Interesting post. I have been dealing with this artist on Etsy ( no affiliate) called Pandalana.

She has done a couple of portraits for me and I think her work is amazing.
She has this large 36 by 48 which I have linked to below that I love but it is out of my price range (500.00).

I guess it would not be for everyone but when I see it in the room setting over the fireplace , I just swoon.
Thought that I would post it here in case anyone else loves it as much as I do.

Here is a link that might be useful: Look Here

" We figured out more what we DON'T like than what we do. "

" I feel 100x smarter this afternoon about art than I was when I got up this morning."

That is certainly a great start - hope you enjoyed your day and I know you will learn even more every time you look.

I've been actively looking at paintings after having my eyes really opened after serendipitously finding many originals I liked at yard sales. That was really the start of my desire/need to collect. I had decades ago bought several original oils in Europe when we lived there but didn't have the urge to buy more until recently. I've found a couple of artists whose work I really like and am always looking for more. I think part of my desire for original art is that I don't want/need more decorative tschotkes (sp.) but still want to occasionally make changes in my house and love to look at art. Since I am limited to wall space I'm now looking at original stone sculptures. So far haven't found much I can't live without and if anyone thinks paintings are expensive they better not look at sculpture! Anything a decent size starts at $1000. and goes up from there. So far have resisted but am saving my pennies.

I don't think I could buy paintings online as don't trust the colors and want to see the texture so must see it in person. Paintings really need to be looked at from various distances and angles. Makes a real difference as the light strikes them differently.

Fun! This is exactly what you should be doing! Continue-you will learn so much and you are absolutely right that you learn as much about what you don't like as about what you do like. Glad you learned from the person in the frame store. Gallery staff are always happy to talk to you about artists, styles, techniques as well. Have a wonderful time. I love wandering into our local places.

I like that painting of the kitchen also, but if you decide to buy it try to picture it in the room you're considering. We have two paintings we purchased and altho we love them they just don't work in every room. One reason is because of the theme, the other is color.

Another suggestion when looking: keep an eye open for art fairs and don't forget the showings the art associations often have at malls.

I love the piece that you showed us! I have many fond memories of restaurant work too, so perhaps it resonates with me the same way it did with you. Although I don't think there HAS to be a personal connection to love a piece, I think it is certainly one way we fall in love with something. I think it can also be just as simple as loving a color in something also. As long as you aren't trying to match the sofa, it's all good!

I looked the artist up -she reminds me of Edward Hopper a bit....

I was thinking of putting this in our breakfast room. It has skylights and is one of the brightest rooms in the house, and attached to the kitchen so it's sorta related.

Yes, her work is similar to Hopper. I think this painting is less nostalgic than some of her and Hopper's typical subject matter. It looks like it could have come from a moment in time while I've been alive ( as opposed to the 50's, which I'm sure were lovely).

I very much like much of Sally Storch's art, just wish I could afford an original. Must get over my bias against giclees or any copies, I guess.

:D I remember the 50's but wouldn't describe them as lovely as I was a teen then. LOL It is the very reason I like her art as it takes me back in a good way. The women's clothes she paints especially bring back pleasant memories and I just like her style.

I find Edward Hopper's work "darker" and not as appealing.

I emailed her about the original for this one. It might be horribly outside of my price range ... But if the copy was "Wow" then the original must be "Oh my, hold me Earl, I can't breathe!"

I need to understand giclee and lithography better, if its something where the artist can just go run a few more copies every year or two then I don't feel good about that and I'd probably look more for student works or other things I can afford originals of. I'm off to visit Google, I guess :)

I have many lithographs. They are rarely reproduced due to a run number. $300 - 500 is not unusual. The investment can be well worth it. A $35 lithograph which was very small is a value of $4000. Of course this is only if someone wanted it badly enough to pay the price, but very important for insurance purposes. Stay away from artists who have marketed their art into cards, calendars, books. You will start to see them everywhere and take away from the uniqueness of the original or lithograph.

Also remember that with fine art, the cost of framing in museum quality (important for preservation and light fading) can run as much as the art itself. But one rarely gets this investment back.

The art you are looking at is most likely a lithograph. Well worth it and can tell by a number located in the lower right hand corner or paperwork attached.

I have a terrible time selecting anything to hang on a wall. I am quite good at buying really old standing case clocks (Grandfather clocks).

However I'm married to a man who has an innate eye for art, where it looks best and how to hang it 'artfully' on the wall. It's just annoying. We built a vacation home in the mountains on a heavily wooded lot and hadn't hung anything other than a vintage RR clock on the wall when we walked into a local gallery and he immediately spied several collages. I walked right past them without a second glance.

Within a few hours they were bought, transported and hanging in our home and looked perfect. Three were placed in the great room and 2 smaller ones are hanging above our wrought iron bed.

He amazes me. I often call him my Renaissance Man - he can paint, sing, cook and taught himself calligraphy. Me - my penmanship is childish, I only sing when alone, my stick figures are at least recognizable - I am a decent cook but a better baker.

When his business relocated to a new building his partners asked him to hang all the artwork. He can even hang pictures of varying sizes in a pleasing arrangement.

I also really like the print. Sure, call back about the original. It might not be too cost prohibitive or you may be able to put it on payments. Also, the original might come framed, which as PP mentioned, can run several hundred dollars by itself, especially for a larger piece.

"The investment can be well worth it. [....] Of course this is only if someone wanted it badly enough to pay the price,"

Buy art because you love it. Buy it because you like it. Buy it because it goes with your rug or your chair. Don't buy it because it's an "investment." Don't plan to get your money back should you decide to sell it. That's not to say it won't happen of course, but, like technicolor has pointed out, someone has to want it, and at the price you want to sell it.

I need to understand giclee and lithography better, if its something where the artist can just go run a few more copies every year or two

Giclee is basically ink-jet printing on a printer that is large and spews paint instead of colored ink. And yes, the artist can run a few more by calling up the printer and placing the order. The digital file is loaded into the printer and SPLAT! here comes another giclee. I had the opportunity to compare an original acrylic painting with the giclee copies of it and there is no comparing the two. It was like looking at cheap faux fur and real mink.

One reason I have such disdain for Thomas Kincaid things is that his factory outlets were selling giclee as if it was an original work.

Lithography (on stones or plates) is a bit harder to make new copies, but not impossible, and it requires a lot more artist's input during the creation than giclee.

As a pro artist I can tell you that giclee, done correctly, is more than just an ink print. Giclee printers use archival inks which make the archival properties of giclees much higher than lithography or silkscreen prints. Pigmented inks we use in our printers have a light fastness rating up to 200 years. Not only Giclees are going to last longer then we live their visual quality is also undeniably greater which makes it hard sometimes to distinct giclees the originals. I can't imagine a person of her renown not using the best. She has a reputation to protect. Also, you may want to think of putting it under non reflecting glass and it will appear much more authentic. I think you've made a terrific choice by a gifted artist. I have produced many giclees and you really can't see any difference in them from the original except the feel of the paper.

I really like the piece you found.

I love shopping for art even if we don't buy anything. It's the only type of shopping DH enjoys! I also agree that it is hard to buy art online. I've purchased a few things on Etsy that were disappointing IRL. One notable exception is Patricia Cotterill -- I have bought two small original oil paintings from her Etsy shop and I just love them. I think for the quality, her work is very reasonably priced for the most part.

I just wish I had more open wall space in my house...

the art one likes is probably one of the most subjective choices to be made in life.

In general there are several themes immediately recognizable 1) abstract v representational 2) medium 3) canvas size

Even though I am married to an artist thus what to hang on the all is seldom in question, I would still find it relatively easy to make choices. First there are inexpensive places like yard sales and as you say art schools. there are also privately held art sales.

I am rather amused at the frame store clerk's question about the portrait and knowing the person. Guess the museums should take down all those portraits of people the visitors do not know. For me the human face is one of the most compelling choices to be made in choosing art. And for sure I do not like abstract art.

You sound like you will be very capable of choosing art for your home, you and your friend are certainly approaching your search in a sensible way.

BTW don't scorn prints as a choice, you can learn a lot from them, they are inexpensive to find and to frame and you won't feel guilty replacing them.

He also said what we were thinking about some of the portraits, which is, "if you don't know that person, why would you buy a big photo of them?"

That surprises me. I'm thinking right now of 5 photo portraits that I display prominently in my home. The subjects are Native American, and while I don't know them, they speak to me. Their expressions read as proud, focused, their lives etched in the lines on their faces. In the case of the portrait of two children, the one word that comes to mind is delight.

I understand that art is highly subjective, but I'm surprised to hear about photo portraits of unknown subjects being dismissed so. It's still art, and in many cases, damn fine art at that. :-)

"We figured out more what we DON'T like than what we do."

That pretty much sums up what happens when I start looking for something new to buy for our walls.

I find more to like when we go to some of the art festivals our city. Maybe it's because of the exposure artists from surrounding cities and states are afforded at these festivals, and I see work I don't normally get to see. I have purchased several pieces (originals, giclees, and prints) in the past as well as pottery and other objects.

In defense of the dissing of photo portraits, we were standing near a couple that looked very much like a senior picture. Picture a photo of a pleasant-looking young woman, from the shoulders up, with some trees in the background.

Not dramatic trees, not "forest at midnight & mysterious mood lighting". Just person in front of some trees, and a person who looks to be dressed in something you could buy today. The composition was about as interesting as the "sample picture" that is in a lot of frames at Target. Not bad ... but not something I really understood.

I can understand feeling a connection with a portrait of someone with an interesting face or a cultural significance. And I've seen some antique photo portraits used in homes that were pretty interesting & worked with the space. I still don't know that I want to buy a photo that has a person looking at me, though. I wonder if it goes back to having those pictures of "little girls with BIG eyes" around when I was a kid?

It's hard to explain, but these looked like someone walked into a high school in AnyTown, USA & chose one of the pretty girls with attractive (but not stunning) features and said, "Hey, can you stand over here in front of these trees? I'm going to take a few black & white shots ..."

At least, that's what it looked like to me. But then again, many critics denounced Impressionistic paintings when that style first started because they just didn't get it. I might be like one of them ;)

I love 'old' art~oils, gicl'ee, lithos, and even prints. Most are pastoral scenes(w/ cows, sheep), but there's so much on eBay to choose from. I've also found a lot on shopgoodwill.com.

My son collects deco art if you 're decor has more of a modern twist. Adkinson Fox is one of the best known 'illustrators' of the era, but there are others who do a similar style, but the prices are less. Again, eBay or shopgoodwill. This art form has a lot of teals/aquas, and is very serene.

Adding a bit to what was wrote previously. Although I mentioned art which increases in value, this doesn't mean it is my focus. My art is what is loved and many treasures my husband chose. The increasing value always surprises me, I wouldn't want to lose any of them regardless of value. But there are many I'd replace and a tough call should anything happen to them with memories of past. Which is why insurance was mentioned and that the art the poster was looking at may be a lithograph, hence the cost she mentioned.

Yes, go for what is loved. You will know it when seen, whatever the format is.

If you find something you like at a price you can afford, buy it. I too find that there are way more things I dislike than like. Most of the likes are so far out of my price range it isn't funny. Darn 1/4 beer budget LOL. The last painting I liked was 20 grand so I have all but given up. I have tried making my own but can't seem to get the pic in my head on paper/canvass/wood. If your tastes don't tend to change then spending more on a good piece is worth it but if you are fickle and constantly changing(like me)then a print will do you well especially if it is one you like.