11.09.2012

Peonies!



please click here to view on Etsy


I've done this little painting several times for custom orders. I recently did one for an order and at the same time painted this painting. I had never completed two paintings at once. 
I liked how I didn't have any leftover paint. It also helped keep the colors similar. 
The background and jug is a little washed out in this photo. 

I haven't had a chance to work on my cloud paintings yet but plan on getting to those
and my piece for the gallery this weekend. Christmas time is coming soon and I want to offer some small gifts at a local shop. I just have to come up with some ideas. Do you think art is something 
people buy as gifts or is it more a personal item?

Hope you have a great weekend!







7 comments:

Terra said...

The warmth of these colors is ideal for a cold autumn day, to warm me up.
Re your question I think your small paintings would be bought as gifts, since a person can always find a place to hang a smaller size painting. I love the painting I won, of yours, that is of a door in a village with an Italian feel.

Jen Beaudet said...

Hi Terra! Thanks so much for your opinion on this. I think I will do some more Italy/doors or similar and small. Good idea!

Blondie's Journal said...

Flowers in the winter always make me smile...this is beautiful. And yes, I think art makes a wonderful gift, whether it's a place a person has visited or s simple floral that matches someones decor...go for it!

XO,
Jane

Lorrie said...

I love the idea of a piece of art as a gift from someone who knows me well.
Your peonies are so full of colour - wonderful to see on these gray November days.

Vicki said...

You know, that's not exactly an easy question. Buying art for somebody else is like trying to find the perfect shoes with the perfect fit. Unless you know the recipient really, really well (i.e., their tastes), the fit might be wrong. Unless you just want to take a wild risk at it and have an element of surprise.

It's like when you buy secondhand, somebody else's junk is another person's treasure. Art usually generates strong opinions and reactions; what one person loves, another one can't stand.

What I see being bought at my local art museum or, at this time of year, annual boutiques such as the art society's at Christmas, are smaller, sort of generic art items; people like original stuff they can walk away with without spending a whole lot of money, at least in this time of recession. I'm thinking your mini-canvas originals (4x6?), where you paint off the sides, as a stand-alone piece someone could put on a bookshelf or table. Prints spun off into notecards tied in a small bundle with ribbons or raffia; that works. I live in a historical town and very popular to buy are the local artists' original paintings or drawings reproduced as notecards or postcards with some of our places of interest such as a stately pioneer's mansion, one of the old schools, a signature church, something iconic like a town's clock or special monument/statue, a landscape of the locale (could be orchards, mountains, valley, sea, parks). This appeals to tourists who want a memento of what they've just visited/seen and it appeals equally to residents because it's "pictures" of their environment/home.

Women, probably predominantly, will always enjoy a still life of floral and/or fruit. Depictions of dogs and cats or birds seem to be a hit. (Watercolors translate so nicely to stationery/cards!) There was a shop a few years ago which featured handpainted glass-globe ornaments at Christmas. (The artist simply bought plain, white or cream ball-ornaments and then transformed them!) But some were flat rounds like balsa wood with a scene painted on them, ready for hanging.

I guess I'm rambling, Jennifer, but my opinion at the end of the day is that people are buying for themselves first before they're buying for somebody else when it comes to art. I do think art is personal. It's also emotional. Who knows what it sparks in a person. Sometimes it's as uncomplicated as an intense feeling they have for a certain blend of colors. Color combos...

In fifty years of life with my father, I never saw him ever buy one personal thing for himself. Yet, one time when we were on a road-trip vacation as a family, we kids were astounded when Dad, hanging back while Mom browsed the gift store at a national park, spontaneously bought for himself a desk clock hand-set into a cut piece of agate. It was quite a good-sized "sculpture." He displayed it proudly on his desk til the day he died. I don't think any of us in a million years would have guessed he would go for something like that, or else we'd have bought something similar when we were always scratching our heads about "what to get Dad." But that artisan's clock rang some sort of bell with him; I guess he just liked it. It "spoke" to him!

Jane said...

What a lovely bouquet of Peonies, beautiful colors and Peonies always have that romantic air about them that I love. Gorgeous work .

Jen Beaudet said...

Thank you all for your comments!

NEW Website!

Modern Impressionist Field of Flowers

  Available here New art available on my website! I love flowers and I'm not sure what these would be but I hope you enjoy it! This was ...