Archive for June, 2009

Jun 28

Mixed Media Art Auctions

Mixed Media Art Auctions

Mixed media art auctions have a lot to offer. Today I found several seriolithographs. I liked the colors that the Polish artist Zamy Steynovitz used.

The fun part of mixed media art auctions is that you just never know what you?ll find. I found a pebble art piece from the 1960?s that featured a bare-chested chariot driver cracking a whip. The piece also had three horses. The medium of pebbles was very interesting.

Another interesting find while I was looking through mixed media art auctions was a mirrored wall hanging that represents the Manhattan skyline. This piece was made before the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings and they are represented in the piece.

Sometimes the medium used in mixed media art is the same as other categories of art. I found a nice acrylic painting in a mixed media art auction that was unusual because of its subject. The artist painted a red sea dragon with a lovely woman. I learned that the artist was influenced by Salvador Dali, HP Lovecraft and his love of the game Dungeons and Dragons.

I found a really pretty 3-D art collage shadowbox while I was looking through the mixed media art auctions. The title of the piece was True Confessions of a Mermaid Gone Bad. The piece was listed as professionally framed art with glass in yellow stained wood.

Mixed media art auctions bring so many different artistic styles to light. I found a Scandinavian inspired design of two peacocks on a hand stitched wall hanging. The piece was surrounded by a decorative border and the frame was reported to be in great condition.

Sometimes the mixed media art auctions include artistic things like hand made cards. I found an artist that lists auctions of greeting card collages. The ones that I was looking at used vintage images, ink and extremely decorative paper.

There was an item of art that came up in my searches of mixed media art auctions that I really liked. It was listed as a beautiful abstract tin art. It was actually quite impressive and was listed as measuring two feet by two and a half feet. I think this would actually look great on my mother-in-law?s wall.

So many of the paintings I found listed in the mixed media art auctions were just unusual versions of mainstream subjects. I have found so many art auctions with poppies painted on canvas, but today I found a white poppy painted in oil with a brilliant emerald green background. It was very striking and I think that the contemporary feel to this piece came across very well.

I had never considered vintage maps to be art before I found them in the mixed media art auctions. I guess when a map becomes antique and is no longer useful for its original intended purpose, it can become art. I found a listing for battle maps that was very intriguing. This map would look good framed and displayed with other war related memorabilia.

Mixed media art auctions really do have a lot of different kinds of art represented. I found an artist with items listed whose medium is purses. She makes purses from cigar boxes and solders a handle and various embellishments on the side. The purses are really quite delightful.

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Jun 23

Buying Impressionist Cityscapes

Buying Impressionist Cityscapes

I have been looking for impressionist cityscapes in various mediums to decorate my home. I prefer to hang art that was created in the last fifteen years. There are so many great artists to choose from.

I have decided that I want to have three impressionist cityscapes painted in acrylic. I will be buying one called Stormy Desert that was painted by an artist named JoanAnn. The piece is painted on a 40? X 30? canvas and has flowering cactus plants in the foreground.

The next impressionist cityscape painting I plan to buy is called Tuscan Waterfall. The piece is a triptych and is on three gallery wrapped canvases. The artist lives in Tennessee and supports herself with her art.

The last acrylic impressionist cityscape that I plan to buy is called Autumn Dream. Autumn is my favorite time of year and the painting captures every color of autumn. The artist painted the sides, so there is no need to have it framed. I can?t wait to see this hanging in my home.

I have found only two impressionist cityscapes that I liked in the Gouache medium. The first was from an artist named Joe Wojdakowski and the subject is an area located in Wells, Maine. I?m not sure why I am so drawn to this particular impressionist cityscape, but I am and plan to buy it.

The other Gouache impressionist cityscape that I plan to buy features Big Ben in London. The artist is an Englishman named Alasdair Rennie. The scene is rainy and I like it a lot. It reminds me of my time in London when I was a child.

The first oil impressionist cityscape painting I bought was called Koi Pond Reflections. I?ve seen this artist?s work before and I always really like it. The painting was completed using brush and knife. The painting has not arrived, yet, because the paint is very thick and needs to complete the drying process undisturbed. I cannot wait to get it!

I really like having various styles of impressionist cityscape paintings. I don?t just like variety in the mediums; I like variety in styles and influences. I really fell in love with an oil impressionist cityscape painting called En Sendero that was originally purchased in Oaxaca, Mexico. I purchased the painting for just over three thousand dollars.

The oil impressionist cityscape painting of Paris that I want was painted by a well recognized painter Radik Atoyan. He is Armenian and signed the painting in his Armenian language. He has a unique way of using color that just makes his painting look special.

I have also been interested in watercolor impressionist cityscape paintings. There is an original painting that depicts an urban rainy night that I think would be perfect for me. The painting just makes me feel good to look into.

I made a purchase not long ago that was painted by an Israeli artist named Yosef Kosssonogi. The use of color in this watercolor impressionist cityscape is so vivid. I could not wait to hang it on my wall. After the shipment arrived with the painting, my brother came right over with a level to hang it.

I found a painting that reminded me of a vacation I took to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The impressionist cityscape painting was created by Adam Maeroff and I think that it is the perfect painting to complete my collection.

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Jun 17

Children?s Art Paintings

Children?s Art Paintings

Children?s art paintings are fun to look at. They bring me good feelings. I have had a lot of jobs the last couple of years buying children?s art to hang in various places. I have enjoyed every single job.

I bought two children?s art posters for the children?s hospital to hang in one of their waiting area. They were both from Maurice Sendak?s book Where the Wild Things Are. I loved that book when I was a kid and this art brought back some good memories.

I found a Jim Daly children?s art print to frame and put in the physical therapy lounge at a local rehabilitation center. They wanted to put together a friendly feeling place that would help keep kids entertained. I put the painting where parents can read.

I was asked to hang children?s art along a long hallway in a home I was decorating. I thought that this was an odd request because there weren?t any kids living there and the home had a very stark and cold feel to it. It was definitely the minimalist style this homeowner had that left me puzzled.

The children?s art paintings that I ended up choosing for the hallway were all from the same artist. The artist specialized in mini paintings and they were all so simple and beautiful. They actually fit with the owner?s style. I had each painting put into a simple frame with no matting and hung them all along the long hallway.

I actually liked this artist so much that I purchased twice as many children?s art paintings than I needed to complete the hallway job. I plan to give these paintings as gifts to people that I know with either a child or a whimsical spirit. I even liked the artist?s name, Lollipop Art.

I was asked to add some decorations to a family?s daughter?s room. The family was extremely active and bicycling seemed to be the primary family exercise. I thought it would be fun to find some children?s art painting that depicting cycling in a fun way. I found an acrylic signed by the artist of a woman on a bike with a child and a yellow balloon.

I had a client call me asking about buying a children?s art painting by artist Stephanie Bauer. The painting was called Dragonfly. I did find the painting and also found that it was not for sale. Fortunately, there is a fine art print made from this painting. My client was more than happy to purchase the print and have it framed in an extremely nice frame. It hangs in her daughter?s room now. She loves it because it is pink!

I was hired to find a painting for the waiting room at a local dance studio. I found that all of the classes were for children, so I looked for a children?s art painting to hang there. I found one called Little Girl Ballerinas. It was very colorful and whimsical. The owner of the studio loved it.

I was hired to redecorate three girls? bedroom. The family had three daughters that all wanted children?s art paintings on their walls. Each had a distinct personality and interests that didn?t overlap with the other two. The first girl received an acrylic painting called Sports Girls. This sister is the one that is very athletic.

The next sister is very interested in entomology. She is very shy and quiet. I found a children?s art painting for her that she really liked. I could buy the actual watercolor from Pily Torres, so I bought a reproduction that looked great after it was framed.

The third sister was completely immersed into dancing. I found a gorgeous children?s art painting of a folk art ballerina that had several different pinks in it. It looked great without a frame and she was really happy with it.

The most recent job I had wanted something really unique. They wanted a children?s art painting, but they were more interested in an extremely large mural. I found one that the family really liked that depicted a fantasy scene. It looks like there is a castle in the background and a unicorn in the foreground is leaping. I liked what it added to the room, it was the perfect choice.

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Jun 11

Religious Paintings for My Gallery

Religious Paintings for My Gallery

I have a gallery that a local businessman financed. He wanted a place on the town square that featured religious paintings. I?ve been busy buying religious painting for several years. I have found some very nice pieces and I have a lot of people purchase paintings that I?ve found.

One of my favorite artists is someone that I actually stumbled across when I was buying religious paintings. He was not famous, but he had some of his pieces at a local show. I found that he primarily paints and sells his work on the internet.

It is hard to describe all of the feelings that I had when I saw his first piece. I really liked that he used the scripture Psalm 139:14 and made it gently legible within the layers of fresco colors. I thought that this was an excellent choice for my gallery. Buying religious paintings is very rewarding.

When my painting arrived, it was on gallery wrap ? inch stretcher frames and was ready to hang. My patrons came to a private preview of the piece and were so happy with my success at buying religious paintings. The piece was actually five original canvases, each 15? X 30? with black painted gallery wrap edges so that no frames were needed.

The title of the piece was long, but appropriate. The title was ?I will praise thee for I am fearfully made marvelous are Thy works and that my soul knoweth right well?. One of my patrons wanted to buy it and hang it in his home. I had to convince him to let me show it for four months before he did that. It is hard work finding and buying suitable religious paintings.

In all the time that I?ve spent looking at and buying religious paintings, I am starting to feel like an expert. I try to find paintings in a variety of mediums to keep the gallery feeling fresh and vibrant. My favorite religious paintings use fresh earth minerals, pigments, oil glazes and acrylic varnish.

I actually have no preference if an artist signs his canvas or not. Most of my patrons, however, want their religious paintings signed. So, when I am buying religious paintings, I try to find ones that the artist signed.

The artist that I decided was my personal favorite uses the lost language of symbolism in his original paintings. He told me that his religious paintings are inspired by the ancient storytelling frescoes of Pompeii, Italy. He has a trademark style that he calls Religious Graffiti.

I get a lot of requests for certain subjects in the religious paintings that I buy. I have been looking for religious paintings of Mary and Jesus and also painting of Mary and Angel Gabriel. I have several families that have wanted these classic images in their homes. I have another family that wants me to find an oil Madonna with Child to hang in her church.

There was one religious painting that I bought that was very sweet. The image of Our Lady, Jesus and St. Giovannino was very provocative and it hung prominently in the gallery for six months before I let it go. I get attached to the religious paintings that I buy and then get to view every day. I have a policy that no painting will leave the walls of the gallery for four months.

My new favorite piece is an abstract triptych that I found while I was in Atlanta buying religious paintings. The piece was called Guardian Angel and I love it. My patrons fell in love with it as well. They have asked me to track down the artist and see if he has anymore religious paintings available.

The only religious paintings that I actually do not buy are ones that reflect the image of Jesus on the cross. I don?t have a problem with them, some of them are extremely well done and would more than likely sell well, but my investors made it very clear when they financed the gallery that I would not put that image into it.

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Jun 06

?Buying Paintings: Minimalism

?Buying Paintings: Minimalism

Though I could enjoy speaking on the topic of art for sometime, I found myself without a way to truly understand the differing values in the ways of thought that permeate this grouping of human experience, and found myself looking to sources over the Internet to further my knowledge to utilize the information gathered to purchase paintings. I have always been interested in the passions evoked by the series of artists and movements that proliferate what we have come to know as the history of art. Reflecting on this notion of life’s passing interaction whether Romanticist, Surrealist, or Minimalist in nature.

Speaking on Minimalism now, the ideas that made this movement unique relied heavily upon the work being stripped down to the barest fundamental aspects, and laying bare those integral parts of self-expression. Many pieces of work other than visual art has been affected by these ideals of minimalism, and acted outside of this particular aesthetic appeal, creating new ways to interpret literature and even lifestyles. As far as painting goes, however, the minimalist paintings will typically use limited color schemes and simple geometric designs. Minimalist sculpture is focused on the materials used.

Some of the phases commonly agreed on about this movement are each notable for how they have progressed the overall conception of minimalism as a movement. A distillation in forms was the first phase, with contributors claiming in order to create a universal language of art that masses were meant to understand easily, and seemed poised to support the rapid industrialization for particular settings of the time. Searching for a purity of form, and paving the way for the abstractions to come later on, allowing for the second more notable phase to reach its’ crescendo afterwards.

Much of the formats for commercial artwork we see today have had a great deal of background in this movement of visual art, allowing us to understand on a fundamental level what the message is that the work is trying to convey, and a large amount of the signs and signals we find today relies heavily upon these ideals to translate a universal meaning to the general populace. We can easily see the progression of minimalism in these examples of the world over, and it almost as ingrained into our society now as much as we care to see.

A minimalist painting will typically use a very limited amount of colors and have a very simplistic geometric design. Minimalism in sculpture, on the other hand, is much more concerned with the materials used. Many people believe that minimalism in generally is about geometric shapes, but this interpretation depends widely on the branch of art as well as the interpreter.

But the simplest way to describe minimalism is that the less that is in the painting or work of art, the better it is. Minimalism is all about drawing attention to the few objects and colors of the composition. In this way minimalism shows us that less is better, for the eye is not drawn away by this of that filler or extra objects.

Minimalism is about starting with nothing and then carefully applying the few objects and colors that will define the piece as a whole. Minimalism is still one of the major parts of contemporary art, but it is used I conjunction with other styles and flairs from other art movements to form new types of minimalism.

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