You can tell a lot about a person by the art they enjoy. At least I think you can.
I can a lot about a person by the art they like. For example, I can think of three people immediately. One likes nostalgic pictures of the “olden days”, as she calls them. They remind her of a simpler time.
Another person is very traditional and her art reflects her to a “t”. She is traditional in her values, the way she decorates her house, the way she dresses, even the food she eats.
Another person wants “fun” on her walls. Her walls reflect her own style to a “t” as well. She seldom chooses a traditional picture but instead creates her own art displays even though she doesn’t paint or draw. Yet, she is artistic. She is adventurous, creative, and this if reflected in many parts of her life.
For me, I only have one commercial picture in my home and it was purchased at an antique store. All the rest are originals of my own or someone else’s. I like knowing I don’t have something in my home everyone else has. I don’t want my own to look like a furniture store where I just went out and bought a “grouping” of furniture and artwork to match.
B-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-ORING
Now having said all of this, look at these pictures below. I’ll bet you think my home is very colorful. It isn’t. It’s mostly neutral walls and neutral furniture. That’s so the artwork stands out. It’s my biggest canvas.
No matter where I am, I’m always looking for possible art to copy. If there’s a painting within my view, you can count on the fact, I’m examining it closely. Sometimes I take pictures of them such as this last week. I can’t remember where I found them but I really like these. (When I say copy, I mean strictly for my benefit, never to sell.)
I love all the design elements in this elephant picture. I always tell myself I’m going to paint a picture like this (a Zentangle kind of idea) but have yet to do so. Maybe by posting this, it will mean I will see it through.
I like art where you can tell what the painting is but it doesn’t look like a photograph. I also like trees and have painted a couple of pictures of trees myself with two in progress now.
I think I like trees because there’s no such thing as painting a tree wrong. If you pay attention to trees around you, you will notice that, like snowflakes, there are no two identical ones. Therefore, there is no way to paint one wrong. The more misshapen they are, the more beautiful they are to me.
I like birds. I’m not a bird watcher but I like bird sculptures and bird figurines. As far as art mediums go, I love collage which is how this bird picture is basically constructed. I think I love collage so much because I love paper. My Pinterest board, “paper projects” is probably my biggest board.
I particularly like to create collages with paper of my own design. Lots of time when I’m cleaning up after a painting project I will take paper or paper towel, and lay it paper down flat on top of the leftover paint and pat the paper, changing paper position often. I save these sheets for future collage. I also save wrapping paper, etc. Should I add, my family thinks I’m a little weird?
I’ll probably die with hoards of paper and when people come to my “estate sale”, they will say, (as I have), “That was one eccentric person.” Hey, most of us “artsy fartsy” people have DNA that compels us to be strange. It’s not our fault.
Anyway, I just wanted to share this art with you. Gives you a better idea of who I am.
Are any of you out there artists? Or are there some of you that want to be? In case you didn’t know it, the Great Masters copied other paintings all the time. That’s how they learned. It is a most acceptable way to learn to paint. It’s even ok to trace a picture until you learn to draw your own picture. You just can’t sell a picture that you copied.
I hope you’ll give it a try if it’s something you’ve always wanted to do.
Here’ a couple of my own paintings.
