I'm not sure that I understand the question.

I find landscape paintings that depict winter - bare trees and snowy scenes - to be very depressing and they make me feel cold.

One of my favorite wall pieces is a painting of what looks like autumn trees. I love the painting, and the colors. To me it's not a painting of trees in a particular season, it's just art that makes me happy to look at.

And I happen to decorate with earth tones pretty exclusively (I don't like bright colors outside of DD's rooms), so it goes well.

I mean depicting a specific season like Chispa mentioned. I don't think that all landscapes depict a specific season. I find many to be more generic in season than others or maybe that is just because Winter scenes appear to be seen less.

I've never sunk my money into anything other than architectural and people driven pieces so I was just wondering what your personal takes were/ are on season specific art.

In regards to pure landscape scenes I am partial to Winter scenes but have never really purchased anything that would be the main focal point in a room. I am now considering making such a move in the near future to expand the collection that I have.

Two of my favorite paintings are Autumn in Argenteuil by Monet and September by Sisley.

I think all landscapes have a season, but not all of them are featuring the season.

Winter scenes can be beautiful and peaceful. I think they would look very nice in your home, ttodd.

the short answer is yes. :)

I have a set of 4 seasons prints from my mom that I love. I have them hung altogether. I also have a picture of a winter scene in my family room. I have read the narnia books more times than I can count, and I live in the north east. A peaceful winter scene, like when there is a big snow and no one has been out and about, and all the branches have sparkly wet snow on them - what a great feeling - and also makes me think of the first narnia book. :)

I also happen to love fall, so I have a few paintings of the fall leaves in all their orange, yellow and red glory.

Yes and yes. Love them.

I would. If I liked a particular work, I wouldn't let the fact that it represents a particular season deter me.

I was just looking at a painting online yesterday that featured birds in snow, and if it wasn't for the fact that I already have way too many birds in here, I'd have been very tempted.

We have two that depict winter and they stay up all year. I like the colours, the calmness of winter, and the scene of each of them

What a great idea! Being that I live in Florida this is not something I have ever given thought to. We petty much have one season with slight variances so the same art stays on the wall. Unless a hurricane comes and blows it all away...then no art.

Not a thought that crosses my mind. It's the art itself that speaks to me, not the time of year.

I'm with chrispa, I find any winter scenes to be depressing and make me feel cold.

In case it isn't obvious, I hate winter. Other people think about pastoral scenes with fresh snow, pine trees & cardinals. When I think winter, I think about grey slushy snow piles on the roadside & in parking lots. Brrrr. So winter scene art doesn't speak to me at all.

I could easily have spring or summer seasoned art up year round, if the individual piece spoke to me. Fall themed is iffy, I might be able to have it but it might also remind me that the dreaded winter is around the corner.

I have bought winter scenes, and have been given art with winter scenes. I ended up with a grouping on a narrowish wall with nothing but winter scenes and it's my favorite!

They're not depressing, one of my faves is a little boy in a red stocking hat pulling his little brother in a red wagon in snow.

I don't put wall art up just for seasons, my art stays up all year.

What natal said.

I, too, hate REAL winter (I grew up in NE Ohio)...but I've bid (and lost) on more than one winter scene because the art spoke to me. I love black and white winter photographs.

Of course, I no longer live in a place that has "real winter." I live in NC now and we have seriously cold weather in fits and starts, and it never lasts very long. So perhaps I can appreciate the visual starkness of winter now, when I couldn't before. I will say that, when I visit my mom in the winter, I'm always struck by how monochromatic the landscape is. If I were still living with that every year, I doubt I'd want it up on my walls.

I am Swedish, living in Sweden where we certainly have real winters. I have 13 pictures on my living room walls, acrylics, oils, water colours, pencil drawings, and screen prints. 6 of them are winter scenes. Not all are landscapes, one is a cityscape with figures and cars in snow. In my hall I have pictures by an artist friend (we have 7 of his paintings and prints) and I switch them according to season. In summer there is a woodland scene with the artist's daughter playing with a pine cone, in winter I hang a snowy village scene with a Christmas tree in the square.

Other pictures are autumnal, one oil with a plowed field with a local church in the distance, another a dark acrylic painting, perhaps painted in November, with a boy on a motor cycle in front of a local movie theater (now jutted). The only colour is the neon sign. I love this picture, one of only two that I bought with my own money, because before our kids were born, my husband and I lived close and would run to this cinema just in time for the movie and skip the commercials.

I think I'll take this opportunity to ask a question that has bothered me for a long time. I lived in the US for some time and have visited several times. My American friends are all well-to-do academics and yet they all have prints and copies of famous pictures on their walls, not original art work. My husband and I have only original art and some limited edition prints on our walls. Many are heirlooms and none are very expensive. I think our most expensive picture cost the equivalence of 400 USD some 30 years ago, a lot of money at the time but much less than the cost of a couch. Why don't Americans buy local art?

my father used to do alot of painting and so i have lots of his artwork around my house...

i love snows scenes, but there's something about them that just doesn't feel right 2 or 3 seasons of the year... the 'snow' paintings i have are hung in the guest suite and the upstairs hallway.
i think i might be more inclined to hang a black and white snow scene photo in a place that will be seen regularly year round...guess it would depend on the picture.

mariannese, your artwork sounds lovely, wish I could see it.

I have some prints by famous artists on my walls- the paintings aren't that well-known, but the artists are. I have them because I think they're beautiful.

I have noticed that some people tend to look down their noses a little bit at this, like it's not as good as having original art. (I've seen some original art that's kind of bad!)

So I would like to add this question to yours: is it always better to have original art?

ttodd, I'm sorry about my hijacking-type question. Didn't think of it until after I posted!

Mariannese--I own original art...now. When we were younger/first married, most of our art was prints. Most of our income went into paying our mortgage, paying off college loans, paying for health insurance, putting money into our children's college accounts, and contributing to our retirement fund. Not a lot left over for art. We bought art as we could. If we'd had the money--we'd certainly have purchased more from local artists. Certainly we do now! Biggest pay-raise we got was when Elder Son and The Boy were both graduated from university. ;^)

Marianese, I'm American and I have often wondered the same thing.

It's funny that you mention academics, though, because I thought we were an exception to that gereralizaion. We are also academics (though not remotely well-to-do) and I'd say in my experience a minority of our colleagues' homes are as you describe.

Much more commonly they feature local art or art picked up during the couple's world travels: here is my Indian art, here is my African art, here are my rugs from Turkey, etc. The "international collectors" theme is so prevalent my friends and I joke about it.

As for why most Americans have mass-produced art, I think many people don't have strong feelings for art and they are more concerned about something "matching" their decor than about what a picture means or says to them.

Or maybe in Europe there are fewer chain stores that sell prints and reproductions?

The art on my walls is mostly original, from the artist or made by family members, or bought from thrift/antique stores. I don't feel like it makes me stand out compared to the other professors' houses we know, but compared to our neighbors, it is different.

I do have strong feelings for art. A beautiful, say, Cezanne or Matisse print might evoke those feelings in me more than something from a local arts and crafts fair.

I like original art too. I just don't think mass-produced is always "bad" and original is always "good".

More important than the season represented, and All landscape art has a season, is that the landscapes represent the area where I live or at least close by. I live very near the Appalachian mountain range and not at all out West or in Europe and I want the art to reflect areas near by.
If I have visited such places, then it would be ok- as a souvenir.

I don't have any winter snow scenes as those are just a tease, some years we have a few inches and the schools close for a week and we all play, some years not.

The piece that I like for over my sofa is the first pic in the link below (the horse print that I looked at didn't 'feel' right). The colors are just perfect, the moody feel is fabulous, it's a great combo of art and photography. Is it 'Artography'?! I decided that I may well want to either invest in a piece from a PA artist or show this to one of my photographer friends and send him on an art mission w/ commission.

If you scroll forward in the link to the 4th picture I just stare and sigh. I am very partial to barn pics. Barns in general.

Now for Nancybee - I don't think that you're hijacking. I'd love to hear what you all have to say about original, limited edition and mass produced.

I'm fortunate that DH's great-grandfather was an avid artist of botanicals and nature scenes. I have quite a few of his original pieces. He has a very large collection of PA botanicals housed at the Philadelphia Free Library. I am in the process of collecting them for DD's bedroom. I also have a small painting by my FIL (he says it's crap but I adore it). I do not have any of my father's art - it's all hanging up in their house along w/ my artwork.

On my end I guess I'm finally at a stage where I am looking at spending more on a piece because I feel that I have achieved a 'style' and collection of less expensive stuff that I feel good about. Maybe I'm looking to add the 'crowning glory' at this point and it feels 'right'. But in the end nothing has stopped me from framing something that I thought was neat. I have postcards, cards, regular ole' Joe Shmo' family pics and professional pics that I paid hundreds of dollars for cohabitating side by side.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fall Mountain Press

I don't think that something original is always better than something reproduced or mass-produced, either. I've got pages cut from magazines framed alongside my "prized" original woodblock prints.

Maybe what I'm thinking of as the opposite of original are isn't necessarily just reproductions, but just very commonly seen images or styles. Some are so commonplace that they become a kind of "generic". A good friend of mine has a house like that. If you took her kids' photos off the wall, it could quite literally be anyone's house--or a model home, or a page from a catalog. There is nothing there that says "Debbie and Steve live here" as opposed to anyone else.

It's certainly possible to have an individualized look using nothing but reproductions and mass-produced art, and given that all those starving artist paintings are "originals", it's possible to have a generic look with all originals, too.

I don't know why, but I've found lately that I'm drawn to snow scenes, and preferably a night scene with a moon and/or a red barn. I have a few that I love. I wouldn't hesitate to have artwork of another season(s) if it spoke to me or I felt it would compliment a particular room.

As for why most Americans have mass-produced art, I think many people don't have strong feelings for art and they are more concerned about something "matching" their decor than about what a picture means or says to them.

While there are people who think like that there are plenty of others for whom art has more meaning than just coordinating with decor. It is a shame when you walk into a home and don't see the personalities who live there reflected in the art choices. I guess it just means it's not as important to some. The same way some decorating choices aren't important to others. I would fall into the latter category.

Back in the early 70s I started out with a mix of original art, framed posters, and a couple mass-produced pieces I bought at the S&H Green Stamps store. ;) I still have one framed poster on the wall, simply because it's something I like.

I get what you're saying, leafy.

I think I got a little defensive there.

I wish I had more original art- in fact, I started a thread about that awhile back.

But trying to find it has been frustrating for me. It is easier for me to go to art.com and try things next to each other to see if they look nice together. Nothing wrong with a harmonious look, especially if you have ocd like me!

I wish I could just buy what I love and have it all work together, like many here have done. But I do the best I can and try to pick beautiful things that aren't generic.

I LOVE art, minored in it in college (art history) and collect art with a passion. Most of mine are original pieces, because I've discovered that beautiful original art doesn't have to cost a small fortune. It can be found at arts & crafts shows, online and online auctions, etc.
I just went through my home to get a feel for any leanings towards one particular season, because I'd never thought about my collection that way before (interesting question, BTW). While most of it has Western or Spanish leanings, I seem to have more Summer-based paintings. Autumn in New Mexico is my favorite season, so I do find it curious that I only have 2 Autumn-ish paintings. I Winter views, as long as they're not dreary, but only love have 3 of those . . . plus 3 more that I put out just for the Christmas season. Spring colors and art are too pastel for my personal tastes and my home. When it comes to Summer art, though, I like sunny, beautiful ones with flowers or nice views, but really dislike most that look "hot". I don't like being hot and I don't enjoy gazing at any art that looks it (LOL)!
Lynn

I have original land and seascape oils that depict summer, fall, and winter. Many could be local scenes. I also have an original watercolor of winter. I use them seasonally because I have too many to display at one time and I like to change things. I really like the snowy winter scenes as they are similar to what I see out my windows from about November to March and I love snow. Of course we don't get much slush here as it's dry. I sometimes use the fall scenes in fall vignettes. The only season I don't have a painting of is a true spring season - I'd love one but haven't found it yet and unfortunately can't afford an original Monet. LOL I do prefer original art and many of mine are from yard sales so not expensive. There is just something about an original painting that someone spent hours creating that is missing for me in a print.

ttodd, I checked out your fall mountain press link.

Beautiful... breathtakingly beautiful!

We've never specifically sought anything seasonal; that's a very odd idea to me. But yes, we have art that depicts particular seasons. One painting is a landscape that has an old building as its focus, but the colors make it clear that this is an autumn scene. A newer piece, and a favorite of ours, is of a river in winter. There are other pieces that show or indicate the season in some way.

The more I think about it the more I think that I am going to ask my photographer friend to do something for me. He does photographer effects very similar to Fall Mountain Press. His bread and butter is weddings but maybe he'd be interested in the idea.

I'll just tell him that someday my home will be featured in a magazine layout and right behind my sofa or over my fireplace will be his artography! I rather like the idea of owning and supporting his work!

ttodd (ae. al.) - this is the piece I referred to earlier:

Looks like fall trees to me, but is actually a winter scene (according to the artist). I guess it depicts a season, but I really don't see "fall" (or winter.) I just love it - subject & colors.

HejdÃÂ¥ Mariannese -

My husband is from Sweden. We live in the states now, but I did live with him there for a few years, and we have visited about 15 times as his family still lives there (Lund, Föllinge, Stockholm, Göteborg mostly, so what follows could have a regional influence as well). I'm surprised to hear about your decor because it would be the first Swedish (or even Scandinavian) house I would have seen that had much decorating at all, let alone any significant art (other than hemsjlöd type things) or even specifically wall hangings. 99.99% of the houses I have been in are extremely non-descript and utilitarian, heavy on white, natural woods - perhaps a piece of something or two with some color.

I am working on my PhD but I wouldn't consider myself an academic. We have a comfortable lifestyle, but wouldn't say we're well-to-do. I paint, draw and photograph -- and despite that, only my DD has original art on her walls (some pieces I have done for her). I don't hang my own works for the same reason I would never write an autobiography! :)

The prints I have are because I have loved them, but the originals are unattainable. So while a print is maybe or maybe not art, it's accessible.

avesmore, that is really interesting about the homes you saw in Sweden. Because of the snow and cold, I would have guessed that the homes are colorful and cozy, (like mariannes's sounds.)

Also interesting about your not displaying your work. I'm not quite sure I understand why though- ? That's very sweet and modest of you.

That is an interesting viewpoint about displaying one's own work. As for Sweden, I guess you'd have to be there. Like New York City--why does gray work so well there? Shouldn't they, more than anyone, need relief from all that concrete? :)

Although copies allow us access to some very special, otherwise unattainable art, I love buying original pieces that appeal, like finding little (big are too expensive) treasures. Right now I'm waiting for a new painting of an old boat making its way across Hong Kong harbor in the night. Can't wait!

As for the original question, though--yes! I don't change out all, or even most of our art, just some. Like a picture (watercolor replica) of a squirrel jittering at an old man in a park as the leaves fall. This "treasure" was just an old piece of printed cardboard being used as a backing on a picture I bought for the frame, until I pulled out the old stained print and found it.

Or a little (original oil) painting of a red barn almost buried under snow down in a pasture. This gets taken out in the winter, when it makes me glad all over again to be in our warm, extravagantly comfortable home.

Both are particularly delightful because they evoke the best of their seasons when we're especially aware of their special qualities.

Also interesting about your not displaying your work. I'm not quite sure I understand why though- ?

Never thought much about it, it's just not comfortable to me. It has always seemed a bit gauche and terribly self-important. Before that raises any hackles -- it doesn't stand out one bit when I'm in another artist's home and they have their works on their walls. It's just a personal thing. To me, hanging my own art on my own walls would be like hanging a bunch of mirrors hoping to get a glimpse of myself.

And with the autobiography -- I'd never conceive of my life being interesting enough to write it for others. Autobiographies have always seemed like the ultimate in self importance. The art thing is kinda like that too.

It truly is just a personal thing though. I have an entire wall of DD's playroom dedicated to displaying her artwork, and I've made some pieces for her room and it doesn't bother me to walk in there and see them because they're her, not me.

(Same reason I don't sell my art, though I've had people ask to buy it. There's just something about it that doesn't seem right to me.)

Yes, I'm a weird cat.

Seems a contradiction. How can you be fine with displaying your art in your daughter's room and not in the rest of the house? I've hung a few of my photographs on the wall. Hardly find that being self-absorbed.

If I had lots of money I would buy art. Some people would buy antiques but I would always choose art. In lieu of not having extra bucks $$$ (6,000 starting) for paintings, I am forced to create my own, which I do quite well. The hardest thing is deciding what I want to look at and making myself do it.

The ultimate in derivation.

I didn't read all these but "Doesn't ANY landscape depict a specific season?"...that's something I never really thought of that way.

I have two small oil paintings; one fall and the other winter and I love them. So I'm going with I'd have to fall in love with the piece. I typically adore green scenery with fields and trees over fall or winter stuff. I don't know that I'd want to look at a large piece of art that was showing the cooler months all year round. However, I don't know why that wouldn't bother me with a really green picture!

Though we are not artists by any means, we do hang what we call "art" in our home. For instance, my husband paints quite well and we have two of his canvases hanging. He is also a gifted photographer, so we have several of his pics up. He is a retired writer, so we had the original art that accompanied one of his stories framed and hanging. I came home one day and found that he had painted, in a dark corner of a hallway, a bright "window" with a flower garden outside, right on the wall! It's wimsey, but oh, so charming.

I do needlepoint and have several of my works hanging in the house, too. They are more craft than art, but IMO they are beautiful and appropriate. We also have one-of-a-kind art glass and artisan pottery

We also have a large giclee of a lovely fall scene done by an artist local to the place we love and have vacationed in for many years. No, we do not change our art for the seasons, and we don't change our drapes or rugs or our bed linens, either. The art fits us, and we fit the art.

I guess I think "art" is not limited to pieces done by famous people, or even what you can buy at an art fair. It's personal.

Ttodd...Love the link you posted. My kind of art.

Yes I change with the seasons. Long time collector and artist. Also in snow country, seems odd to have other seasons hanging around during winter for me. I also add old wooden snow shoes, etc. on the wall during winter. Although the changes only occur in my living/family room.

As for collections...at times I have fell for an artist and then they became so commercial it ruined the affect.

One of the best resources for original art is through the colleges. I am always amazed at their skills. Many are far better than what is on the market or shown at art shows. Offering in a wide range of styles, subjects, mediums. Plus they are originals, one of a kind. We never know when one of the artists could be the next "one". They need the income and we are supporting art.

This has been an interesting thread. I am not as big on art as many here - at least not paintings. I do have a few small original oil paintings - and did not have to give a fortune for them. You can find them in antique shops, ebay, etsy. Etsy is a wonderful source of art. I tend to lean toward other items of art rather than alot of paintings. I do not need art to be from my local area or even places I've traveled. I do like some of the old posters, even movie ads or old paintings in general. But there are so many great things to hang on the walls - not just paintings.

As for landscapes depicting a season - I can understand not wanting winter scenes. For some people winter is depressing and in some areas not a pretty time of year at all. I, personally, do not have any winter scenes and though I hadn't really thought about it till this thread, it's not something I would probably hang in our home. Winter is my least favorite season but there are times it is truly beautiful. I just don't want to look at it all the time.

Avesmor - not weird at all. Made perfect sense. Your daughter's room sounds lovely!

tina

Avesmore - I totally get the personal art thing. I always say that I'm going to paint a piece for our house but never do. It doesn't feel right to me. My parents have my art and other art projects in their house and my dad has a bunch of his art hanging up in their houe. Here at home my sample boards and everything are tucked away. I didn't even think twice about painting a piece for DD's room when I couldn't find what I wanted for over her bed. Magically though I randomnly found her Pop Pop's unframed piece laying ontop of an ornatly framed gold mirror that I was getting rid of and the mirror and the painting are exactly the same size. Fate.

Ttodd, I thought those were your gallery photographs. No?

I just read a good bit of this thread and wanted to comment regarding the original art thing.

The original art I have was inexpensive and found at flea markets and antique shops. I don't have any desire to spend hundreds+ dollars on art.

It is important to me for my art to somehow coordinate with my room but I also have to love it. I have yet to fall in love with a piece that the style or colors just don't work in my house.

For some, having original art is very near and dear to their heart but there are also those in the world (not saying anyone here) that buy it for status reasons.

I think it comes down to the differet strokes for different folks thing.

Natal - many of the photographs are mine. I guess I don't include them as 'art' that I've done since they aren't anything that I've painted or drawn. Didn't think of that.

natal - I tried carefully to explain that this was a personal thing applicable (so far) only to me, to avoid anyone taking my comment to mean they were "self-absorbed" if they did not live by my preferences. If the self applicability did not come through, I'm not sure how else to say it.

It may be a contradiction. It certainly wouldn't be the first time I had contradicted myself. I was going to stick to my diet today, and then ended up going to Starbucks. Since it's my contradiction of myself, I'm ok with that -- not hurting me, not hurting someone else, not a problem. :)

The difference to me lays in - what I said. My art for her is about her, not me. I don't see it as a reflection of myself as I do my other pieces. I don't think that's a contradiction so much as something you may just have to be in my head to understand.

avesmor... totally different example, but how you feel about your artwork seems to me like how i feel about parties.... like going to them and will even throw them for family, but feel uncomfortable having one thrown in my honor...

I don't check in here often, in fact my reply to the Art Depicting Season post was my first ever. I felt very strongly about it because the art in our home is what defines it and we have decorated our home to go with our pictures colourwise. They are definitely the most important part of our home and very carefully chosen. There was a typo in my last post, our pictures are NOT expensive. But we have acquired a few more expensive paintings in later years.

However, the most important thing in any home is to love your pictures, whatever they are and for them to mean something to you, something more than adding to the décor. I think having too many common prints is not very personal. I don't understand how anyone can have a van Gogh print. The flat surface shows nothing of his broad brush strokes. And there are literally millions of Renoir prints out there. I think that's what struck me most forcibly. Wisconsin relatives had a Renoir print in a frame that must have cost 10 times more than the piece of paper of the print. Those same relatives took me to a great exhibition of local Wisconsin artists, some of which works still haunt me after 25 years.

I am not suggesting that Swedes in general have more original art, many have Ikea prints, but at the same time many older homes display some local artist showing their local environment on their walls.

Please excuse any linguistic mistakes I may have made, English is not my first language.

...many older homes display some local artist showing their local environment on their walls. I love showcasing local artists.

I do too. Most of what we have is exactly that whether it's pastels, oils, stained glass, photographs, metal work, or a poster from a local arts festival.