Since before Stephen and I were married, one of our goals has always been to collect unique, one of a kind art pieces. We both think original art is a great way to bring beauty and interest to a home, and we love that we don’t have to be millionaires to start an art collection we’ll love for years to come.
Our collection at this point is still small, but long nights on Etsy and design blogs are opening our eyes to new artists we’d love to pursue in the future. Let’s take a look at what I’d consider our original art collection so far, shall we?
This was a birthday gift from my dad a couple of years ago. It’s an original oil pastel we have hanging in our kitchen of a girl on a front porch. I love the colors in this piece and how the little girl seems to be lost in thought, journaling or sketching something across the street.
About half of our art collection are pieces Stephen or I made ourselves. This cut paper collage of a heart was one of Stephen’s gifts to me on our first wedding anniversary.
This cut paper card accompanied the heart art above. Isn’t “First of Forever” such a sweet saying?
Stephen actually started his college education majoring in Architecture. At our university, the architecture degree is very art-focused, so the big joke on campus is that first-year architecture students spend the first 6 weeks of school drawing bamboo.
It’s the truth! After 6 weeks in the architecture program and countless hours sketching bamboo, Stephen left to study mechanical engineering (thank goodness he did because we met in our engineering classes). He still has several bamboo sketches from his architecture days, which have recently made their way into our guest bedroom.
Moving on to my creations, of course you’ve seen my DIY state art…
And more recently, you saw the art I made to coordinate with our original guest bathroom color scheme…
We also have this huge abstract piece I made (here) for our master bedroom.
I’ve gotten the urge to paint again lately, so maybe I’ll be showing another personal creation sooner rather than later!
This next painting is a piece I bought freshman year of college, at a “Starving Artist” sale I went to with my mom. I love this scene from Paris and I especially love the texture the artist created on the canvas.
You don’t see texture like this on mass-produced artwork!
Here’s a close up of the people walking towards the Arc de Triomphe. I know this scene has been painted over and over by artists around the globe, but it’s still an original and I love that it reminds us of our trip to Paris.
This last piece is what I would consider our first “major” art purchase. It is a wild and vibrant painting Stephen fell in love with and bought for his office. It was actually painted by our good friend Lori, who studied art in college and has had several art shows and sales. You can go here to see more of her recent work.
My mother-in-law has a great process for decorating and selecting art for her home. If a wall is completely empty and needs art, she won’t rush the process of finding the perfect piece. Instead she’ll fill the space with an inexpensive piece until she comes across the perfect replacement, sometimes years later.
I guess we’ve inadvertently done the same thing. While we are pretty content with the art in our home today, we would both love to replace the “filler” pieces we purchased from retail stores when we first started decorating. In case you’re looking to do the same thing, here are two of my recent favorite artists whose pieces just make me happy!
RozArt on Etsy – I love this artist’s ability to capture whimsy and motion. Her paintings are so vibrant and my favorites are her close-up cow paintings. Although, my word, that peacock and pig are pretty adorable too!
Michelle Armas – Not in our budget, but utterly amazing! The paintings this woman creates are stunning! Mrs. Armas is single-handedly responsible for my renewed urge to paint. Two of my favorites of hers are below.
So how do you feel about original art? What about off-the-shelf pieces? Do you fill empty walls with inexpensive art until the right piece presents itself or do you leave the wall empty? How do you feel about creating art for your own home?
