Further Random Rambling Art Thoughts and Some More Rooms I Love

ore rooms that I love - while I'm thinking about new art for my house, I'm also in a dilemma - I'm pretty much out of wall space! In my new walk in closet I really want at least part of a wall with slotted spaces where I can store some of my artwork and be able to rotate things. Wouldn't that be a cool idea?

You know it really doesn't seem like it was all that long ago that I bought all my artwork at Kmart. But even when I bought my stuff at Kmart, they were Gauguin reproductions. I've always really loved art.

I'm am of the opinion that real art work brings an energy with it - and into your home - that is hard to capture any other way. A lot of people say that they can't afford to buy original art work. If you can afford to get a poster framed, you can afford something original. Not all original art is expensive. When we are down at First Friday, I see cool stuff all the time being sold for next to nothing. There are a lot of young kids just trying to get started who will sell their stuff very cheaply just to get enough money to buy some more paint and a little food. Now granted, most of that art work isn't going to be a long term investment - but you can find cool stuff!

We house sat for a family once who had framed a bunch of their daughters art work - she was probably 10 years old or so at the time she did the artwork - it looked so cool and chic in their beautiful home. Kids usually have this innate sense of art. Generally until they get old enough to worry too much that it doesn't look perfect. I think good abstract painters just never lose that ability to be free with what they paint or they never lose that childlike wonder with texture and color.
(side note, fascinating documentary on this subject is "my kid could paint that" - about a little girl who has an art career that really takes off, but then questions arise during the filming as to whether she is actually able to do these abstracts, or if it is actually her father who is doing them....REALLY worth seeing)


Being a good abstract painter isn't as easy as it seems though. How many times do you hear someone say "my five year old could have done that"? But that's not really true. Have you ever tried to paint an abstract? Well I have - we had an assignment to do that in one of my college courses - I went into that assignment thinking "this should be easy". It was awful. It was hard. It just didn't look right at all. I could not be free enough with what I was doing. And yet, if I tried to just be totally random it didn't have the structure it needed to work. A lot of abstract artists aren't really painting as abstractly as you might think. I have an abstract over my bed that I love. Most people think it's just totally an abstract. But actually, it's an aerial view of a farm. But a good abstract is really pleasing to the eye - you want to look at it, you want to study it and you aren't even sure what you're responding to.

If you really can't wrap your head around a painting - how about at least some cool photography. There are so many cool photos on site's like Etsy (also a good place for art - btw) and Imagekind. Hey! Even some of my artwork is for sale on imagekind! That one peacock photo I did has been really popular. You want to know a secret though? I don't even have any of my own photography in the house. I keep thinking I should at least get that one framed because it got published, but I never get around to it. If I were to buy photography work it would be something like these flickr images by keelyislost - these are so cool:

This whole blog post is kind of a Random Rambling isn't it? Here are a bunch of rooms that I think are awesome for various reasons - often because I love the art work. Okay that poster is so boss. I love that movie "My Life as A Dog" I made my kids sit through the whole glorious subtitled Swedish gem this summer. They thought they were going to hate it but they loved it

look how much energy this art work adds to this otherwise kind of sedate room! it totally kicks everything up a notch!
what I love here is that you have all this mid-century modern stuff with this sort of classical painting - how great is the juxtapostion?

this is an awesome idea! and really, it could be so inexpensive if you were just always on the look-out for great and colorful plates...


there's no art here, but I do love the texture of that animal pelt on the chair - I am really into that whole fur thing right now, even though I don't have any...but I'm considering how I might incorporate...

this was from one of my magazines...I was loving the color of the couch...what is that? melon? salmon? coral? I really like it, plus I thought the pillows were cool and paired with the artwork above the couch I just thought it was a super warm room that just looks happy as all get out!
I think this is a great idea in a kids room - the cute Barbar artwork? Blowing up the cover of a kids book illustration is a great idea. Kids book illustrations actually have some amazing artwork.

here I just loved how it looked like danish modern and mid century had a child and contempo and indo-european had a child together and their children got married and had a child and it was a lovely.
i love Andy Warhol. truly madly and deeply.

who needs artwork if THIS was your view everyday! Seriously.

original artwork and a blow up of the best cover of the best book in the world? yes please.
a great little idea...
you can break my rule about no mass produced posters if you get this one...i lurves it.

here i was just in love with the ghost bar stools and the colors and those light fixtures.

Can you appreciate how much that genius painting makes this room come alive. A dead bull fighter is totally making this room come alive.

This is Rachel Zoe's bed. don't you just want it? don't you want to lie down on it and never leave?
I'm obsessed with this photo. I love the minimalism (which I just can never do...) but I adore that little painting above the bed. ADORE.

Did I mention ADORE? ADORE!!!

this just works. it kind of shouldn't, but it just does...don't you want to hang out here?


this Mr. Silly Pant, Jonathan Adler head just reminds us never take it too seriously kids...it's all for fun...