Remember that time when I used my readers for all their art knowledge? Yeah, thanks for that. I spent the weekend clicking on all your links, going back and forth with artists, commissioning items, trying to buy originals, failing, making some mistakes, etc. I felt VERY grown up. Kinda like Charlotte’s job as a gallery owner in “Sex in the City, ” but without the money, pearls, prudishness, and Upper East Side beautiful apartment. Also, I know VERY little about art. I know what looks cool and that’s about it.
I love how “arty” she is supposed to look in her black pants suit.
I think she should probably look more like this guy, right?
I’m assuming that he grooms his cat with his own tongue, because that’s what eccentric artists do. I’m sure of it.
Well I’ve written about the best online art resources for prints, and affordable (almost) art round-ups from Etsy before, but finding originals has been trickier. That’s why I think I gravitate towards vintage paintings — one of a kind pieces that I can actually afford.
Good original art is EXPENSIVE, as it should be. Like being an expert at anything, a good artist creates something that us non-artists can’t and a I’m a massive fan of not under valuing people (probably because as a designer I get undervalued constantly). But I also have a small-ish budget since our goal this year is to buy a house.
So, I wanted to share a new source that I didn’t know about for original art. Thanks to some of my commenters for letting me in on this one.
Curreeo: Original Art, Understood.
You can search by style, price, medium, size, shape, and color. They do have some that aren’t originals, but those are normally photographs and very limited editions.
Otherwise they are all originals, like this one by Leanne Grimes. 14 x 11 x 2 for $550
I know that $550 isn’t nothing, but it’s also not gallery prices.
And there are some that are really inexpensive, like this 4 x 4 mixed media piece by JP Gardner for $75.
The whole site is worth perusing. No, it’s not cheap, but it’s more curated than Etsy so it doesn’t take quite so long to get through. There are just so many prints out there, but I’ve found to be the biggest challenge with clients is finding original artwork. Having more and more sites that sell originals in a curated way makes my life wayyy easier.
I like this piece by Nate Otto, 24 x 18 f0r $490, which I think is a decent price for an original painting in that size. If you frame this you could add at least a foot to each dimension and then it becomes a serious piece.
Or this 14 x 22 drawing by Robert Otto Epstein, for $710 (Oh, and all pricing includes shipping).
UPDATE: Cureeo saw this post and is offering any reader 10% off from now til March 31st, with the code ‘love2style’. Why, thank you Cureeo. 🙂 I hope your artists get some business out of this post.
I’m not sure what is up with 20×200 and why their site is still asking us to “stay tuned.” But meanwhile, do you have any art resources or artists that you want to share? A lot of you already left comments in Friday’s post, but in case you didn’t, it’s show and tell time … Man, I love the interwebs.