Decorate your Walls; Decorate Your Soul: 6 Reasons to Invest in Original Art

On Golden Waves
24" x 28"
Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

#1 Because it moves you and makes you feel

Some art just resonates with us. It moves us. It stirs our soul and evokes an emotion, a memory, an intangible thought – and we want to capture that feeling and feel it again and again. If you find art that you truly love, that makes you feel happy and inspired, buy it and bring it home with you, and you will return to that place every time you look at your painting. 

"The City of Blinding Lights"
24" x 36" x 1.5"
Oil and Mixed on Canvas

#2 – To mark the milestones

Some people like to collect art to mark the milestones in their lives.   For example, many couples like to invest in a piece of original art on their honeymoon, as a reminder of their wedding and the special bond that they have, and then purchase a piece each year on their anniversary. Others like to purchase new pieces when they move to a new home, or to celebrate the birth of a child and thus began a legacy of sharing the love of art with your children. Paintings also make the most memorable wedding gifts...you may not remember who sent you those crystal goblets but you will always know who sent you the painting. 

#3 -Art reduces stress

We are surrounded by to-do lists, chores, errands, and tons of advertising messages. Taking a moment or two to look at artwork gives us a visual vacation. It is refreshing. It can lift your mood. Owning and displaying art can enrich your life and reduces stress. It can take you back in time as you recall the memory or occasion you purchased it, or move your forward as a little mental escape.

Relax
24" x 24" x 1.5"
Oil and Mixed on Canvas

#4 – Art personalizes your space

The walls in your home are the walls of your own private gallery. You are both curator and artist. Choose art that is an extension of you. Original art is the ultimate conversation piece. It always gets noticed by your guests. Artwork is a signature way to personalize your home, office, or whatever other space you want to enhance. The art you select reflects your personality, style, and taste. It is a great way to make a space feel comfortable, to make it your own.

Original art avoids a cookie-cutter look. It brings warmth and life to a building and makes it a home. If you like quality – granite countertops and high-end fixtures and appliances – then I encourage you to invest in original art, rather than reproductions. Original art will enhance the quality of your home.

"Stay in This Moment"
10" x 10" x 1.5"
Acrylic and Mixed

#5– Original art is unique

There is nothing like an original piece of art. You are the only one in the world who possesses it.  With an original piece of art, you get the complete visual experience created by the artist. Sure, you can get a print instead, but the print lacks so much of the original. There is a richness to an original piece that just can’t be matched – or even come close! You get to see every brush stroke, all the nuances of color and depth. 

Self Symmetry
14" x 22"
(2 Canvases, 11" x 14" each)

#6 – You ensure that art continues to be made

Wouldn’t the world be a sad place without art?  If there were no art to add beauty and decoration to our lives? It is disappearing at an alarming rate in our children's schools, and as parents it is up to us to foster a love of creativity in future generations. 

Believe me, Artists are not creating art to get rich. There is something in us that drives us to create. When you purchase an original painting, you are voting with your wallet and helping to ensure that the Artist can continue making art!  

What other reasons to invest in original art can you think of?

I’d love to hear them! And thanks for stopping by!

Gladiolas
24" x 24"
Acrylic and Mixed on Canvas

All of the paintings featured are by me and available if you are looking for some original art of your own.  Email inquiries to utopiapkwyarts@yahoo.com.

Work in Progress

Had a lovely little morning in the studio while the kids were at Mother's Day Out and Preschool. Five hours went by in the blink of an eye. I love that. Sometimes when I am painting I hit a groove where I am completely in the moment, filled with contentment. I often chase this same high when I'm running.  I wait for it to find me when I practice yoga.  That exhilaration of being completely present is what makes me feel complete.

I wanted to post some pics of a work in progress today, to show how things get done around my little studio. I have various easels but mostly work on the floor. Paint everywhere. Always with green tea. And lots of mellow music, today I was digging some old-school Cure. I am working on a new Gladiolas painting to trade with an artist who I have gotten to be friendly with, Jennifer Moreman.  The one on the right with the cool colors, entitled, "Celebration", hangs in my private collection, and I hope to have something similar done for Jennifer with some fresh new colors.  We're meeting to trade on Saturday. Fingers crossed I get it done!

A Poem for Wednesday

Amy Always Kept Fresh Gladiolas on the Table
Fine art prints of this original painting are available on my Etsy site:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/47355983/amy-always-kept-fresh-gladiolas-on-the

Kindness
by Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.

"Uncommon Ground" Opens Tonight!

"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it." ~ Danny Kaye

I am so excited for the opening of my art show, "Uncommon Ground", tonight at Artisan Style Gallery in Uptown. What an honor to be featured with artists Debbie Carroll, Michelle Stroescu and Kate Wickham. Collectively, we have created over fifty works interpreting the modern landscape. My paintings above will be featured, along with many other new works. I hope all of my Dallas friends can make it out to the reception, if you miss it the show will run until 4/3. Now, onto more important things....what to wear, what to wear? A 6 week-postpartum figure is certainly not the ideal, but hopefully everyone will be looking at my paintings and not the baby weight I'm still trying to work off. :)