Where so you find nice affordable art for the walls

[tostaky]

And by affordable i mean cheap like max £200 a piece
i would like a nice anstract painting for the wall behind me in my small office.
but alao something for the staircase leading to the loft
i mean all my walls are empty and i want to add charactoor fun or style or atmosphere though art.
i do not want slogan or bintage posters
i did go to “the affordable art fair” but the cheapest piece was around &600!!!
any advice appreciated
thanks

Two options I can think of:

Buy prints - e.g. online or from the Tate

or get some acrylics, canvases, brushes etc and get creative

inspiration:

https://youtube.com/shorts/GRRy_hCRxRQ?si=FEYNHa1xT88NLXkf

Have you tried Etsy @tostaky

eta, it seems they have a BF deal on atm too

Cyber bonus: Get 20% off your order
Sign in or create an Etsy account to claim. Save up to £10. Ends on 03 Dec.

I have had success with these sources:

wallfinders and andyokay websites
shein canvas prints then frames sourced from car boots and charity shops
easyframe website
car boots charity shops for actual paintings

I’ve got some nice bits from John lewis

Post some pictures of the kind of art you like and I'll do some for you!

The artfinder website sells original pieces by real artists- when I went to art classes, some others sold their works there. If you look at prints, they are generally more affordable.

Look on Instagram - my art group post paintings all the time. So do others.
Search for abstract paintings on Instagram.
There are lots of local art groups who want to sell. We also exhibit in local coffee shops. Others round the country do the same.
Search for ‘open studios’ in your area - a day when local artists open their homes / studios to the public.

Museum print professionally framed.

King and McGaw - huge selection of paintings, posters and prints, you can select different sizes and frames and they all come beautifully packaged and ready to hang on the wall https://www.kingandmcgaw.com/

John Lewis have a lot in your price range

Fy! Used to be quite good, a lot of choice and that can sometimes be overwhelming. Annoyingly, I’ve noticed some really bad AI artwork on there recently

I use eBay. I read the listing carefully and make sure they are professionals. The most I have paid is £165 for an oil of the Norfolk Broads in the snow.

Auctions. Some have lots of pictures in their general auctions as well as specific fine art sales.

Student shows at an FE college or university.

Artfinder and Rise Art are my two choices for online portals.
But if you can find smaller galleries locally, you can often connect to local artists. If you see something in the style you like, you can find their Instagram or website.

What I want to know is how do you know if the asking price is reasonable?

There was a print on sale at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park for £550 that I liked but I had no idea if it was worth £550, £55 or even £5500.

I too would like pictures on the wall,but our house needs a load of other stuff first that we haven't got around to doing.

Also, where are people buying frames? Again the price varies enormously and I have no idea what is a sensible price for a frame.

I make my own!
I buy a large piece of mounting board from the range, some acrylic paints and a vintage frame from marketplace. There's lots of tutorials online and you can just splash paint around and have fun with it.

Or alternatively - facebook marketplace for art already done. There's a few small artistst that sell on there.

I have used art500 before.it has many options in that price range

I paint (because I love it) and do some fairly good work sometimes so I have an insight of sorts into where artists sell (I don’t so it’s not a plug).
Instagram is one place you can search and browse artists and styles and the artists will have their websites included in their profile.
Not every original artwork is expensive!
My village (East of England) has a twice yearly art trail where local artists exhibit and sell - all kinds of styles.
There may be some at Christmas markets.
I’d avoid Temu as it is currently stealing artist’s work and selling it as if it were prints from the artistb(without even naming the artist) and is causing a lot of distress in the artist community.
Some sell via Facebook or EBay.
Or Etsy or any number of different sites

We went to a exhibition in Italy in the summer and when I got home I found an original and a print of the artists work on etsy. Both under £200, so agree etsy.

We go to our local framer. I pay whatever it costs so no idea if I'm being ripped off!

We bought some photography from a Irish photographer ten years ago. It daily brings me joy.

One piece was £1000 framed but it's massive and looks amazing. I will enjoy it forever. We were lucky to be in the position to spend a bit of money when we sold a house. It's not usual for us!

Try Green Lili- lovely stuff and fab customer service too.

www.greenlili.com/products/neutral-checkerboard-framed-abstract-canvas-art

Seconding King and McGraw. They also have huge warehouse sales occasionally if you can get to Newhaven. We've picked up some great framed pieces there for next to nothing.

Hang something that means something to you

Travel and bring back works from a local artist or museum shop

Tea towels, posters, greetings cards, photographs (Max Speilmann or Boots do blow ups)

Just buying 'art' with no emotional connection is just a waste, you want a story and an emotion behind each piece