Why People Colllect CERTAIN Types of PAINTINGS--How Art STIMULATES

I have sold antique paintings and prints on eBay for about 8 years now, or I should say I try to sell them , as selling art is a difficult collectible to sell.

But I love art, believe that no home or office is complete without it.

I was sitting in my art History class that my local museum was having a few weeks ago, I started doodling in my notebook as I typically do, I like to draw or I especially like to consider things to write about for this blog. Then I started thinking of all the kinds of paintings I have sold, and what type of people buy what types of art that I have sold. I also am out and about buying art to sell, and I watch what people are attracted to.

Dr. Gina ( not ), will tell you what she has hypothesized .

I would bet money on most of this, but I am not a betting woman...but I would bet you if I was.

I believe people buy Art that evokes a feeling , spurs their dreams, their aspirations, their memories and their hopes. Many pieces of Art are escape avenues, we look at them and they can transport us to another place, or time.

Buyers sometimes can ' see ' themselves in the Art . They buy something that they can relate to in some way, whether it be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual.

I believe Art can create ' life ' in a room.
I believe it can feed your heart and soul.

Ok...enough of the jibber-jabber...because I am quite passionate about Art...I could go on and on.

Let me explain that I will be describing this by using TYPES ( or subject ) or Art , NOT Styles of Art. I will be discussing portraits, landscapes, still lifes, nudes, etc. NOT Impressionism, Realism, Modernism. Simply the most popular types of Art in the paintings I have sold.

Here we go:

PORTRAITS- 

This is actually my top category of sales, with landscapes right on the heels of it. The buyers I have had buy portraits are a very interesting group of collectors. They usually focus on a time period, Renaissance, Victorian, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Modern , etc. Most of the portraits have to be beautiful women or handsome men to sell fast. Most of the portraits of women are bought by women and most of men portraits are bought by men. At least 80 % of the time. Woman rarely buy men's portraits , but men do buy portraits of women. Renaissance art or Old Master's Art is a large category that sells extremely well, but usually cost-prohibitive for me to buy for resale. People who collect that type of Art are high -end collectors who appreciate details and high quality in their Realism artwork. 
I personally love Old Master's Art.

LANDSCAPES-

Landscapes are a big seller, if they are well done , they are typically bought by male buyers who seem to want to see the vastness of a scene or they are outdoorsmen, fishermen, hunters,  and appreciate what the painting reminds them of. Landscapes with lakes or rivers sell especially well, with moonlit reflections, and mountains. I would say 80 % of my buyers here are men, 20 % women. These buyers want to bring the outside, inside. I have sold many landscapes to people that have mountain homes or vacation homes.

SEASCAPES & MARINES-

This is  a surefire seller typically, almost 80 % male buyers, 20 % female. They all love the sea, or were seamen, were in the navy , or love to sail. Some live on beaches , some just remember family vacations at the shore. Seascapes with ships ( Marine art ) sell better than plain ocean views in the paintings. I have sold most Marine paintings to men that are also history buffs.

FLORALS- 

I have sold gobs of vintage and antique florals, which are paintings of flowers. Some people call these still lifes, but I will use that term for objects on a table that are typically flowers and other items combined. Florals usually only have a grouping of flowers in the painting. The most popular seller is roses, after that pansies. Victorian Sunday -Artist style is the most popular. Gardeners are big floral collectors, wanting to have flowers around them  all year long. These are typically bought by female collectors about 80 % of the time, while men comprise the remaining 20 %. Another very pleasant group of collectors to sell to.

NUDES-

I have sold many nudes, I collect some nude portraits of women. It is a sensual Art type and a lot of serious art collectors collect nudes. It is a very difficult technique to master, painting the human form with it's flesh tones, blended curves of a figure...and to do so without harsh lines. True nude collectors like the beauty of form without the overt lewd glorification of sexuality in their art. Most popular are back views and draped views of a nude figure. Full frontal nudes are less popular and difficult to sell or display in a home...especially in America. Europeans appear to have less qualms about nudity in their Art. The funny thing about the buyers of nudes , is that 98 % of male nude portraits ( not talking about Old Masters art ), is collected by gay men. While 75 % of nude female portraits are sold to straight women. I always thought that was ironic, and amusing..but ask other art dealers who specialize in nude portraits and they will confirm it.

Again here, mostly beautiful women and handsome men sell best as nudes. This type of Art most probably stimulates the sensual side of a collector , and they appreciate the beauty of the human form.

STILL LIFES-

 This type of Art Sells less than other types, way less in my opinion, BUT...the interesting thing about this is that when I do have a really good still life, it sells for a good amount of money. They have to be very well done, and they have to either be Old Master's style, Victorian or Modern sells best. These are the fruit and wine on a table, the flowers and food on a tabletop, or game paintings.

Intellectuals like this  type of Art very much.

FOLK ART-

This is a pretty strong art field, but to be able to buy the really old Americana is difficult and cost-prohibitive for me usually. Paintings of children and pets , that are signed and dated are highly sought after.

People who like this type of Art are typically patriotic and often religious. They appreciate the ' heart ' of the artist and the charm of the piece first and foremost. They also collect from certain geographical areas. Like someone who is from New York will buy folk art from an artist who lived and worked in the New York area.

ANIMALS-

These are paintings of animals, with DOG paintings being the highest collectible category and horses and birds following in second place. Cats are after them all.

These are obviously collected by someone who has the animal they want portraits of.

ARCHITECTURE & CITYSCAPES-

This category of Art sells less, and for less than any paintings that I have sold. The only exception appears to be Venice , or some Italian cities in Art. Most probably because they were painted quite often in the Renaissance time period , and buyers like the ' look ' of them. Other city and architecture paintings are slow or poor sellers. Urbanites collect this type of Art.


There you go, my opinion on why people buy certain types of Art and what sells best.
Art allows us to bring our dreams, feelings and hopes into our homes as tangible evidence or proof of our very selves.
It helps us validate our feelings through the Art we choose to buy and display.

I hope this may help you in some way understand why people buy certain types of Art, and encourage you to buy the Art that ' feeds ' you.
Buy what your heart tells you to, what calls to you.
Many blessings and happy Art-hunting !
Gina

" Jesus saith unto him, I am the way , the truth , and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me. " John 14:6

Lost & Found GARDEN-- More Progress

Hooray ! My buds are all open on my trumpet vine !

Well have been working in my garden for the week still, and I have the sore hands from weed pulling to prove it. Was very excited about my trumpet vine blooming, always signifies hope and patience to wait for something to bloom.

Now yes , I realize if this vine is sooo happy after only a year...it will overcome my garden with all it's happiness if I am not careful.

So noted, so not going to do anything about it ...yet.

As you can see here, we have a new fountain...actually it is not new, had it for years on my small deck off the back porch...but stopped using it as it splashed alot, kept getting too dirty to clean properly...so I used to have it piled high with seashells ( another element I like to use in my gardens), and had my son and his friend take them all out yesterday...and was lucky my husband was home to help move it off the deck and we set it up in the center.

The birds are quite happy, it makes a nice delicate splashing noise...and we had the most interesting large species of black bird come to it yesterday.

Very large.

Here is a picture of this unusual bird.

 As you can see, Maxine believes that we have set this up as her official watering hole.

 My problem is I don't want her drinking all the real birds water, and I don't want her  parading through my flowers , back and forth , to get her drinks.

I also know that I'm going to lose this battle.

Learning to know what is worth the ' battle ' in life or what is worth' the best ' in life.

My husband's favorite saying is " It is what is is..". I hate that saying , I always want to change whatever it is.

At least whatever it is I believe I can change.

The rest I believe he is right.

Bummer or enlightenment.

Our choice .

Ok, back to my garden.

Here's what I see everytime I walk down into my garden. I have to clean these pavers of dirt and sand in the front. To the right is a small shade bed I planted. I always encircle my beds with monkey grass or lirope grass , may be what most people call it. I have helped my next door neighbor out by voluntarily taking her monkey grass, dividing it up ...and planting it EVERYWHERE in my yard.
She had large clusters of it down the side of her house, calling to me to divide it.

No need to buy it if you can help a neighbor right ? 

My husband tells me to stop stealing monkey grass from my neighbor, but the house was vacant for 4 years, and for Pete's sake, that monkey grass needed to be divided ! People pay yardmen to do that, I did it for free !

Plus I helped them with some cannas too.

So I have cannas and monkey grass , found..at my neighbor's house.

 Pretty soon, on both sides of my garden, my very favorite plant will show up and be wonderful for me again.
Blue plumbago, it loves my garden...it is perfect, easy to grow , once it is established...all over Charleston gardens too.

Side view

My back path I cleared yesterday

My other , larger path waiting for me to clear and get sore hands with today.
And knees.

Out to work, will write more later, I am going to write an entry about why people collect certain types of Art.
Dr. Gina will give her ( non ) expert opinion what type of people buy what type of art.
Stay tuned.


I wish you a peaceful, blessed day in the sun,
Gina


 " Love is patient, love is kind. " I Corinthians 13:4

How Your GARDEN can LOVE You Like you Need to BE LOVED

New flowers equals happiness

I have been working alot in my garden today, and when I took my dog for her walk tonight, I thought of how I love my garden...and how my garden can love me back...just how I need to be loved.

Cool.

I bet yours does too.

I thought of how different people , all of us, feel loved in different ways. Some of us need lots of attention , some of us are passionate or playful, some of us like love shown more serious and studied , some of us are die-hard romantics, some of us like their love mysterious...you know ...all kinds of different ways for different people.

The really marvelous revelation I came up with tonight, is that your garden can show you love in whatever way you feel loved.

Really cool right ?

I'm more the passionate/playful with a large helping of romance thrown in...and my garden can display ( or show me ) ,that by allowing me to buy it all kinds of new gifts ( plants ), and then letting me thoroughly enjoy ( play ), in it with my cupid ( romantic ) statues and my preference for flowers and draping vines.

I know some people have secret gardens, they like their garden to show them love in a mysterious , quiet way. Little hidden alcoves, secret paths to niches, shhhhh.

Then others like to be over the top, loud and showy with their gardens, lots of large statuary, swirling gadgets, large snow globes, etc.

There is also the serious, studied love shown in some gardens, like Japanese or Contemporary styles  with cool clean lines, perfectly manicured and maintained hedges, very orderly...predictable...and their garden style makes them feel secure.

Of course a garden cannot take the place of a person, but it can feed that part of our soul that needs nourishment.

If we feed them and tend to them , and not neglect our gardens...they will reciprocate with the love we need.

Reciprocation includes blossoms, new growth, re-emergence.
Signs of hope and beauty.

A really fun concept I thought about today.

Ok, let me tell you what I did in my garden today, and what surprise my garden gave to me yesterday.

I bought some flowers, a few snap dragons, some dahlias, poppies, and something blue that I cannot recall the name of it. I think I may need some knee pads soon, and more garden gloves.

 My son , the non-watering element for my flowers, he prefers watering the air

We went to Lowes today and bought some beehive holly bushes to fill my front two large planters, and also some more salvia , and some blue superbells, and some wallflower. I wish buying all these plants wasn't so darned expensive...60.00 here, 85.00 there...150. out the wallet and in the garden.
At least you can see where your money goes.

I need some stock in Lowes and Home Depot.

Looking better right ? Just say yes , make me feel better.

I planted the two large planters with the beehive hollies, and I planted some perennials behind that, and weeded more.

 

My trumpet vine will be open its buds for me tomorrow !

This is my large pathway I carved out that I have to buy new mulch for ( more $$$$ ), and then hope the rain and my crazy squirrel chasing dog stops destroying it .I am raking all the pesky pollen pods that are dropping non-stop here.

Can you tell I am excited about my trumpet vine ? I bought it for 6.00 a few years ago as it was very small ( one of my lessons in patience ) and I got a great deal on it. It has grown at least 6 times the size it was...I do believe it likes being in my garden.

My garden watch dog, lounging among the pollen pods...I also do believe she is my best friend . Her name is Maxine.

 Here is the side pathway to my inner garden, made of found bricks..leading to the center.

I found all these bricks, I love how different all the colors are, so much personality.

  My terribly neglected side area, that when I started working on..pulling the dead vines off this Confederate Jasmine to the left...a large bird flew out.
A large bird with half it's body a dark orange, I do not know what kind of bird it was.

And then God gave me a surprise in my garden.

This is what was behind , hidden inside the vines that I was pulling.

Three blessings straight from God into my garden.
A hidden discovery. 
These are big eggs, not small tiny bird eggs...wonderful !

I adore birds, love to watch them , love to hear them sing to me and their friends, love them in my garden.

I scared the mom away, but I backed off and dragged a cement basin over to fill it with water for her under the vines.

She returned to take care of her babies, and I stopped pulling the vines around her home.

A hidden, delicate treasure of new life.

Promise.

I hope you discover how your garden shows you love, and I hope you know exactly how to nurture it in return.

Many blessings,

Gina

" The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. " John 3:8

My Lost & Found GARDEN...Early Spring April 2010

Some fragrant Wisteria I found on my morning walk & brought home

I am going to do some entries about my garden , and they will be mostly titled my Lost & Found garden , for various reasons. No. 1 reason is my very favorite thing to do with my gardens is find something that was discarded or cast aside...and use it in my gardens. No. 2 reason is I found and created my gardens ( I have one in my backyard , and a few in my front yard ), when I was going through a unrestful, stressful time in my life...and I  found that they help me find myself and more importantly find God.
Peace, personal insights, and God-insights and lessons can be ' found ' in your garden.
Try it.

Here is me a few days ago, in a sea of weed, as I have neglected my garden over the Winter, and now I am paying.
Payment required is very sore hands and fingers from hours of pulling.
Dividend is a cleaner garden, for about a week, until all the weeds come back.

This is another area of my back garden that I created, I started the main back garden out of a  plain yard of weeds, grass and clover ...and then I had a vision to make a garden with an octagon shaped center rose garden. After I dug up the center of the garden, I have always done all of the manual labor myself ( still do ) , though I do get my husband to help move very large items...unless I am dumb and can't wait for him and do it myself.
Which happens about 90 % of the time.
I have the patience of a gnat.
But gardening teaches patience as we have to wait for the seasons, wait for the buds and blossoms, wait for the rain...lots of waiting...and learning diligent patience.

Here is a shot of my lazy , sleepy garden watch-dog.


After I spent 100's of dollars on rose bushes, sprays, fertilizers...black spot devoured bush after bush and I pitched them all. My little boy always kept sticking himself with the thorns as well...so adios roses..come on in cottage garden plants.

Here I am on the second day of work, considering what to do with my garden. Always considering .
We gardeners have to walk around our gardens often, look at the windows from the inside out to decide what we want to ' see. "

Here is my center focal trellis, I used to have roses growing on this, but then I replaced them with trumpet vine. I 'll take some more shots when they bloom, they have their buds all ready  !

See my two large pots ? I found these on the side of the road about 6 years ago, payed my teenage son and his friend 20.00 each to pick them up in his car and haul them back for me. Wait... I know I told him I would but can't remember if I ever did pay them. I think I bought him and his friend some pizzas and they forgot.
Lucky me.
I will get some flowers soon for the planters, I especially like dragonwing begonias in these. Behind me is a path I dug up that we lay mulch down on. The dog usually scatters all the mulch when she chases squirrels though.
Gotta go get some more.

Here is my assistant photographer, but this time his best friend took our picture. I am the one to the left with her attractive garden rubber blue shoes on, he is the happy faced one to the right who had been playing wayyyy too much Wii all day. Had to kick those two munchkins out of the house and into the sun.
I am pretty much anti-Wii, anti-Nintendo, etc. Santa bought him the Wii for Christmas with Mrs. Claus telling him he was nuts to do so.
I firmly believe kids need to be outside playing real games , being active and getting fresh air... and not TV-games.
I laid the center bricks here, all discarded bricks from various places I find on my walks. I like the clay old bricks, with nicks and bumps. I laid them into the dirt with no cement backing...just like I see them done in Charleston, SC gardens on my walks there. I did use dirt and sand as a filler for the cracks, bumped them into place with each other, and viola'...I have a center brick accent area !

Here is a picture from the end of last Summer. See how they ( the bricks ) are not perfect ? Drives my husband nuts when they are not perfect, but I feel perfection is over-rated in most things. I planted a plant in the center fountain, as it broke ( the basin cracked badly ). My birds are upset, but I use my professional watering system ( me and my sprinkler ), and I move it around and they bathe and chat in there.
We will get another basin soon. I loved my center fountain !
Oh, I found most of these bricks from the side of a road in my neighborhood , a large house had burnt down, and they were rebuilding. All of these bricks were laying on the side of  the road, calling to me.They smelled like smoke for a good 3-4 years, but now they smell like dirt. I am guessing , as the smell of smoke is gone. I just recently told the former owner of the house that burnt down that I had taken his bricks and used them in my garden.
He was quite pleased with that.
Excellent recycling.

Front view, you can see cannas, lambs ear, perennials,and I planted all the bushes and 3 trees...plus all my flowers. Again, this was from last Summer. Below is how it looks now.
Potential lurks.

Ok, we are back here in the early Spring , this week. Weeds pulled, some new perennials coming up , and a statue left from my fountain in the center. This will all start to look great when I get some flowers and everything comes into bloom. I will post additional photos to show you the progress.

A close-up of one of those huge, heavy pots I found thrown on the side of the road. It had cement all over it, so I chipped it off with a hammer and chisel the best I could. I moved these from the back of my garden to the front to flank the front view of the garden. These were an example of me NOT waiting for my husband to come home to help me move something heavy , and as I rolled them across the yard, then used a dolly part-way...I got mad at myself.
But, got them where I wanted them..important outcome.
Sore back and arms though.

I laid out these gravel pavers and bricks about 6 years ago as well , hard work, but I wanted a pathway to my husband's palace ( his workshop ), and this worked out well. They are half-covered with sand, dirt and fallen Camilla blossoms right now.

My clean slate to start getting this garden ship-shape again before the extreme humidity here in the Deep South and the bad mosquitoes dampen my enthusiasm. I will take more pictures soon of the progress , it will looks so much better soon !!

My wheelbarrow tire is flat, so I have to lug this big red bin around for all my weeds. Have to go get some more work done,


Blessings to you and your garden,
Gina

" Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. " 2 Corinthians 5:17