Paintings of Food and Wine

I've been buying paintings of food and wine to resell to restaurants. I make a
good profit doing this. I have a real talent for matching the painting of food
and wine to the restaurant that should hang it in their dining room. I have
purchased over one hundred paintings so far and I've sold over eighty of them
to restaurant owners.

I sold a painting of food and wine to a martini bar that was opening up in a
neighboring city. I took a photo of the Michael Godard painting called Pop
Olive and took it straight to the owner in person. He loved the painting and
hung it in his bar.

The Michael Godard paintings always seem to resell the best of all of the food
and wine paintings that I buy. There was one called Olives Gone Wild that I
sold to a martini bar on the East Coast. The restaurant owner thought it was
fantastic and looked fun.

I saw an awesome painting in the food and wine section of a local studio. The
painting was called Chocolatey. I bought the painting and have approached a
couple of candy stores to purchase it. I haven't gotten a taker, yet, but I'm
going to keep trying.

There is a pie shop in my town that I sold an original oil painting of an
oversized apple. There are always a lot of food and wine paintings at the
galleries I frequent. I liked the apple painting and also bought a sunflower
painting by the same artist.

I bought an acrylic painting from an artist in North Hollywood. His painting
called Passion Splash is categorized as a food and wine painting because the
woman in the painting is drinking red wine. I sold it to a wine bar in Miami. I
was sad to see that huge eyed woman go.

I bought several food and wine paintings from him on that trip. One of the
paintings was entitled For a Perfect Cherry and I decided to keep that one and
hang it in my dining room. The red in the painting is fantastic and so
beautiful. I liked to display this food and wine painting with a spotlight on
it.

I was able to resell a food and wine painting to a fish shop in New York City.
The fish shop had an upscale clientele and they wanted to put some artwork on
the walls of the lobby. I found an original oil painting by Marie M. Vlasic of
a lobster. It was such a good food and wine painting and it looked at home in
the fish shop.

There was a dessert shop owner in Denver that contacted me and asked me to keep
an eye out for food and wine paintings that featured pears. She had developed
several pear recipes that were fast becoming her signature dishes and she
wanted to address that with the art hanging in her establishment.

I found a lovely oil on wood food and wine painting of four pears on a glass
table. The artist paints a new painting every day. I commissioned him to make
me six more paintings of pears and then I sold all seven to the dessert shop
owner that had contacted me. She was thrilled with the pieces and invited me to
visit sometime.

I have a friend that owns a local beer joint. I immediately thought of him when
I was on a buying trip for food and wine paintings. I saw an oil painting on
stretched canvas that featured a close-up of an unopened bottle of beer. It was
perfect for him. I bought it and it still hangs at the end of his bar.

My little sister was redecorating her shop and I found a great original oil
food and wine painting. The artist's subject was a large spoon and strawberry
jam. The piece looked delicious! I gave it to her shop and she hung it in the
area that she sells gourmet jams.

Religious Paintings

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 1/4 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.

Musical Themed Paintings

Musical themed paintings can be fun to find and fun to buy. I have a musician
friend that recently purchased a new home. She bought new furnishings and asked
me to find a new painting for her. I found her a fabulous creation by Osnat. It
was an enormous, gallery size painting.

My friend's new furnishings were very contemporary and the Osnat musical themed
painting I bought for her was breathtaking when all five parts were mounted. The
musical staff ran the length of the painting with musical notes painted on it.
The painting had pretty shades of yellows and oranges. It looked so elegant.

I found a still life musical themed painting of a guitar to buy for a friend.
He always has had beautiful pieces of art in his home and he wanted to change
some of the pieces he had grown tired of. The abstract piece that I found
really struck a cord with my friend and he ended up buying another painting
from the same artist.

I found a painting that was called Music of Fire that didn't really seem to
have a musical theme. I showed it to a friend and she told me that the flames
looked like they were dancing. She told me that I was using a very narrow
definition of musical themed paintings when I was buying art.

Abstract guitars really seem to be my favorite musical themed paintings. I like
to buy them when they jump out at me. There is an artist named Slazo that is
very prolific with his musical themed guitar paintings. He has had a lot of
exhibitions in Florida.

A friend of mine asked me to find artwork by an Armenian named Aram Koupetzian.
I was able to find a musical themed painting called Rondo by this artist. It was
really intriguing. I've never purchased a painting in the Cubist style before.
The exact style of this musical themed painting was Synthetic Cubism. I liked
it a lot. There is a lot to look at in the painting.

A couple of years ago, a good friend of mine graduated from the University of
Texas in Austin with a degree. He had a double major of music and education. He
got a job as an assistant band director at a middle school in Austin. As a
combination graduation and new job present, I bought him a musical themed
painting.

The musical themed painting that I chose was painting by Tilo Rothacker that
depicted a jazz musician playing a trumpet. It was so very colorful and it felt
a lot like New Orleans. My friend and I had visited the French Quarter several
times together. This musical themed painting celebrated his life changes and
our friendship perfectly.

My younger sister is quite the accomplished violinist. She moved to New York
and went to Juilliard. Her path changed after a couple of years in New York.
She stopped pursuing the violin as a career, but her love for her music never
waned. I bought her a musical themed painting when she bought her apartment. It
was a contemporary abstract with brilliant rich jewel tones that depicted a
woman violinist.

I was looking for musical themed paintings one day when I found Melody of
Sunset for sale. I'm not sure why this painting bothered me so much. The woman
was playing the piano, but she seems disembodied and strange. Her eyes were
closed. This musical themed painting just did not strike a cord with me and I
did not buy it.

My favorite musical themed painting in a long time was The Sound of Jazz. It
was painted by Sarah Kinan and it is gorgeous. It is hard for me to not smile
when I'm looking into this painting. The background looks like confetti and the
foreground is filled with musical instruments. This musical themed painting can
be described as feeling like a party.

Modern Oil Paintings

I have been buying modern oil paintings for a show in my gallery. I have found
many nice pieces. I found a painting called Village in winter in a private
collection in Illinois. The artist was Fern Isabel Coppedge and she was an
American. I liked the piece because of the snowy scene. It reminded me of my
childhood.

While on a buying trip, I found Clouds Over Buckingham. This was a really nice
modern oil painting that was in a private collection in Pennsylvania. I have
seen work by this artist before and it always resells very well.

Buying modern oil paintings has taken me to various places across the United
States. I especially liked Main Line, Pennsylvania. That is where I acquired
Leaning Silo. The artist of Leaning Silo was Arthur Meltzer. I had been
previously unfamiliar with him.

I enjoyed my trip to Long Island City. I was buying modern oil paintings and
found one from a French artist named Georges Antoine Rochegrosse that I really
liked. This painting was painted around 1900 and it was full of flowers. I
really liked it and think it will do well in the show.

I find that I can buy modern oil paintings very efficiently on the internet. I
found an art dealer in the United Kingdom that finds me some very nice items to
show. Recently, he sent me a painting of a nude beauty by British artist Allan
Douglas Davidson.

The modern oil painting depicted a young Bohemian woman wearing only flowers in
her hair. She also has large gold earrings. She is posed against a dark
background which highlights the perfection of her creamy skin.

The still life I recently acquired was so amazingly real looking. This was one
of the most beautiful modern oil paintings that I've found. The detail was
exceptional and the representation of the blooming rose was breathtaking.

I was so lucky when I found an original Max Ernst modern oil painting. The
title of the piece I found was Arizona Desert. I really think it will do well
in my show and I didn't even pay half of what I think it is really worth. It
will make a great addition to someone's collection.

I found a modern oil painting by the Spanish artist Grifoll that I liked. I'm
not sure how well this painting of a clown will sell, but I liked it and I
think that there is bound to be someone who just can't live without it.

I just adore paintings that depict Paris. I don't even care about the period or
the style. I was able to find a really nice modern oil painting by Edouard
Cortes for my show. The painting depicts flower vendors and a horse carriage. I
almost feel like I'm in turn of the century Paris when I look into it for a long
time.

There are a lot of modern oil paintings that depict roses. I plan to have a
grouping of several at my show. I was able to buy a painting by Theresa
Bernstein called Roses that she painted in the 1940s. She lived to be 111 years
old and that is pretty amazing.

A popular theme among modern oil paintings is nautical. I really do not like
nautical paintings and don't want them in my show. I have had several friends
implore me to change my mind. I keep being told that I can't possibly have a
show of modern oil paintings that does not include a ship.

I had an assistant bring in a modern oil painting that had an interesting
history. It was more because of the history of the painting that I decided to
hang it than because of its content. The ship scene was really not to my
liking, but I bought it anyway.

I have been looking for an antique street scene painted by Bettylane Resnik. I
saw a modern oil painting by her in an art catalog that depicted a really
colorful street scene. I can't seem to find the current owner, but I'm trying.
I think that it would complete my show.

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.

Love of Asian Botanical Paintings

I have a love for Asian botanical paintings. I've been seeking them out for a
long time. I have many in my collection and love each and every one of them.

The first Asian botanical painting that I bought was Vietnamese. It was one of
a series of twelve paintings that I bought that were created by Vu Viet Hung. I
have them all over my home.

These oil landscapes by Vu Viet Hung are stunning. These Asian botanical
paintings really set a serene tone in my home. The subtleties of the colors and
the simple themes go so well on my walls.

I found a lovely Asian botanical painting quite by chance at a yard sale. I
don't usually make a habit of looking for paintings at yard sales, but this one
was displayed out front and enticed me to stop. At first glance, I thought I was
looking at a painting of a palm tree. At closer inspection, I found that the
painting was of a bonsai tree.

My office has a more contemporary feel than the rest of my house. I have found
that I like to have an abstract Asian botanical painting to ponder while I am
thinking. I searched for a long time to find just the right piece to hang
there. I finally found a piece by an artist named Soniei called Enlightenment.

Soniei has a collection called the New Zen Sho Collection. I love his work. The
abstract that I bought is considered an Asian botanical painting because it
features bamboo. In addition to the bamboo, there is beautiful calligraphy.

I have my eye on another Asian botanical painting by Soniei that has shades of
sea-foam green. It is much more subdued than the one I bought called
Enlightenment. This one is called Self-awareness and it is just lovely. It is
another painting of bamboo.

My mother-in-law admires the Asian botanical paintings that I find. I found one
that I really liked at a gallery in Hartford while I was on vacation. It did not
fit with my home and so I bought it for her. She has really enjoyed it. It
features two flowering trees in acrylic on two panels. The painting really is
stunning with all of the shades of red. It looks great in her house.

My husband isn't as big a fan of Asian botanical paintings as I am. They just
don't speak to him. He has allowed me to hang one painting in his office
because he approved of the color scheme. The Asian botanical painting he chose
for me to hang for him was a black and white.

Our daughter loves watercolor Asian botanical paintings on fabric. She keeps
her eye out for advertisements in our local paper for people selling them. She
has already purchased three. She is well on her way to her own collection.

Bamboo is the most popular subject in Asian botanical paintings. I have found
so many paintings in so many different mediums that all feature bamboo. I catch
myself buying so many paintings that I've started giving them as gifts for
friends and family for house warming gifts.

My sister recently bought a condo and I gave her an Asian botanical painting of
happy birds and bamboo. She liked the watercolor and asked me to find her two
more to hang throughout her home. I was able to find several more at the same
shop that were created by the same artist.

The other Asian botanical paintings were of snow bamboo in moonlight and green
bamboo. I'll keep checking back at that store for new paintings. She said that
she could probably use one or two more.

I am planning to redecorate my kitchen. I do not like the French Country decor
that the previous owner chose. I would prefer that my kitchen reflect my
personality better. I will absolutely need an Asian botanical painting hung
prominently in my kitchen.

I have the perfect Asian botanical painting in mind already. It is a nice
Chinese painting that was done on rice paper with ink, water and color. It is
mounted with nice silk border by an expert and is ready to frame.

Buying Yellow Paintings

I've been watching yellow paintings at an online auction site. I wonder where
these yellow paintings will end up hanging. There were twenty bids on a
painting of yellow daffodils. It was really pretty.

I really liked the painting titled Red Flowers Yellow Ochre Morning. It came in
three panels that were each 20"X16". The picture online showed the painting
above a bed and it just looked so clean and crisp. The medium for this painting
was acrylic.

The smallest paintings that I found were on a panel bracelet. The paintings
were of Indian and Near Eastern rulers. The paintings were put in an openwork
gold frame set with seed pearls. This piece was created in the early twentieth
century.

Another yellow painting that I liked was Yellow World by Karen Khachaturov.
There were a lot of contrasting yellows in it. I could see yellow lemons and a
beautiful yellow flower. The lemons were painted so realistically. This artist
has paintings hanging in private galleries in over 40 countries.

I can only imagine that the oil painting of yellow roses by an unknown artist
will hang in a lovely home. The painting has a nice quality to it. The petals
of the yellow roses in the painting seemed to reach out as if they were still
alive

There was a nice painting that had twenty bidders that was of a vase of yellow
daffodils. The feel of the painting was that of one of the masters in
impressionist art. The artist listed the item herself and she is also a poet
and songwriter. I can close my eyes and see that painting hanging in someone's
formal parlor. It is so very elegant.

The future home of the French chic painting of yellow, lavender and pink roses
must be that of a very feminine woman. When I was looking at the painting, I
could almost smell the roses. I thought that the sale price of two hundred
dollars was disappointing. I think it should have sold for more.

My search for yellow paintings found a painting entitled Yellow Taking Over. I
don't know why the artist titled his work like that. There was some yellow in
this collage, but not much. The painting was done in 1956 by Nicholas
Krushenick. It came from the personal collection of a famous photographer that
works for the Village Voice. This would look good in someone's law office.

I wish that I could have purchased the antique oil painting of exotic yellow
flowers. The auction said that it was painted in 1897. The pictures made the
painting look like it was in great shape for being over one hundred years old.
It would look good on the wall of my guest bedroom.

Artist Heidi Vaught had a listing for a painting she titled Ambiance numbered
10. The painting had only one bidder and sold for the opening bid, one hundred
dollars. I think the winning bidder got quite a bargain. This painting was
abstract with lots of teal and yellow.

Another painting by Heidi Vaught went for sixty five dollars. This was another
bargain, if you ask me. The painting was entitled Yellow Squared and it had a
really dizzy feeling to it. I liked it at first sight.

I have a friend that would have like the painting I found of a yellow cat. It
looked just like her cat. The painting was an original acrylic contemporary
painting in yellow ochre. It would have complemented her modern furnishings.

Yellow roses make a wonderful subject. I never tire of paintings of yellow
roses. My favorite recently was done by Joan Cobb Mayer. The interpretation was
stunning.

There was one other yellow rose oil painting that caught my eye recently. This
one was painted by Berniece Meyers. The bloom extended to all sides of the
canvas and the center seemed infinite. I felt good after viewing it.

Buying Watercolor Paintings

I've been buying watercolor paintings for decorating jobs. I've found some
really nice pieces on eBay. I recently bought a watercolor painting by an
artist named Y. Gianni. The painting was produced in 1890 and depicted an
Italian village. It was very vivid and pleasing to look at.

I was trying to find just the right watercolor painting for a client when I
came across one by an artist named William B. Gillette. The colors were pastel,
ranging from soft greens, browns, blues, purples and peach. The scene was that
of a pebble beach and crashing waves. The hills on one side gave the beach a
feeling of privacy. It really spoke to me and my client loved it.

There was a cabin that I was decorating for a discerning client that needed one
more piece of art to complete the look I was going for. I found a wonderful
watercolor painting that fit just right. It had a lot of mossy green colors and
there was a lake with a lake house. The artist turned out to be Charles Dickens
Wader. He is a well known artist from New York.

I have a client that collects art from Romeo Tabuena. I was fortunate to find
two watercolors that the owners had purchased directly from Tabuena in the
fifties when they lived in San Miguel. The owner settled with me for an even
thousand dollars. My client was thrilled.

A lawyer friend of mine hired me to redecorate his office. I had a lot of fun
putting in things that reflected his interests and tastes. He loves polo and I
found a wonderful watercolor painting of two polo players on horses. My friend
liked the paintings and they have become a conversation piece in the new office.

My friend's dad liked the office I decorated so much that he commissioned me to
redecorate his office. He is a hunter and I found a really nice watercolor
painting of several mallard ducks flying above a marsh. The painting was done
by Jim Killen and he has painted for Ducks Unlimited. His work is well known
and respected. My friend's father really liked the find and proudly hung it in
his reception area.

I was really unsure where I was going to find suitable art for the program
director's office at a local radio station. When I went to visit with him for a
consultation, his office was absolutely stark. I like watercolor paintings and
that is my first choice for buying art. I found a fantastic watercolor painting
of Bob Marley surrounded by sunflowers. It was awesome and perfect for this job.

There is a musician that I was working for a couple of years ago that wanted
their studio decorated with paintings from the artist Raoul Dufy. Raoul Dufy
made a whole series of paintings called Hommage to Mozart. I was able to
purchase three watercolor paintings in this series. I have always been on the
lookout for more paintings to purchase for this client.

A friend of mine asked me to find a watercolor painting to give to her mother.
I found one by Henry H. Parker that was of cattle in landscape. The frame was
what caught my eye at first because it is heavy gilt. It would never hang in my
house, but it looked great at my friend's mother's house.

Buying Paintings: Synchromism

Synchromism paintings feature harmoniously balanced colors and a feeling of
movement. It is believed that synchromist paintings evoke similar feelings and
sensations as music. This is a basic tenet of the synchromism art movement. As
such, these paintings make wonderfully pleasing additions to any modern art
collection.

Founded in 1912 by Morgan Russell and Stanton MacDonald-Wright, synchromism was
an art movement based no the idea that sound and color are phenomena that are
similar in the way that the individual experiences and perceives them. Movement
as well as organization of color into "color scales' are the ways in which
synchromism pieces correlate to musical art forms.

A basic tenet of synchromism is that color can be arranged or orchestrated in
much the same way that notes of a symphony are arranged by composers. This
harmonious arrangement of colors and shapes produces experiential results
similar to that of listening to well balanced orchestral compositions.

Artists of the synchromism art movement believed that by painting in color
scales could evoke sensations that were very musical in nature. Typically,
synchromism pieces feature a strong rhythmic form or forms that then advance
toward complexity in form and hue, moving in a particular direction.

In many cases, such explosion of color using color scales pours out in a radial
pattern. It is most common for synchromism art works to have some sort of
central vortex that bursts outward with color, into complex color harmonies.

The first painting to be dubbed a synchromism work, was Morgan Russellā
"Synchromy in Greenā" which was exhibited in Paris at the Paris Salon des
Independants in the year 1913. That same year, the first exhibition featuring
primarily synchromist works by MacDonald-Wright and Russell was held in Munich,
Germany. Following the synchromist exhibition in Munich, there were exhibits in
both Paris and New York.

These first synchromist pieces were some of the first non-objective abstract
paintings found in American art. These later became better known under the
label of "avante-garde". In this way, synchromism was the first American
avant garde art movement that gained attention internationally.

Synchromism has been compared and contrasted to Orphism. Orphism refers to
paintings that relate to the Greek god Orpheus, the symbol of song, the arts
and the lyre. Though Orphism is rooted in cubism, this movement moved toward a
lyrical abstraction that was more pure, in the sense that this form of painting
was about synthesizing a sensation of bright colors.

Though there is little doubt that Orphism was an influence to later
Synchromism, Synchromists would argue that it is an entirely unique art form.
As Stanton MacDonald-Wright said, "synchromism has nothing to do with orphism
and anybody who has read the first catalogue of synchromism would realize
that we poked fun at orphism."

Several other American painters have been known to experiment with synchromism.
Whether synchromism was a branch of orphism or its own unique art form, there is
little doubt that the harmonious use of color and movement based composition
inspired many artists and art forms. Among these artists were Andrew Dasburg,
Thomas Hart Benton and Patrick Henry Bruce.

Though the majority of Thomas Hart Benton's works centered on regionalism and
murals, there was also a strong flair of synchromism. Benton's interest and
incorporation of synchromism was due mainly from having studied with
synchromism artists such as Stanton MacDonald-Wright and Diego Rivera.

Buying Paintings: Symbolism

Evoking a taste similar to the Romanticist tradition, but utilized mysticism
and sensitivity through mythology and dream imagery, preceding the
psychoanalytical work of Freud and Jung. With a strong philosophical touch,
more so than a style of art, and Art Nouveau and Expressionist artists such as
Edvard Munch. Beginning in France as a reaction to the movements of Naturalism
and Realism, which seemed to capture the particular components of consensual
reality, and presented spirituality and imagination reflecting some artists
budding interest in religion and spirituality.

In literature, poet Charles Baudelaire was developing his work and the
movement, and especially with such luminaries as Verlaine contributing to the
collective effort of the literary movement during the 1860s and through to the
1870s. With the works of Edgar Allen Poe coming to popularity in the 1880s, the
Symbolism movement in artwork represented an outgrowth into the darker and more
gothic nature of Romanticism, and contrasted with Romanticism's rebellious and
impetuous sides. Symbolist writers wrote in very metaphoric and suggestive
manner, to imbue the subjects with a sense of symbolic meaning, and made
realistic images into representatives for more esoteric and primordial ideas.

In translating the language of dreams into artwork with symbolic leanings,
discovering a visual style that draws upon that philosophical approach that
captures a sense of art that has been influential on more than one movement
artistically, and has evoked some of the more fantastic imagery to ever cross a
canvas. The Symbolist Manifesto was published in 1886, leading to a description
of the movement that included ideas such as being hostile towards plain and
matter-of-fact meanings, and to express the ideal in a perceptible form was the
sole purpose of this art form.

Symbolists that preferred poetic means of conveying their ideas, were known for
their techniques of removing technical aspects to achieve a greater fluidity for
their work, and became related with seeking use of symbolic images over raw
description to evoke the state of the poet's soul. Paul Verlaine was
influential in an 1884 publication defining the essence of Symbolism, through
many essays on the relevant poets of the day, and came to the conclusion of
relating the works of this movement to the famed philosopher Arthur
Schopenhauer, whose own work delved into art as a means of refuge from the
strife of the world.

These similarities, which presented a contemplative and artistic refuge using
themes such as mortality and otherworldliness, created disparaging arguments
between critic and artist alike. Leading to many Symbolist poets of the day to
make their own publications and periodicals, and the literary Symbolism then
reached its' peak in the year 1886, with one particular periodical lasting
until 1965. Though the two aspects of the movement were distinct, they would
occasionally overlap each other, and became a continuation for mystical
tendencies in a Romantic tradition, even flirting with the self-consciously
dark Decadence movement.

There were several dissimilar groups of painters and visual artists within the
Symbolism movement, and the artistic movement seemed to have a greater impact
worldwide than the literary movement, reaching multiple artists and sculptors
from such distinct parts as Russia. Many of the symbols found herein are not
necessarily universal, but more personally affected with the artist's obscure
and private references, with some dreamlike subject matter influencing later
Surrealists. Symbolism has had a strong link to music for a while, and mostly
due to the enthusiasm for the work of Richard Wagner, whose own music reflected
his influence from the philosopher Schopenhauer.

Symbolism even grew to affect some of the literary fiction contributed by Oscar
Wilde and Paul Adam, and has a pronounced ring when speaking about movements
that have literarily and artistically that have crossed over into other inner
groupings of artistic work. The waters of Symbolism have even filtered down the
centuries into the state of motion pictures today, and early on held influence
with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, as well as Russian actor and director
Vsevolov Meyerhold's method of acting that influenced early motion pictures.

It is difficult to overlook Symbolism's influence and repercussions throughout
the timeline to the current period of the world, as it drifts through many
aspects taken for granted on a daily basis, and many pieces of work for many
artists from writer T. S. Eliot to painter Pablo Picasso and even the state of
horror films as well. A decidedly different state of the world now has
interpreted and reinterpreted all this throughout these hundreds of years, and
created more and more material reflections of the state of things as they
happen to be.

Buying paintings: Surrealism

Surrealists were a group of painters and artists that drew a large amount of
inspiration from the potent impact from dreams. In the beginning, before this
artistic movement was fully embraced, many civilized people questioned the
value of these works of art. Though considered some of the more recent
ground-breaking artwork yet to date by drawing on the psychoanalytic work of
Freud and Jung, the Surrealist movement has not lost any of its' prior affect
on many a budding artist today, and influence from this art can be found in many
of the works produced by the fresh artists of today.

Surrealism started as an outgrowth from another movement in the art world
between the first and second World Wars. The movement that was later called
Dada, and was most popular before the occurrence of WWI; many works of
'anti-art' were produced as a reaction to the growing restrictions of the
social world around at the time. Where Dada's artwork was produced to
deliberately defy the boundaries of reasonable interpretation, Surrealism
expressed a more positive goal of combining a sense of the fantastic with a
realistic eye, and creating a bold vision that took the idea of the surreal to
the next level.

It is when reviewing the more creative and remarkable artists of this era, that
one can come to realize the appeal and effect that the dreamy state of being has
had on the art as a whole, and a person can come to grasp a more personal aspect
to these unique interpretations of some of the issues that affect us today. Art
is constantly being redefined from within, and it is solely upon the artist's
shoulders to weigh out the experience onto a canvas. It has been said that art
imitates life and vice versa, but with Surrealism, the tables are certainly
turned around when seen for oneself.

Artists and free thinking individuals such as; Andre Breton whom wrote the
Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, to famed artist Pablo Picasso to whom
Surrealistic success was achieved during his period of Cubism. Some of those
artists who are now renowned as predecessors to the Surrealist movement began
as affiliates of the Dadaism that was strongest during 1919 and the early
1920s, and some of those artists even took Surrealism to greater heights than
before. Such as Marcel Duchamp who took to defying the boundaries in stride
with his previous experience in the Dada movement.

Though some pieces can seem happenstance from a distance, the powerful intent
of the artist to convey a new meaning through mixing up and recombining various
creative influences, and even at times making new threads of thought from old
ideas or objects is the goal of the artist. To defy the boundary that one has
to each own their reality in life, and to put on a new sense of perspective,
shaping the rest of a lifetime to come. Some of the more famed paintings are
hard to find inexpensively, but buying prints can be the easiest solution to
that problem.

There is still a great deal of work created today that draws heavily from the
impact that Surrealist thought has made on art in general, and especially on
how art can be defined on a truly individual front. The most world-renowned
artists have already passed on, but their examples stand as firm points from
which to gain an understanding of what Surrealism is, whether defined through a
critical mind or as a sampling of how broad the area of art can be. Surrealism
is an artistic expression of that state of mind that lies unexplained at the
gateway of the subconscious.

Buying Paintings: Romanticism

Though sometimes referred to as the 'anti-classical' movement in art,
Romanticism is a style that focuses on the artist's individualistic and
emotionally wrought point of view, and is found to oppose the art movement
known as Neoclassicism. Even though there have been many artists to combine
elements of both. Some of the more renowned names around this movement, which
utilized strong emotion to convey meaning, were Francisco de Goya and William
Blake respectively.

This particular art form became a reaction to the outgrowth of reason by homing
in on imagination and feeling.

It is not difficult to see the value in the paintings by these artists, and
there have been many examples of how other artists have influenced one another
over time. As the whole category of Romanticism refers more to the trends of
artists, poets, and philosophers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries than
as much to an artistic movement. Though one has definitely influenced the other
and vice versa rather equally as time went along, there are very few areas in
modern life that can be said to stay untouched by the Romantic period, and many
agree that this was a vital point in the world's development as a whole.

Where the people of the period at the time were involved in an overwhelming
interest in things of a rational or enlightened nature, the Romantic ideal
favored intuition instead, and has been the subject of many differing
characterizations of the movement for intellectual and literary histories.
There are many varying attitudes on how Romanticism has affected the modern
world, and what place this movement has had in the greater picture of history.
Some cite Romanticism as being the originating moment of modernity, while
others seem to think that it is a beginning to a resistance to the enlightened
age, and still others date the movement as a direct aftermath of the French
Revolution that is completely continuous with the present.

Romanticism was previously mentioned as affecting music and literature as well
as art, but this is less understated than it might seem at first, Romanticism
is very prominent in the music and literature of this period. As the age moved
along, more than a few critics have considered composers such as Mozart, Hadyn,
and Beethoven as being the three Romantic composers. In literature all over the
world, the Romanticism movement deeply affected every writer from Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe through to even the 20th century's Ayn Rand, and many
more writers between those times when Romanticism was most prominent.

As it became apparent that Romanticism was going to stay a strong influence for
many years to come, many critics have taken to confirming that the Romantic
period has been elemental in the progress of art to the present day, and that
there is almost no famed artist who has not been in part affected by these
potent periods of artwork and creative purpose. This rebellion against social
and political standards of the age was instrumental in the changing over from
those same standards, and created a lush place from which to draw inspiration
for the next centuries to come.

Romanticism has become a piece of history that cannot be overlooked for very
long as every place that one can turn has somehow been affected by the progress
from this one particular time period, though that is certain for many artistic
movements that have been present throughout time, and seems to put more clout
into the common statement of art imitating life and life imitating art.
Neo-Romanticism worked itself out through artists' reevaluation of the
earlier works by those like William Blake, and especially in areas like
Britain, creating a new underground of writers, artists, and composers.

Neo-Romanticists have been considered the contrast to naturalism as Romanticism
was considered the opposite to Neoclassicism in its' heyday because of the
movement seems to stress feeling and internal observation, as opposed to the
naturalistic tendency to stress external observation, and utilize historic
rural landscapes to react to the modern world of machines and its
urbanization. Post-romanticism is an outgrowth of passionate art that refers to
a postmodern re-enactment of romantic themes and motifs in contemporary art up to
today, and combines the best of traditional artwork with a more modern flair.

In regards to the 20th century turns that Romanticism has made, Romantic
realism has evolved out of Romanticism to incorporate elements of themes of
value while referring to objective reality and the importance of technique, and
was popularized though not coined by the writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. This
lead to artists incorporating Romanticism and Realism, though they seemed more
weighed to the Romanticist side of the equation, and is considered more as a
branching of the Romanticism movement today.

Buying Paintings: Realism

In literature as well as art realism is the depiction of subjects as they
appear in practical, everyday life. Realism does not deal with interpretation
or embellishment. The point of realism is to capture people or situations in a
gritty and real way. Similar to realist photography, the realist painter does
not place emphasis on stylization but is most interested in depicting
situations just as they appear to the naked eye.

While realism depicts real characters in real situations, there tends to be
emphasis placed on the sordid or ugly. In this way, realism is very much the
opposite of idealism. In idealism the theory is that the reality and regular
world around us is merely a reflection of a higher truth. With realism,
however, it's as though we're saying "all I know for sure is what my eyes and
other sense organs tell me".

As a reaction to the idealism of Romanticism in France during the middle of the
nineteenth century, realism became the popular cultural movement in many ways.
Realism is often linked to demands for political and social reform, as well as
ideas about democracy. Dominating the literature and visual arts of England,
France and the United States between the years 1840 and 1880, realism was
popular throughout many facets of life.

Realists tend to throw out such hubris as classical forms, theatrics and lofty
esoteric subjects in favor of the most commonplace subjects and themes. A very
famous example of a realist painting is Jean-Francois Millet's 'The Gleaners'
from the year 1857. This painting portrays three women working in the fields.
The colors are very realistic, almost drab, by contrast to non-realist
paintings.

Realism as an art movement appears as early as 2400 BC in India in the city of
Lothal. Examples of this type of art can be found around the world and
throughout art history. In a very broad sense, realism is art that shows any
subject or object that has been observed and accurately depicted, though the
entire art piece may not conform to realism conditions.

During the late sixteenth century the most prominent mode of art in European
art was a form called mannerism, which showed artificial and elongated figures
in very unreal, though graceful positions. Then an artist by the name of
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio emerged and changed much of the direction of
art simply by depicting real humans doing real things. His work shows images
painted directly fro meveryday life and shows an immediacy that had never been
seen before.

Dutch art had any realism entries, with their fondness for homely details and
humble situations and subjects. Rembrandt is a very well known example of Dutch
realism in paintings. The Barbizon School took realism in a whole new direction
when, by observing and painting nature, the beginnings of Impressionism took
shape.

Realism still plays a role in paintings and art of all kinds today. From film
to television and the fine arts, realism is still a major player in the world
of creative and expressive processes and productions. Throughout human history
there have been those that wish to see things as they are and those that see in
reality a hint of the divine. Realism went a long way in providing the one
extreme with which we've discovered several in betweens in more modern and
contemporary art.

Buying Paintings: Precisionism

Also known as Cubist Realism, and related to the Art Deco movement,
Precisionism was developed in the United States after World War I. The term for
this movement was coined in the 1920s, and influenced by the Cubist and Futurist
movements; the main themes for these paintings were mainly regarding
industrialization and modernization of the American landscape. These elements
were depicted with the use of precise and sharply defined geometrical shapes, a
reverence for the industrial age, but with social commentary not a directly
fundamental part.

The degrees of abstraction ran the spectrum as some works had photo realistic
qualities, and though the movement had no presence outside of the United
States, the artists that made up this particular grouping were a closely knit
collective remaining active through to the 1930s. Georgia O'Keefe remained as
one of the leading proponents of this style, and stayed so for many years
afterwards until the 1960s, her husband was a highly regarded mentor for the
group. In a post post-Expressionist phase of life in the art world,
Precisionism has affected and influenced the movements of magic realism which
utilizes aspects such as juxtaposing of forward movement with a sense of
distance, and pop art in which themes from mass culture were used to define art
much there forward.

Just after the 1950s began, the movement of pop art was clear in places such as
Britain and the United States, and employed elements of advertising and comic
books to create a foundation that might have been taken as a reaction to the
then popular movement of abstract expressionism. Though the term wasn't coined
until 1958, it was later linked with Dadaism from the beginning of the century,
and at one point was called Neo-Dada because of the strong influence from artist
Marcel Duchamp. Later affecting artists like Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns,
bringing the definition to come to mean one of low-cost mass-produced and
gimmicky artwork, and stressing everyday values with common sources like
product packaging and celebrity photographs.

By exploring that fraction of everyday imagery, the artists found themselves
working with contemporary consumer culture, and this became apparent in parts
of Britain, Spain, and Japan around the same point in time. In Britain in
particular, where pop art seemed to stem from at that point in 1947, and many
works began blurring the boundaries between art and advertising. Whereas in
Spain, the movement became interrelated with the "new figurative", the work
arose from the roots of informalism which began to be a critical aspect in this
part of the world.

In Japan, pop art has been seen and utilized throughout much of the country's
native artwork through such means as Anime and the "superflat" styles of art,
and became the means through which the artists could further critique their own
culture through a more satirical lens. When choosing a stimulating piece by
these artists, it may be a more invigorating exercise to find some of those
other artists to whom these later artists owe much of their inspiration towards
their own work, and Precisionism is just as appropriate a place to start for you
as anywhere else in the artistic spectrum.

Today, Precisionism can be seen as fundamental influence in commercial and
popular art, but cannot be too overlooked as being one of a few different
movements to affect our present day stance on art's utility and functions. With
the postmodern present coming to light, maybe we shall once again be drawn back
to the past that we have come to take for granted too often, and reveal a new
age to define a new century of experience.

Buying Paintings: Neoclassicism

Between the 18th and 20th centuries, a few quite distinctive trends were
absorbed into the category of Neoclassicism, and it during these times that the
movement as a whole came to absorb the classical inspirations that created a
revival of ideals. These ideals, though standards from ages past, were defined
by the artists synthesis of these elements into new works of art. It does not
recreate styles of art from scratch, but instead shows the artists control over
a particular body of classical works. By drawing from the classics of the past,
Neoclassicism was paying tribute to eras of awareness that perhaps slipped
away, but to regain some sense of these classical influences.

In Europe, neoclassicism began as a reaction against the Baroque and Rococo
styles, and a desired return to the art of Romanesque and Renaissance
classicism. Each individual grouping of Neoclassicism, whether affecting
architecture or the visual arts, has attempted to capture the ideas of times
gone by to utilize them in forms of art that were considered modern at the
time. In neoclassicist painting in particular, the subject matter seems to
hearken back to those classical ideas by reviving those Greek to Renaissance
themes, and forcing them into peculiar constraints that would recreate the
elements into new formats.

The Neoclassical style of artwork was heavily present during both the American
and French Revolutions, and revival in the interest of classical thought in the
style of ancient Greece and Rome, at times affecting a more Byzantine stance in
some countries. A counterbalance came in the form of the Romanticism movement,
and it never replaced Neoclassicism so much as aided in the influencing of many
artists throughout the 19th century and beyond. When the architecture began to
dominate the main aspects of neoclassicism, and has been found to be
academically selective of the best Roman models guided with self-restraint.

At first, the style had been grafted with other popular European forms of
architecture, and this style became quite pronounced as neo-classically
inspired furnishings were popular for the time. The style soon had
international renown, and it was at this point that the architecture became
strongly influenced by Roman designs after the discoveries at Pompeii, during
excavations that took place at that time. Though all these designs seem a bit
absurd and overcomplicated nowadays, there was a flush of Greek inspired work
in the forms of busts and vases after 1800, and this was called the Greek
revival.

Continuing to be a force after the turn of the 19th century, even as
Romanticism and Gothic styles took favor, but it seemed anti-modern to
influential critical circles by the late 19th century. In the mid-19th century,
several European cities had grandiose examples of the neoclassical style of
architecture, and even early American architecture reflected this movement in
various national monuments, and some of those monuments were the Lincoln
Memorial and the National Gallery in Washington D. C. Soon, however, World War
II would shatter those preconceptions for the world round.

Covertly, there were many modernists that chose to express a neoclassical
influence with subtle tribute here and there, and even Picasso played around
with reincorporating neoclassical motifs into his work at one time. Even the
Art Deco style was using these ideas on a very sly level of utilization,
playing with classic Grecian lines and even breaking out in American culture
through architecture and the dime by 1950, and became a strong ideology in the
time between both World Wars. This literary and very literal side of the
movement rejected the romanticism of Dada, for example, for the restraint of
religion and reactionary politics.

It can be a difficult bout to sort through all these items to find the ideal
artwork that you would enjoy, and there many whose catalogs are extensive to
say the least, making it quite an effort to glimpse through all of those works
to find the pieces that you would enjoy the most. Finding the particular
classifications that art periods fall under, such as neoclassicism, can keep
your interest guided by where you can find most amount of work that you can
acquire. Keep in mind, however, that many of these pieces are quite priceless
to many collectors, and that buying a print of a particular famed work mat be
more cost-effective for your budget.

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.

Buying Paintings: Gothic Art

Some of the most valuable early artwork comes from a point of time before the
Renaissance had begun, and going on through the early Middle Ages, referred to
as the period of Gothic art. During this particular time in history, the
artwork took on telling narrative stories through pictures, and much of these
pieces were Christian and secular in nature. Some of the earliest examples of
Gothic art are sculptures found on cathedral and abbey walls, and the first
real form of Gothic artwork began as architectural works in fact, even becoming
the subject matter for many stained glass windows at the time.

The style of painting that further defined Gothic art wasn't produced until
nearly fifty years after Gothic architecture and sculptures, and even though
the break between Romanesque artwork and the Gothic styles has remained
imprecise at best, the beginnings of Gothic artwork seems to occur in various
areas at different but related intervals. The artwork began in England and
France around 1200, and in other areas like Germany and Italy between 1220 and
1300. The paintings stayed just as narrative as the architecture on church
walls during this time, and has stayed the territory of secular storytelling
for a long time afterwards.

Though Gothic art in paintings has had a relatively short time as the medium of
choice amongst the artists, there is evidence that the artwork falls into four
particular styles of these paintings, and these were the most common forms
during this time period. The fresco, the panel painting, the illuminated
manuscript, and the artwork done on stained glass are all depictions of Gothic
painting. Of these particular types, stained glass artwork had remained a
strong reminder of those ages long past, and is still created by master
artisans that learned their trade skills from these dark ages.

In the case of the other three particular forms of Gothic painting, frescoes
continued to be used as the pictorial narratives on church walls in southern
Europe, and were a consistent incorporation of early Christian and Romanesque
traditions. In Italy, during the 13th century, the panel painting began and
spread throughout Europe. With this proliferation, panel paintings became even
more predominant by the 15th century, and becoming even more popular than
stained glass at the time.
Since not all monumental works have survived, illuminated manuscripts are the
most complete record of Gothic painting, and provide a comprehensive account of
styles that would otherwise perished.

As the state of the world began to change, so too did the interpretations of
the artwork as a reflection of these changing times and attitudes, and the
movement became known as International Gothic by the late 15th century. From
there, it had evolved into an art form depicting not just secular stories and
allegories, but also resulted in the occurrence of more illuminated manuscripts
and paintings as increased trade and the rise of cities and universities grew.
With this proliferation of growth, more people were literate, and lead to
better records kept with this occurring. Leading up to many of the well-known
medieval artists today.

The International Gothic style of artwork was developed in Burgundy, Bohemia,
and northern Italy in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. During this
period in Gothic art, artists traveled widely around the civilized world at the
time creating a common aesthetic among the aristocracy of the time, and removing
the concepts of contrary artistic styles. The main influences for this period in
artwork were derived from northern France, the Netherlands, and Italy. It was
during this time, that aspects of rational uses of perspective and setting
became a common feature, and other features included flowing lines and rich
coloring.

In the case of Gothic sculpture, it had evolved from the elongated forms of the
Romanesque style, and became a more naturalistic expression in the early 12th
and late 13th centuries. Influences from Greek and Roman statuary were
incorporated into drapery, facial expressions, and poses. The sculptor Claus
Sluter and the changing tastes for more naturalistic styles became a harbinger
for the end of the Gothic period of art, and signaled the beginning of the
evolution into Renaissance period at the end of the 15th century.

In a time period where upheaval was the normal occurrence of many of the people
then, Gothic art fell into the broad scope of medieval artwork that included
such disparate elements and styles as Viking art and Celtic art, but in varying
degrees relied upon the artistic heritage of the Roman Empire and the early
Christian Church. In fact, much medieval artwork has the history of these
elements conjoining and converging into the remarkable artistic legacy we read
about today, and have contributed over time to the outcome of many other forms
of art from the Renaissance to the present day.

Buying Paintings: Futurism

A 20th century art movement with its' roots in Italian and Russian
beginnings, Futurism is said to have largely began with the writing of a 1907
essay on music by the Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni, and explored every
medium of art to convey its' meanings. The Italian poet Filippo Tommaso
Marinetti was the first to produce an article in which was summed up the major
principles that became the Manifesto of Futurism in 1909. It included the
passionate loathing of ideas from the past, and with that enmity of political
and artistic traditions, espoused a love for speed and technology.

The philosophy of Futurism regarded the car, the plane, and the industrial town
as legendary of the technological triumph of mankind over nature. With Marinetti
at the helm, a few artists of the time introduced the tenets of the philosophy
to the visual arts, and represented the movement in its' first phase in 1910.
The Russian Futurists were fascinated with dynamism and the restlessness of
modern urban life, purposefully seeking to provoke controversy and attract
attention to their works through insulting reviews of the static art of the
past, and the circle of Russian Futurists were predominantly literary as
opposed to being overtly artistic.

Cubo-Futurism was a school of Russian Futurism formulated in 1913, and many of
the works incorporated Cubism's usage of angular forms combined with the
Futurist predisposition for dynamism. The Futurist painter Kazimir Malevich was
the artist to develop the style, but dismissed it for the inception of the
artistic style known as Suprematism, that focused upon the fundamental
geometric shapes as a form of non-objective art. Suprematism grew around
Malevich, with most prominent works being produced between 1915 and 1918, but
the movement had halted for the most part by 1934 in Stalinist Russia.

Though at one point, those Russian poets and artists that considered themselves
Futurists had collaborated on works such a Futurist opera, but the Russian
movement broke down from persecution for their belief in free thought with the
start of the Stalinist age. Italian Futurists were strongly linked with the
early fascists in the hope for modernizing the society and economy in the 1920s
through to the 1930s, and Marinetti founded the Futurist Political Party in
early 1918, which was later absorbed into Benito Mussolini's National Fascist
Party.

As tensions grew within the various artistic faces that considered themselves
Futurists, many Futurists became associated with fascism which later translated
into Futurist architecture being born, and interesting examples of this style
can be found today even though many Futurist architects were at odds in the
fascist taste for Roman imperial patterns. Futurism has even influenced many
other 20th century art movements such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Art Deco
styles. Futurism as a movement is considered extinct for the most part with the
death of Marinetti in 1944.

As Futurism gave way to the actual future of things, the ideals of the artistic
movement have remained significant in Western culture through the expressions of
the commercial cinema and culture, and can even be as an influence in modern
Japanese anime and cinema. The Cyberpunk genre of films and books owe much to
the Futurist tenets, and the movement has even spawned Neo-Futurism, a style of
theatre at utilizes on Futurism's focuses to create a new form of theatre.
Much of Futurism's inspiration came from the previous movement of Cubism,
that involved such famed artists as Pablo Picasso and Paul Cezanne, and created
much of the basis for Futurism through its' philosophy.

Buying Paintings for Relatives

I have found that people buying paintings for relatives usually have a very
specific thing in mind when they set out shopping. It is very rewarding to find
just the right painting for a space that really needs it. Sometimes color is the
only consideration.

Content is also very appropriate to consider. If you are buying a painting for
someone that has very distinct tastes, it is important to keep that in the
forefront of your mind. The painting of a rooster might be great for one
relative but not for another.

Size constraints need to be taken into account when buying paintings for
relatives. If your Aunt Eloise lives in a small apartment, buying a painting
for her that takes up an entire wall is not a good idea. It is a good idea to
take a look at the place the painting will go before purchasing one.

Color can be a big factor in the buying of a painting. If the color clashes
with your relative's decor, they will probably not be very excited about
hanging it. If the color is just right, it will hang on their wall for a very
long time.

Religious themed paintings are difficult to buy for friends, but easy to buy
for relatives. More than likely, you know what religion your relatives adhere
to and what symbols are most relevant to it. Jewish symbolism is lost on a
Christian family and vice versa.

Choosing to buy paintings for relatives based on the artist's previous work is
also a good method of finding great art. If your relative already has purchased
art from an artist that they like and that they hang prominently in their home,
then it is a safe bet to buy another piece from the same artist.

Sometimes buying a nice painting for a relative has a point of inspiration,
like a vacation. If your mom and dad just visited Paris, a nice painting of
Paris might be a great choice. It is good to know what landmarks they enjoyed
most and find an artistic representation of it.

I have some relatives that I've bought paintings for that were interested in
the Middle Ages. I found some very nice reproductions of the work that was
popular in that time period. Buying reproductions is acceptable if the painting
is prohibitive in cost.

There is an aunt that I adore that is always buying painting for relatives. Her
heart is in the right place, but she has a hard time picking paintings that are
appropriate for the recipient. She bought her daughter a lovely painting that
was Baroque and completely did not fit the feel of her home.

Landscape paintings done in the Romantic style look so nice in my uncle's home.
I bought him a reproduction of a Monet that he hung in his study. I enjoy
watching him study that painting.

My little sister has requested that anyone buying her a painting should stay
away from Van Gogh. She has equal dislike for Cezanne and Gauguin. I'm not sure
why she feels so strongly about Modern and Contemporary art.

I happen to like cubist paintings by Kandinsky. My husband bought me a
reproduction of a Kandinsky that I keep in my den. I can look into it and see
so many different things. The painting comes to life and I feel so many
emotions when I look into it.

Buying Paintings: Expressionsim

When speaking on buying paintings of the Expressionist movement, it is always a
good idea to review what elements make Expressionism unique, and to gain an
understanding of some of the artists representative of this particular artistic
movement. The agreed upon intention of Expressionist artwork is not reproduce a
subject accurately, but to instead portray the inner state of the artist, with
a tendency to distort reality for an emotional effect. The movement is closely
associated with its' beginnings in Germany, and has a few different but
overlapping schools of thought within.

The term Expressionism was first used to describe the movement in the magazine
produced in 1911 called 'Der Sturm', and was usually linked to paintings
and graphic work that challenged academic traditions at the time. The
philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche later helped to define the area of modern
expressionism better by clarifying the movement's links to ancient art before
any more modern interpretation had, and applied his own unique philosophy to the
movement. He has been quoted stating that disordered and ordered elements are
present in all works of art, but that the basic traits of Expressionism lay in
the mainly disordered aspects.

The Expressionist point of view was usually conveyed through the use of bold
colors, distorted forms, and a lack of perspective. Generally, a piece of
expressionistic art is one that is expressive of intense emotion, and much of
this kind of artwork occurs during times of social upheaval. Though it can be
argued that an artist is expressive by nature, and that all artwork is truly
expressionist, there are many who consider the movement particularly
communicative of emotion. Later on, artists like Kandinsky changed 20th century
Expressionist work through the formation of Abstract Expressionism.

The art historian Anto Matjek was elemental in coining the term as the
opposite to the Impressionist movement as well, and though Expressionism seems
well defined as an artistic movement, there have never been a group of artists
that called themselves Expressionists. The movement was primarily German and
Austrian, and many of the different groups of thought were based around Germany
at the time. Another artistic movement that heavily influenced Expressionism was
Fauvism. This kind of artwork is characterized by primitive, less naturalistic
forms, and includes the works of famed painters Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse.

With this influence firmly in place, Expressionism grew into striking
compositions that focused on representing emotional reactions through powerful
use of color and dynamic approaches with subject matter, and seemed to counter
the qualities centered on by the French Impressionism of the time. Where French
Impressionism was to seek rendering the visual appearance of objects,
Expressionism became an opposing movement seeking to capture emotions and
subjective interpretation, and it was not important to reproduce a visually
pleasing interpretation of the matter that the painting represented.

Expressionism has crossed over into many differing fields of artistic vision,
with sculpture and filmmaking being primary examples today, and have influenced
many people throughout the course of its existence as a movement in art.
These visions have combined over time to create the comprehensive idea of what
Expressionism has become, and many people have found this type of art very
appealing and eye-catching. Throughout this century, much Expressionistic
artwork has come to be representative of what art can come to be, and many
people have been influenced by this very emotional artwork.

Buying Paintings: Cubism

What started out as a rather avant-garde art movement has become one of the
greatest examples of artistic forms breaking that mold of convention,
revolutionizing European painting and sculpture up to the present century, and
was first developed between 1908 and 1912 during a collaboration between
Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso with influences from the works of Paul Cezanne
and Tribal art. Though the movement itself was not long-lived, it began an
immense creative explosion that has had long lasting repercussions, and focused
on the underlying concept that the essence of an object can only be captured by
showing it from multiple points of view simultaneously.

The movement had run its' course by the end of World War I, and influenced
similar ideal qualities in the Precisionism, Futurism, and Expressionistic
movements. In the paintings representative of Cubist artworks, objects are
broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form, and the artist depicts the
subject in a multitude of viewpoints instead of one particular perspective.
Surfaces seemingly intersecting at random angles to produce no real sense of
depth, with background and object interpenetrating with one another, and
creating the shallow space characteristic of Cubism.

French art critic Louis Vauxcelles first used the term cubism, and it was after
viewing a piece of artwork produced by Braque, the term was in wide use though
the creators kept from using the term for quite some time. The Cubist movement
expanded from France during this time, and became such a popular movement so
quickly that critics began referring to a Cubist school of artists influenced
by Braque and Picasso, many of those artists to Cubism into different
directions while the originators went through several distinct phases before
1920.

As Braque and Picasso worked to further to advance their concepts along, they
went through a few distinct phases in Cubism, and which culminated in both
Analytic and Synthetic Cubism. With Analytic Cubism, a style was created that
incorporated densely patterned near-monochrome surfaces of incomplete
directional lines and modeled forms that play against each other, the first
phases of which came before the full artistic swing of Cubism. Some art
historians have also pegged a smaller "Hermetic" phase within this Analytical
state, and in which the work produced is characterized by being monochromatic
and hard to decipher.

In the case with Synthetic Cubism, which began in 1912 as the second primary
phase to Cubism, these works are composed of distinct superimposed parts. These
parts, painted or pasted on the canvas, were characterized by brighter colors.
Unlike the points of Analytical Cubism, which fragmented objects into composing
parts, Synthetic Cubism attempted to bring many different objects to create new
forms. This phase of Cubism also contributed to creating the collage and papier
colle, Picasso used collage complete a piece of work, and later influenced
Braque to first incorporate papier colle into his work.

Similar to collage in practice, but very much a different style, papier colle
consists of pasting materials to a canvas with the pasted shapes representing
objects themselves. Braque had previously used lettering, but the works of the
two artists began to take this idea to new extremes at this point. Letters that
had previously hinted at objects became objects as well, newspaper scraps began
the exercise, but from wood prints to advertisements were all elements
incorporated later as well. Using mixed media and other combinations of
techniques to create new works, and Picasso began utilizing pointillism and dot
patterns to suggest planes and space.

By the end of the movement, with help from Picasso and Braque, Cubism had
influenced more than just visual art. The Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was
inspired by Cubism in some examples of his music that reassembled pieces of
rhythm from ragtime music with the melodies from his own country's influence.
In literature, Cubism influenced poets and their poetry with elements parallel
with Analytical and Synthetic Cubism, and this poetry frequently overlaps other
movements such as Surrealism and Dadaism.

Buying Orange Paintings for Friends

Buying orange paintings for friends can be very rewarding. This can also be a
business if it is done properly. If you know your friend's tastes, you can be
very successful.

I have been finding the most delightful paintings in orange lately. I have been
buying the paintings for friends. They have been very well received.

I found a seascape that had a beautiful red and orange sunset in it. The artist
was Robyn Joy and buying paintings from her has been relatively easy. Her prices
are reasonable and the quality is excellent.

There was a painting that I decided to buy for some friends that were getting
married. The painting was enormous and perfect for the loft they just
purchased. It was orange and red and had a very stylized heart represented in
the center. The painting was shipped from Germany and arrived only three days
before the wedding!

The painting that I chose for my son's college roommate was of orange sneakers.
He got an executive position at Nike and needed help decorating his office. He
loves the color orange and was thrilled that I actually found some dynamic
modern impressionistic art for his office that featured shoes.

My yoga instructor has been a good friend to me. I found buying a painting for
her to be a very rewarding search. The painting that I ultimately chose was an
abstract nude orange oil painting. She proudly hung it in her studio.

My love of orange paintings tends to lean toward the abstract. I keep finding
paintings that really speak to me. Buying the paintings for my friends has been
really fun. One of my oldest friends received a painting of orange blossoms for
Christmas. I know that orange trees bring back wonderful memories for her.

While I was searching for just the right painting for my friend's new home, I
found a wonderful artist named Aileen. I bought her painting called Sunset
Palm. It was an original acrylic painting on solid wood. It was breathtaking.

Folk art is something that I am not very good at buying. I found myself drawn
to some pieces at a local gallery that were very colorful and fun. I even found
myself buying one! The friends that I bought the painting for are cat lovers and
this was a folk art painting of three cats.

The painting I bought for my best friend looks very stylish on her plain walls.
It complements her modern furnishings and it makes an instant focal and
conversational point. This painting is orange and burnt sienna has a dream like
quality and, according to the artist, is born from our rich cultural heritage of
myths, legends and poetry. It is full of atmosphere and evokes feelings of
mystery.

Pop art is fun to buy for friends. I had a friend move to Southern California
and buy a beautiful home. I found the perfect painting for his stark white
kitchen. The painting is of an orange and a glass of orange juice. It looks so
nice on the new wainscoting.

My niece is getting married later this year. I have spent quite a bit of time
getting to know her soon-to-be new in-laws. I have found a lovely painting for
them as a welcome to our family gift. They are involved in rose competitions
and I found them a wonderful oil painting of a wild orange rose. I can't wait
to give it to them.

The most energetic painting I've purchased was for a friend of my husband. I
found an art student at the local college that was trying to sell a wall
painting she had done in orange and green. The painting depicted orange and
green in nature and how they represented the moods of the day. I wanted to keep
this one for myself.

I have a friend that teaches in a Montessori school. I found that buying a
painting for the school was pretty easy. The classroom my friend teaches in is
called the Iris room and I found a lovely watercolor painting of an iris that
was very vibrant. My friend and her students sent me a very lovely thank you
note for buying it.

Buying Jewish Paintings

I have a family that has commissioned me to find all of the Jewish paintings I
can find. He has given me no budget constraints. I'm not sure why he doesn't
have guidelines set up for me to follow; he just wants to amass a collection
quickly.

I found an oil on canvas that was a Jewish painting called Jewish meeting. The
artist was Amparo Cruz Herrera. The artist is Spanish and this work exuded
grace. I liked it a lot. I purchased it for eight thousand dollars. My
benefactor was happy with the purchase.

My client made no distinction between Jewish paintings that were of a religious
nature and those that were only painted by a Jewish person. I bought a rare Leon
Bakst that was dated 1910. His subject was a person in an exotic costume. I'm
not sure where my client plans to display it.

The next Jewish painting I found for him was a cityscape in oil of a deserted
house in Veroia. This painting only cost six thousand dollars. Veroia is a
Jewish neighborhood in northern Greece. I thought that this painting was a
little bit unsettling.

I found another good Jewish painting for my client. The title of the painting
was Juedisches Oesterreich Jewish Austria and was created by Frank Ettenberg in
2004. The person that sold me the painting said that the painting evoked a
feeling of the artist's state of being face to face with nationalism, his
ethnic identity and an existential situation.

I found another Jewish painting I liked for four thousand dollars. The oil
painting called Birds of Paradise was painted by Maurice Sterne. Sterne was a
Jewish immigrant from Russia. He was the first person to have a retrospective
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He exhibited 174 paintings, drawings
and sculptures.

I found a Jewish painting of a cat that sold for thirty five hundred dollars.
The artist of this work was Wettingfeld Zarojewski. I could not find any other
work from this artist at all. My client really liked it. He is also a cat lover
in addition to being a collector of Jewish art.

There was a wonderful Jewish painting of a woman seated. I fell in love with it
on sight. The woman depicted looks so reflective and comfortable. I feel at ease
just gazing at her.

I finally found a religiously significant Jewish painting for my client. The
artist was Joan Landis and the title of the painting was Simhat Torah. This is
the painting that was used by Pomegranate Publishing for their 2003 calendar
and their greeting cards. I thought it was lovely.

I liked the Jewish painting by Joan Landis so much that I sought out more of
her work. I purchased two paintings. One of the paintings was named Shabbat and
the other one was Mikveh. I took the three that I purchased to my client and he
fell in love with them. He asked me to find more of her work.

I found more work by Joan Landis and I purchased every one I came across. I
found three more of the Jewish paintings on eBay at reasonable prices. I
purchased Shavuot, Purim and Birth for three thousand dollars each. I felt like
I got a bargain.

I liked the colors in the Jewish painting I bought called The Tailor Shop. This
painting was created by Jacob Glushakow. He was an active member of the Jewish
community in Baltimore. His parents were immigrants from Russia at the start of
WW1. He has a painting that is still kept in the permanent collection of the
Baltimore Museum of Art.

I was fortunate to find two Jacob Glushakow Jewish paintings on the same buying
trip. The other painting I found was entitled Barn in Maryland. I liked it a lot
and my client was very pleased with what I brought for him.

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.

Buying Folk Art Paintings

Buying folk art paintings has become a passion of mine. I've been looking for
them everywhere it seems. I found a bunch of folk art paintings recently and I
am having trouble deciding which one to buy.

There was a folk art painting by Rev. Howard Finster that is titled Howard in
1944. This is an all enamel folk art painting that was painted in 1988. The
smile on this portrait is very engaging and makes me smile just as big.

I am also really taken by a folk art painting that was painted by painter Bill
Dodge in Oct 1962. The title of the painting is First Trolley To Van Nuys. The
painting is on board and depicts the center of town with all the people in
town. They are in the windows and on the street. The town market, bakery, Hotel
Van Nuys, an ice cream parlor and the Wing Lee Laundry are all depicted in
vibrant color. The women in the foreground are against the Trolley and their
signs say "Ban the Monster" and "Keep Van Nuys rural".

Thomas Chambers is one of America's foremost folk artists. I found a piece by
him that I just don't like very much. It is a bit austere for my tastes. The
subject is a fishing scene with villagers and boats. I don't think that I will
purchase this folk art painting because I just don't like it.

There was a folk art painting I found called Alligator Fisher that was painted
in 1940 that I really like. The blue of the bayou is very calming and the trees
give it a very Southern feel. There is a swamp house in the painting and I like
this one very much. It reminds me very strongly of Louisiana.

My mother started this passion of mine for folk art paintings. She had a folk
art painting by John Roeder in our parlor growing up. I used to spend hours
just staring into it. The trees were so relaxing to lose myself in. I have
asked her to give me this wonderful folk art painting many times, but she says
that I will have to wait until after her funeral!

I found one folk art painting during my journey that I felt sad every time I
looked at. The name of the painting is A Letter from My Mother. The look in the
girl's face is so serious and sad. I have no idea where this folk art painting
should hang. The painting itself is magnificent; it just makes me feel sad.

There is a whole subset of folk art paintings that represent black Americana. I
don't usually buy any of these pieces as they don't speak to my experience. I
did find one piece that I purchased for a collector friend of mine that loves
this type of art. The folk art painting had a whimsical feel to it and a woman
relaxing in a hammock. He hung this in his hallway and has loved it for a long
time.

My brother likes folk art paintings as much as I do. He prefers animals to be
the subjects of paintings he purchases. I found a lovely clouded leopard folk
art painting for him last Christmas and he has asked that I keep my eyes open
for more like it. He said that he will buy any art I find for him because he
trusts that I know and understand his tastes.

I have kept my eyes open for animal themed folk art paintings for my brother,
but I just can't seem to find any as nice as the leopard that I got for him.
The grand extent of animal themed folk art paintings I've found recently was a
painting of two owls on a limb and I know that he would not like it. Ever since
we were kids, owls totally freak him out.

Buying Abstract Paintings

Buying and collecting abstract painting can be a labor of love. I love abstract
paintings. I think that my favorite medium is gouache. I recently purchased a
work from Oscar Bluemner. The person I bought the abstract painting from had it
in storage for over twenty years. I am going to hang this piece in my office.

I found an oil abstract painting that was dated 1947 that was painted by Louis
Bassi Siegriest. I liked the composition, it felt oddly soothing. The artist
signed the back of the painting. It was a little out of my price range, but I
bought it anyway.

Trade Winds is the name of an abstract painting I bought from the artist Joanne
Riddle while I was in Connecticut. The piece was huge and I had to have it sent
by freight to my home. The blue in the painting was so vivid. The whole
composition was absolutely inspired.

I bought an abstract painting for my sister-in-law last year. The artist of the
piece was Leonardo Nierman and the medium he used was oil. I bought the piece
unframed and took my sister-in-law to framer to choose the frame.

I tried to buy an abstract painting from the mayor of our town. I offered him
two thousand dollars for the modernist abstract colorful figure. The artist
used red, white and blue and I wanted to acquire this for my stepmother. She
would have loved it, but the mayor was unwilling to part with it.

My mother has decorated her home in a style that she liked in Santa Fe. I
bought a large abstract painting for her from her favorite artist, Lou Monti.
She has seen his work in a number of homes and always raves about them. She was
so happy when she saw the painting I bought for her hanging on the wall of her
living room.

I dated a guy once that had a signed abstract painting by Robert Gilberg on his
wall. I saw something different every time I saw it. That painting had an
attraction that I just can't quite explain. He was always buying art and
changing out abstract paintings on his walls, but this particular piece always
stayed. I guess he was attracted to it as well.

The abstract painting that I bought for my older brother did not work in his
apartment. I ended up buying a painting that was a little too large for the
room it was intended for. The colors did not work in the only room that worked
for its size.

I ended up selling that abstract painting the same place that I had bought it,
on eBay! I ended up making a profit on the abstract painting. There was more
information in my auction about the artist, Richard Diebenkorn, than there had
been in the auction that I won. I think the extra hour of research I spent made
the abstract painting's value increase.

I learned a long time ago that an abstract painting is worth exactly as much as
someone is willing to pay for it. I have friends that just cannot be convinced
of this basic truth. I think that if no one wants a particular abstract
painting, then it is worth nothing.

My brother used the money from the sale of the unwanted abstract painting to
find himself another abstract painting. He ended up with an abstract collage
that was made in the late 1930s. I liked it when I saw it and it worked
beautifully in his office.

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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