Affordable Art?

[Alex]

So I am looking for an affordable art/artists to furnish my living room. I am pretty picky about art and my wife and I spent 3-4 months looking all over for that one special piece of art. Problem is, I think picking art is the hardest part of the whole remodeling! OMG!

Anyways, I was just wondering if you guys know any affordable art galleries/artists out there?

Dumping $6-7K per piece is not my cup of tea though...

Thanks!

[TreeHugger]

My husband and I create our own art - a cheap way to decorate. I paint and he takes pictures. I have also found great things at art shows and farmer's markets, like metal sculptures and such that aren't very expensive. I love having original, "real" art around. I'm sure you have some beautiful photos, you could hang - the big one of the rocks and yellow flowers we got enlarged through Kodak, on line, and Rich matted and framed it very inexpensively compared to what you would pay for a large photo like that at an art gallery, and I think it's beautiful.

[greyhair biker]

You've some nice pieces there Tree. Our house is kind of a kids' art museum...so much stuff I can't take pics of all of it, a few of which I'll post some of but we get some of our stuff off of art.com. some of their stuff is pretty reasonable but for the 'real' feel we use our own families' artistic abilities.

[blueeyes]

Tree nice art! I really like the fall leaves. I just got a new office and get to decorate, I have some drawings my dad did long time ago if ski stick figures I plan on using, plus pics of my kids and other things i took using my camera.

Greyhair I like the black and white Hawiian dance pics!

[FROGGER]

If you want affordable but amazing artwork (paintings) go here

http://aaronlifferth.blogspot.com/

he does amazing work, typically he post a new painting every other day, all are for sale via ebay or if you find one you want PM me and i can get it for you without having to deal with ebay... I have several of his works in my home and love them all...

[TreeHugger]

GHB - your son is very talented. Some of the BEST art I've seen in houses has been kid's art. My niece did an AMAZING painting of sunflowers, her dad matted it and put it in a really nice frame and it looks like it was done by Van Gough or something it's awesome.

So there ya go Alex - find some kid's art - something that really draws you to the color or the texture, mat and frame it - you'd be surprised at what you might get.

[TreeHugger]

If you want affordable but amazing artwork (paintings) go here

http://aaronlifferth.blogspot.com/

he does amazing work, typically he post a new panting every other day, all are for sale via ebay or if you find one you want PM me and i can get it for you without having to deal with ebay... I have several of his works in my home and love them all...

I really like his stuff! Love the color and the edgy-ness. I would really like to see it up close to check out his brush strokes.

[Deathcricket]

Totally depends on what you like I think. Art is such a personal thing. Pretty much every person that comes to my house either says "wow you have great taste, I wish my wife was as cool as yours" or they say "uhh, arent you worried about your child seeing nudity?" basically love or hate it.

My wife and I are into fantasy art so our house is decorated with artists like keith parkinson (who recently passed away 2005) boris vallejo, julie bell, brom, and such. Lately we've been really into grabbing bowen type statues. The last one we grabbed was a kiani statue. We also have several swords which make great conversational pieces. No guy can walk by my 6 foot broadsword and not resist taking it off the wall for a couple swings.

If you're interested, they have some great art at http://www.keithparkinson.com/store.php from $11,000 all the way down to $20. Pretty much any price range. That's pretty much the 1st place i go to look for ANY new piece. But I think you should specify more what you are looking for to get better answers. Here is a sample pic of the last statue I bought and art piece.

[TreeHugger]

DeathCricket, you are so right about art being personal.

I really like this piece, it's beautiful:




I was thinking about the Aaron lifferth stuff posted below. All of his stuff has some general "style", as do most artists. I have no particular style, as I'm still trying to figure it out. I definitely dont pretend to be "an artist" by any stretch of the imagination, but I have found that creating is something I love to do... I'd really like to take a class or two and get some insight into technique and stuff. Right now, I guess I just really like color and pattern foremost, perhaps a personal style will come from that. :-)

Here are some of the Odds and Ends of what I've done:

[DiscGo]

Tree- Are you saying you made these?





I was just scrolling through the posts (distracted by the pictures before I read any of the paragraphs) and I thought that the mountain was just beautiful. You are just more and more impressive to me!

[Deathcricket]

Thanks Tree! Only problem is I had to buy her 2x. Wife got a little aggressive with the dusting and knocked it off the shelf. *sigh* She felt worse about it than I did though.


I don't know you or anything, but based on the ones you posted, I would definitely say you like natural impressionist type stuff. Natural tones, muted detail, heavier brush strokes for textures. Your art is also quite good! I think if you were to set up your own website or a booth at an artshow you could make some money off those pieces. My aunt started out that way and is now very successful. I think if it's something you love doing, you might as well make money at it. I would ENCOURAGE you, that you have a lot of natural talent.

[TreeHugger]

Tree- Are you saying you made these?





I was just scrolling through the posts (distracted by the pictures before I read any of the paragraphs) and I thought that the mountain was just beautiful. You are just more and more impressive to me!

Yes, I made them... Thanks, DiscoGo, that's really nice! The mountain was inspired by my trip to Iceland. :-) The leaves were picked up off the ground in our backyard, I designed the layout and my husband photographed them ...
Easy, cheap art for the house - wha-la!!

DC - thanks for the encouraging comments!!

[accadacca]

Agreed. I like your taste tree. I will be decorating my house this winter. We just moved here and things are bare. We might need to start a home decorating thread.

[Alex]

Thanks guys, good feedback... now I am more confused than ever

[Deathcricket]

Hehe.... How about you show us a piece of art you like and we can show you something similar?


Just so you know, I'm here to convert you to the dark side. ;P

[Win]

I used to play around and do some art brokering. Our home is totally eclectic. I've got southwestern, wildlife, Chinese Yunnan, my own photography, a beach scene.

Here's a friend from Springdale. I really like her use of color, we're probably going to commission a piece.

http://www.computerpearl.com/oil-painting01.html

Win

[abirken]

I really loved the farmers market in downtown SLC. I spent quite a bit on local artwork. But all in all, I felt most of it was really reasonable. Have you checked that out?

[Alex]

deathcricket, thanks for the offer man! I love the art you posted, I used to have tons of his posters in MY COMPUTER dungeon back in the day.... now my wife moved in to my office and we are back to Zion posters :)

But I think I have narrowed down our likings to these two paintings that we are purchasing:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ART-REPRO-THOMAS-KINKADE-OIL-PAINTING-ON-CANVAS-36-X24_W0QQitemZ250301517787QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item2 50301517787&_trkparms=72%3A1205|39%3A1|66%3A4|65%3 A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14#ebayphotohosti ng

http://cgi.ebay.com/ART-REPRO-THOMAS-KINKADE-OIL-PAINTING-ON-CANVAS-36-X24_W0QQitemZ250300466546QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item2 50300466546&_trkparms=72%3A1205|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3 A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14#ebayphotohosti ng




I also liked a lot of the modern imagination abstract art such as:

http://stores.ebay.com/Afremov-Art





And Alison, no I haven't really gone to a farmer's market, is it on Sundays only? I might head there this weekend.

[tanya]

I love that last one Alex. My new house is almost built here in St. George/Ivins and I need ideas too. I have no idea how to decorate it, but starting with wall art I think is the way to go!

I have thought about going really colorful before. How is your house decorated?

[Alex]

Actually my house is minimalistic. We used to have too much clutter, after the remodeling we just have a couch, piano and a tv. I like the look of it, but it's missing something on the walls.... so we have been doing a lot of searching...