Building an Art Collection

I've always thought that I would like to collect art. Being an artist myself, art is something that fascinates me and I love to surround myself with it. Unfortunately, collecting art's not cheap. I never can quite seem to justify spending a bundle of cash on something that is basically decorative when there are so many other things we need to buy, especially now that we have the house which needs our constant financial attention. I feel guilty about not making art a priority but when it comes down to it I will always spend my money on the more "practical" choice.

Luckily for me, I have been able to acquire a few pieces as gifts from friends, family and coworkers. To me art is one of the best gifts I can get, I'm always delighted to receive it especially if it was created by the person who gave it. I love looking at a piece and thinking about the person who gave it to me, what could be better than a personal gift that reminds you of the giver?

Also, the great thing about being an artist is that you can create your own art. I used to really hate hanging my own work because all I could see were all the flaws when I looked at it but I am slowly learning to overcome this and have added a few of my own photographs and paintings to my "collection".

So this is my little blog post homage to my budding art collection. Hopefully it will continue to grow, maybe I will eventually bring my self to cough up some money for some new pieces on of these days.

The newest addition to my art collection is this piece that my amazing sister in law Jessie painted for me. She brought it this weekend as a housewarming present and it got tons of admiration at our party. Well done Jessie :-)

This lovely little bird was painted for me by my former coworker Stacey. She gave it to me as a wedding present and told me that it represents starting a new journey in life which was totally appropriate for the occasion. It now keeps me company in the studio.

These two works are currently hanging in the guest bathroom. The top one was painted by my coworker Natalie, I am really fortunate to be surrounded by such creative and talented people at my work. The bottom picture is a print that Eric got me from Young Blood Gallery, he's so sweet to me :-)

My brother is a really awesome guy, I love him to death. Also, he gives the best presents ever. He knows I want to collect art so he always keeps an eye out for thing he can pick up for me. He bought me this painting while he was living in New York. It was such a personal and thoughtful gift, I love it! 

I had been wanting to buy some photographic prints for a while and had looked at quite a few on etsy. Finally I realized it would be a lot more personal and meaningful if I just got some nice prints of my own photographs. I ended up choosing a few of our honeymoon photos from our trip to Scotland. Both of these were taken in Edinburgh and not only are they a great addition to the art collection but they also remind of the amazing trip we took when we were first married.

This print was given to me by my boss as a wedding present. It is by Atlanta based artist Jessica Swift and I am totally in love with her work, you should check it out. I thought this was a really sweet and personal gift, perfect for a wedding present. It now lives in our living room, hooray!

This is one of the few paintings I've actually bought for myself, it's from my trip to Florence, Italy. I love to be able to bring back an amazing souvenir from any trip I go on and art is on the very top of my list. Unfortunately I can't always afford to buy the pieces I would like but in Florence there are tons of street artists that sell watercolor sketches for very reasonable prices. I am a sucker for watercolor so I had to have this tiny painting of the Ponte Vecchio, I love it :-)

Last but not least, yet another wedding present. This one is from the amazingly talented Tania Julian. She just so happens to be the mother of one of my students at the art studio where I work. Not only is she an incredible ceramic artist but she is also a super nice lady. These beautiful ceramic wall hangings are up in our bedroom now. I love the way they look against the dark gray wall. I also own one of Tania's hand made mugs and it is one of my favorites, you should definitely check out her etsy shop.