Why you shouldn't hold back from buying art if you like it
Why you shouldn't hold back from buying art.
Have you ever found yourself drawn to a piece of art but hesitated to make it yours? Maybe you thought, I don’t know enough about art to buy it, or worried about the cost, or even felt intimidated by the idea of "owning" art.
Let me share something: buying art isn’t about being an expert or spending a fortune. It’s about finding something that speaks to you, something that brings beauty and joy to your life every single day. Whether it’s an original painting or a high-quality print, owning art is one of the most fulfilling investments you can make.
Here are some common reasons people hold back—and why they shouldn’t.
1. You don't really know about art
The idea that you need to know about art to buy it can hold people back from experiencing its joy. But here’s the truth: you don’t need to be an expert to love art.
Art is about connection. It’s about how a piece makes you feel when you see it on your wall, the memories it evokes, or the sense of calm or inspiration it brings to your space. If you’re drawn to a painting or print, that’s all the expertise you need.
There’s no "right" or "wrong" way to enjoy art. Trust your instincts, and choose what resonates with you. When you do, you’re not just buying something to decorate your home—you’re adding a piece of beauty and meaning to your life.
But isn't art really expensive?
Art is often seen as a luxury, but it doesn’t have to be. Original paintings are priced to reflect the time, skill, and materials invested in creating something one-of-a-kind. However, there’s also an affordable and equally meaningful alternative: high-quality prints.
I work with a family-run, independent publisher here in the UK to create prints of my artwork. While they supply some large retailers, at their heart, they’re a small business, just like mine. Together, we create beautiful prints that capture the essence and emotion of my original paintings.
Prints are an accessible way to bring art into your home without compromising on quality. Framed and displayed with care, they can transform a room, spark conversations, and bring daily joy—just like an original piece.
Art galleries are really intimidating
If you've ever felt uncomfortable walking into an art gallery you're not alone. However, the galleries that I work with are small independent businesses and are happy to welcome you. They don't mind if you don't know anything about art and they certainly won't try to bamboozle you with grandiose language! Instead, they're hoping that you have the courage to walk into their Gallery because you quite liked the look of it. And maybe you saw something in the window that caught your eye. You can browse at your own pace ask questions or simply enjoy the pieces that speak to you. Art should feel approachable because it's made for people to connect with and enjoy not to intimidate or exclude.
AI art is cheaper and just as good?
Ouchie. As you can imagine, traditional oil painters like me might not be too fond of AI generated images. AI might be fast and inexpensive, but it lacks the soul and storytelling of something created by a human hands. Every brushstroke in my paintings holds intention, emotion, and a piece of my heart. There's no algorithm that can replicate what I do with paint and a brush! When you buy a painting or even a print created by a real artist you're not just getting an image you're getting a piece of their journey, their vision, their craft. These are things that bring lasting value and meaning to your home far beyond what any AI generated image can offer.
Why buying art matters
Investing in art isn't just about decoration; it's about supporting creativity, small businesses, and a community of independent artists. When you choose to buy an original painting or print you helping sustain the work of real people who pull their passion into every piece they crea and for you? All becomes a lifelong companion it transformed your space, tells your story and brings daily joy. It's not just something you own, it's something you live with, connect with with, and Treasure forever. So whether it's an original oil painting or framed print don't let hesitation hold you back if a piece speaks to you that's reason enough to bring it into your life
Art buyers guide for beginners. My TOP 10 Tips...
Do you fancy treating yourself to some super art, but too afraid to take the plunge? Read on for my simple guide to getting the art you want without feeling bamboozled.
Do you fancy treating yourself to some super art, but too afraid to take the plunge? Read on for my simple guide to getting the art you want without feeling bamboozled.
This week’s blog is going to give you the confidence to go and buy some great art.
Remember, try to look online for artists in your area first, then visit their studio. It’s a great way to find out what you like without pressure. If you can’t find an artist you like, in your area, the next plan is to visit a small gallery (nothing too intimidating) or go to an art fair.
Once you’ve gone to the studio/artfair or gallery- follow my top ten rules to help you select art. You should really enjoy the process of buying yourself some gorgeous new art.
02. Plan your workout time.
Now that I had the headphones on my head, I was finally ready to plug and play some music. I plugged the provided cable into the jack on the headphones and then the one on my iPhone Then I called up Pandora. I tend to have a very eclectic music purview and have many stations set up for different moods. The sound quality of these headphones was remarkable. There is an amazing depth of sound and incredible highs and lows that make listening to music a truly breathtaking experience.
In order to test how voices sounded, and the overall art of sound mixing, I pulled up Netflix on my iPad Air and watched a few minutes of a movie to hear all the nuances of the film. None of them were lost. In fact, I ended up hearing sounds that I hadn’t heard before. Echoes…birds chirping…wind blowing through trees…breathing of the characters…it was very impressive what the headphones ended.
1. Do you love it?
2. Where is it going to go?
3. Size matters.
6. Try not to worry about investment.
7. Quality is key
Feel free to ask the artist anything about the quality of the materials they use. Find out about pigments, ask them about colourfastness. Okay so you might not be able to hang a £500 work of art in 500 years time but you certainly don’t want the colour to fade in less than 10 years. I make a point of using the best quality paints, the pigments are strong and the colour won’t fade.
8. Negotiate, but don’t be offended if you get a “no”
9. Look after your art
Well here’s the deal; in my kitchen I have a very large oil painting of Stonehenge and it hangs directly over radiator, it’s opposite the oven, it gets steam and heat and cold and sunshine on it
in the morning. Over a decade of being in the spot and it still looks like new! However if I had a work of art that I’ve spent a lot of money on, or if I had an old work of art that might be a little more fragile I would not dream of putting it over a radiator- as a rule of thumb you have to be careful with extremes of heat. But broadly speaking new art, on sturdy canvas frames, painted in oil or acrylic, can take quite a beating in terms of conditions! I even have an oil painting in my bathroom! However watercolours are significantly more fragile and definitely not be placed in a steamy room. Also be very careful about direct sunlight. Okay in our climate we’re not exactly living in Greece, the sun really isn’t so strong and it doesn’t shine for that much of the year , but sun will fade out paint incredibly rapidly if given the chance. Just think about the fading on your curtains or fabrics in a sunny room – that could happen to your painting so do be careful. If in any doubt at all ask the artist. And if you move the artwork to a new room, still feel free to email your artist years after you’ve bought it they will be happy to help – honestly we really will.
10. Don’t be scared of being a numpty!
My top ten favourite art materials
There are some brushes I always reach for no matter how many hundreds of brushes sit on my worktop. There are some colours I always reach for no matter how many hundreds of tubes of paint there are and there are some canvases that I always seem to be ordering. Read on to discover my absolute favourites.
I can buy
1. Zest-it oil paint dilutant and brush cleaner.
I started using zest-it oil paint dilutant instead of turps sometime ago. It isn’t as ‘clean’ as water, But it is a lot less harmful than turps. I discovered that when working in my studio all day every day much as I’ve grown to love the smell of turpentine(!) it was beginning to give me a headache.
It’s great to work in a well ventilated space but sometimes in Winter that simply isn’t possible, so zest it has really helped make sure that I’m free from headaches and that my lungs have a much nicer time even though I’m an oil painter.
2.Natural linen canvases. The vast majority of my work is on linen rather than a standard Canvas. I let the linen show through as the background of my painting I think it is so beautiful. I have developed my own method of priming the linen so that it is clear. You can buy clear primers off the Internet but I find that they leave a chalky residue which isn’t appropriate for me when I want the linen to show through so I have developed my own secret recipe.
I can buy smaller linen canvases “off the rack” as it were but the larger ones I have custom made for by Bird and Davies.
3. Rigger. I use lots of different sizes of rigger brush. I use the fine tip of the point of a rigour, I even use a rigger sideways. I get through riggers quite quickly so most of the time I use a synthetic rigger as they are cheaper but I have real sable brushes which I use at the end of the painting for the final finishing touches. I absolutely love these brushes.
4. In combination with my rigger I also love a good flat brush again I have a combination of sizes some synthentic, some sable. Having a flat brush to lay down quick washes of colour and to blend and mix tones is an absolute must during my painting ritual.
5.Old Holland blue-violet. I tend to use this colour more often than I use French ultramarine, the blue-violet has a lovely warmth and depth to it. I can mix it with different browns to create a very dark almost black colour. I can mix it with white to create a beautiful warm blue. I have tried to paint without blue-violet and it can’t be done I absolutely adore using this colour.
6.Brown madder. Like most artists I have plenty of burnt siena and raw umber in my box of tricks but I have added to my Browns collection with brown madder. In the same way that blue violet is a warmer deeper version of French ultramarine I found brown madder to be a warmer deeper version of burnt sienna. I love it. it has a translucency all of it’s own and it can be found in the under painting layers of most of my work.
7. Michael Harding’s Titanium white. I absolutely love Michael Hardings oil paint. It has a creamy constituency and the depth of colour on a par with Old Holland paint. I particularly enjoy using Michael Harding is Titaniam white as it seems to contain all of the blendable quality of a good zinc white, with the bright whiteness required from titanium white. It works. It works really well.
8. Old Holland Naples yellow-reddish extra. Like many artists I fell in love with Naples yellow sometime ago, it is incredible to work with when creating beautiful skies in oil, however I have added to my collection with the Naples yellow-reddish extra. This has been particularly useful in painting animals and getting lovely reflections on a cows nose, or a hare’s ear! I love this colour.
9. Michael Harding’s glaze medium. There are loads of glaze mediums out there and for many years I painted without using glaze mediums and simply used more oil and less turps to create a clear glossy finish. But since discovering Michael Harding’s glaze medium there’s been no going back. I adore it’s consistency and it enables me to put a very thin coloured glaze over the top of my paintings. A glaze medium enables a translucency simply not possible without it.
10. A painters smock. I suppose I don’t really need a real smock. I have loads of them; seriously loads. But I have gotten into the habit of being free and easy with my paint allowing splatters and dribbles in trickles to be part of the paintwork and this means I’m never going to be the kind of artist that can paint in good clothes. Painting clothes are essential for me and I have become rather attached to my painting smocks.
On my home page I state that ‘I love to paint”. My top ten help me enjoy the painting process all the more.
Getting the right mindset for a successful business.
I started my own art business in September 2014 after a 20 year career in teaching! I knew how to paint but I had no idea how I was going to be able to turn my passion into my full-time job and my full-time living. Now seven years on I’m happy to say I’m a successful artist and loving my life.
If you have doubts about your abilities in business or if you’re able to make your passion your business read on and get the mindset to realise your dreams!
Read on for more info or click the button to sign up. It’s free by the way!
I read Carrie Green’s book “She Means Business” in early 2017 and thought it was one the most useful business books I’d read.
I also realised how I was getting in my own way. My mindset needed some work to allow me to be successful.
I then joined her membership….that was four years ago and I’m still member. There’s so much great info there.
I’ll blog more about what her membership is about in a couple of weeks time. But in the meantime here’s a podcast I did with Carrie in 2020, talking about the ups and downs we have in our personal lives and how we can still make our business a success.
Some of the things we cover are…
- how I created multiple sources of revenue
- How being a successful artist means you also have to manage a business
- The crisis of confidence and the mindset struggles I faced when I first started.
- Three essential aspects of business.
- The struggle to continue working on my business after the loss of my lovely Dad and how the support of other members from inside the Members’ Club helped me.
- How I use the Members’ Club monthly Goal Setting and Planning workshops to review and plan ahead.
- How being in the Members club helped me win SWOBYA Entrepreneurial woman of the year in 2019.
Carrie’s launching a great new mindset challenge you can join in with this October.
Its free and its fun and you’ll learn a whole lot. If you’ve ever had that imposter syndrome feeling…or in my case I just get so overwhelmed with it all sometimes, then this challenge is going to help you so much.
It’s going to be 3 fun filled days of realigning with ourselves and our vision and reigniting our love for our businesses. Here’s a quick breakdown of what’s going to be happening:
Day 1: 3 Ways To Get Out Of Your Own Way – No more feeling stuck not taking action.
Day 2: 5 Ways To Condition Yourself For Success – Once you overcome the things that were holding you back, it’s time to start setting yourself up for success.
Day 3: Creating Your Future History – Predicting your future is not as crazy as it sounds, in fact we can all do it!
It’s gonna be so awesome and I’d love for you to join me in the challenge, because the more the merrier, right?
If you want to join me you can sign up for free
I can’t wait to get started!
My 5 favourite ways to stay creative and kickstart your creativity in 2020
Then there's updating the website and hitting social media. My latest focus on the internet has been having fun with some christmas gifs and beautifying my artwork with spangles and baubles. Its a bit of fun for December.
I have a few creative mantras that have served me very well over the years.
Creativity isn't magic, it doesn't fall from the sky like a thunderbolt.
Creativity is a habit.
Here are my five favourite ways of getting the creative habit.
1. Go outside.
Ideally you'll go outside and sketch, but actually just going outside for a a bit of a walk can get your creative juices flowing again. Take the time to look, to really notice. The skies, the changing light, the changing seasons, nature in all its glory. Alternatively notice the mundane, the everyday, the manmade. Have a good look round.
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2. Go inside.
Draw a coffee shop scene. Draw a close up of your coffee cup then draw the whole room. Accept the changes. Jot down ideas as they occur you, snippets of conversations. Find the spark to create an idea.
3. Go to a gallery.
Whether its a huge, internationally famous gallery or a little local museum. You can get inspiration from the artwork itself. The story behind it. The way the exhibition has been curated. The "feel" of the place.
I absolutely love drawing in galleries. Standing up in front of the work, using a little hardback sketchbook. It's wonderful. and it never fails to inspire me.
I've just returned from the Leonardo exhibition at the National and you get to play with lights and see how lighting can affect the same subject and create mode an atmosphere.
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Forge a new habit of creating something everyday - a drawing,- passage of writing, a painting..but do it everyday. Draw your breakfast in the morning, draw your shoes when you take them off in the evening.
Little and often is key!
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5. Be prepared to fail.
Make a mess. Take yourself out of your comfort zone. Work in a medium unfamiliar or on a subject you've never tackled before. This is the underpainting of a herd of wildebeast. . It in response to seeing a river crossing on the Masai mara and it is going to be a painting in my new solo show "Into Africa". It's a mammoth task. This painting is a battle ground. . But I have to be brave first to make the piece work. Make a promise that you will do something without showing it to anyone or posting on the internet. It's a way of giving yourself permission to explore something new without having make it perfect. If you experiment often enough, you might just discover something wonderful! |
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Do all of the above and I'm positive you'll banish artist's block and be ready to move towards a bigger project.
Enjoy.
If you want to discover more about drawing and sketching I still have a few place left in some of my 2020 workshops. Click on the button below to find out more.
