likely to spend money on other artists' work? i know that as a crafter i'm more likely to appreciate and pay for hand made things.

what drew you to the aitchison print mas?

what kind of pictures do you take mom? do you make any kind of living from them?

i take all kinds of pictures, if i was to be pigeon holed it would probably be abstract - you know, odd angles and all that. no i don't make a living, they are in some local arty shops but only just got them online and need to get the pricing right.Too many overheads at the mo! To be perfectly honest they aren't anything spectacular, i just like them and some people do too

A friends mother is an artist and we had long admired her work. They got her to do one for us as a wedding present and we have since bought another (for DH's 30th).

Other than that, we like to buy when we are on hols so have various prints from overseas as well as an acrylic from Sri Lanka and an oil from cornwall.

I recently got an arty photo of the west pier in Brighton - my home town.

not spectacular is cool. i like quiet pictures myself. the one i have in my front room is a long view down a frozen ditch at dawn. almost abstract, very dark, very quiet. love it.

is there anywhere we can see your work online?

puppy i won't link as its an ad really which needs paying for which i can't AFFORD TO DO! (sorry hit caps) but when things get financially better (ie when i can open my mail without crying ) then i will pay for an all singing all dancing ad

I think you're right about retired artists /aspiring artists/people from art background do buy other partists stuff, my parents home if full of art bought from exhibitions/friends or given as presents by artist friends - I've inherited various bits and pieces from my parents/grandparents.
I have a couple of etchings by a friend of my mum and I've just remembered a woodcut which I bought on my honeymoon in Edinburgh (little pics of the city).
The Craigie Aitchison I chose because I love his work - fab colours - and he was a lecturer at art school when I was there,though I wasn't a student of fine art.
All my friends from art school have walls full of stuff and I'm always a bit shocked to go into people's houses where they just don't have any pictures.

we have my paintings,a klimt print and a pic a local artist did of my 2 eldest.

I commissioned a mosaic from an artist in Southwold - but he backed out

I have since commissioned a stained glass panel (funnily enough from an artist in southwold) & hopefully I will get that in the spring

Southwold and Walberswick seem to be very artistic places ! Do you know Jason Bowyer's work ? I don't especiially, but he and his father do a lot of paintings from there.

I googled him - but it's not really my thing

I also have a very lovely watercolour - but no idea of artist/age etc - I just love it - it has to be over 20 yrs old - I 'borrowed' it from my grandparents

I also 'borrowed' an oil once - but it had to go back as it cost a fortune & I was worried about insurance

I'm an artist, so naturally most of my walls are covered in paintings done by myself, my husband [also an artist] and various artist friends.

I regularly go to auctions mainly up in Dublin,and my most recent purchase was a very small framed Jack B Yeats sketch.

It was quite expensive but I had to have it and it's certainly become a most prized piece.

I also attend student graduate shows and have purchased some wonderful paintings and pieces of sculpture by up and coming artists of the future.

TingTang - what kind of stuff do you and your dh do ? can we see ?!

i think if it comes up in casual conversation it doesn't count as an ad does it? ;)

yes, we'd love to see - please !

i don't want to get in trouble with MNHQ i need MN at mo and don't want to be asked to leave!

Tbh, its nothing fantastic and there are only a few on at mo.

so far we seem to be onto something with our be/know/be related to an artist theory

moljam did you commission the picture of your kids or was it a friend thing?

katymac why commission? do you have awkward spaces to fill? a certain idea of what you wanted that you couldn't find off the peg? or just a yen for a unique piece of work?

DP is an artist, so we have some of his work around. Not a lot, though, because he mainly works in video - would be nice to have plasma screens in every room showing his stuff, but not that practical or affordable .

Would love to be able to afford to buy/commission art. Would be near the top of my list if we won the lottery.

There aren't that many online at mo so i am prob safe-ish

if you google Anastacia Doyan a couple come up from teh ebay shop.(its not my realname - its my "stage name")

MNHQ -please don't ban me

Primarily to do with my business

The council won't let me put a sign up outside my house for my childminding business. So I thought I would put up my logo. The chap couldn't do it & I ended up doing it myself - & very nice it looks too (on the side of my house)

The stained glass panel - was that I loved the artists work & I am doing a new project (my long awaited nursery) & I wanted the same logo for it - we are going to mount it as a light box & I ope it will look wonderful

I love the idea of owning art (I just don't limit it to painting/drawings) when I am rich it will be a passion I indulge in

I have also commissioned several pieces of jewelry - I like the uniqueness - that mine is the only one like that & I have had several pieces of furniture made

I'm an artist also, and we have loads of pictures on the wall (and more in the cellar that dp doesn't like!). We also buy art, and have loads of art reference books. I do find it strange to be in houses that have nothing on the walls.

I've also noticed that once people start buying art, they tend to continue and really get into it.