Art makes such a statement and for me it is perhaps the single most important piece in a room. It sets the tone for everything else in a space. Most of the time the price tags reflect this and it takes me out of the running entirely. I suppose the truth of the matter is that I feel quite sure that furniture and lighting and basic appliances are a necessity in a home, but art is optional. It's not a requirement for survival or comfort, and plays no role in a person's day to day function. Buying from a gallery is not even a remote possibility for me and while etsy makes the world go round, it is difficult if not nearly impossible to find good looking original art that is larger than a 5×7 and won't cost your weight in gold. But did you know that many artists sell their photography and now prints of their paintings and illustrations to sites like shutterstock? Yahoo for that because it means that those of us who are regular folks with regular incomes can have a few beautiful things too!
I mentioned one of my favorite styling secrets awhile back and since so many of you were excited about the idea, I thought we might expand upon it and turn it into another article and maybe even a regular feature.
Crystal Clear Water / Natali Glado
These appealing works of art are pieces I think would make amazing prints and that I would absolutely adore in a space of my own. Since I frequent a few regular haunts that offer images of this nature, I thought I would share a few of my faves. If I'm honest, I think this feature is also a way for me to vent a little bit because while I absolutely adore artistic pursuits of this nature and fall in love on the regular with beautiful pieces like these… more often than not I cry myself to sleep because I can't even afford to even stand in the same room as many of the pretties out there. And if the print is large… well forget about it. It is marked up so high that I can't even breath the same air up there. It's not that I don't believe that many artists are truly talented and deserving of a nice income, in fact the opposite is true. I think so very many artists are talented that there should be enough beautiful art to go around for each of us, at each of our price points. And so I gather here and group of gorgeous images that you can purchase for between $10-$15, that are made by talented artists, and can have printed at your local SamsClub or Kinkos in a large size for a really affordable price around $8-$10.
Pacific Waves / Ethan Daniels
I love the idea of supporting talent such as this and many of the photographers and artists who sell their images on stock sites are such that you wouldn't otherwise find them and it gives them an outlet to support themselves doing what they love. Meanwhile, It gives people like us an outlet for finding beautiful work that we can enjoy in a way that doesn't require the future donation of a kidney. I can tell you that what I consider affordable and what a typical designer considers affordable often seems to differ by a great many hundreds of dollars. If I could afford to buy every piece I love, well I would be a very rich gal indeed. Luckily I don't have to go without, and neither do you.
Ocean Waves / BPlanet
There are so many amazing images to share but I have tried to keep myself in check and limit it to these four beautiful beachy scenes. Some may seem familiar to you, and others are yet to be found… I encourage you to take a peak and if there is a gorgeous print you have had your eye on but can't afford, well maybe give the search function a try and see if you can't find something similar that is in your price range.
Tropical Beach / FamVeld
