artsy fartsy me

I have this thing about buying pre-fab art. I'm not sure where I picked up such a snobby attitude, but I really have very little interest in owning prints. Having said this, I do like limited prints and hand printed pieces, and I do own own set of prints that I bought at Z Gallery that I truly love. But for the most part, I want originals.

The problem is, I also have this thing called a budget. Such an ugly word, budget. Bud-get. Yeez. Anywho, I have semi rectified this situation by painting my own art. Please make no mistake. I am not a gifted artist. But I am crafty in both senses of the word. I have found that it is pretty easy, once you have a concrete idea, to come up with a product you can hang on your wall, at least until you have company over.


Take for example my guest bedroom:


Originally, I wanted a large cast iron sea horse sculpture to go above the bed. First, I couldn't find exactly what I had conjured up in my head, and second, when I did find something I thought would work, it was $2200. Ah- no.

I took the photo of the sea horse sculpture that I liked and painted it onto a canvas. It isn't an exact match, but that's what I like about it. It is my own. I didn't want to spend the money to have a huge canvas custom stretched to the size I wanted so I just bought two smaller canvases (on sale at Dick Blick) and painted an anemone on the other canvas. It has a little hidden clown fish in it that makes me smile. I still wish that the canvases were larger, but all in all, I'm happy with the result.

I really enjoy painting. I find it totally relaxing and almost hypnotic. I signed up to take a weekend long class (Sept. 20-21) from Anahata Katkin, owner and founder of Papaya. Check out her work she is amazing. I am hoping to come away with some fabulous pieces that I can be proud to hang on my wall.

I'll tell you another word, uglier than budget. Frugal.