Well in terms of the collecting I guess both my partner and I have always been collectors of one thing or another - anything and everything from pieces of furniture, ceramic pots, metal figures, ash trays, glass, clocks, plates, watches in fact almost anything that has a bit of age and a lot of character that decorates our home. Our children on the other hand have tended to lament that it's been more like living in a museum!
My own collecting started as a youth with records, or vinyl as is now the preferred term! I can distinctly remember the excitement of going to buy a new single that had just been released or flicking through the plastic sleeves on the shelves of second hand record shops looking for nuggets be they old, imported, deleted, coloured vinyl, a 12" version, a different limited edition cover or a gate-fold sleeve - the 70's offered such variety whether heavy rock, prog rock, punk, new wave, soul, reggae, ska and the list goes on. It's probably the same now and I am just well out of the loop - but can you get quite as excited about downloads? And isn't there something about holding a record in your hands and crucially looking at the artwork whether singles or LPs the cover was as important as the record.
So this is where I think my interest in art started and I recall blu-tacking these covers to the walls of many a rented flat over the years usually in a pretty shabby state with no sign of any of the chic! And although I have enjoyed visiting art exhibitions of both established and newer artists over the years I never thought I would find myself collecting art, particularly original art but so it has been that over several years we have developed our collection by searching through second hand shops, junk shops, charity shops, boot fairs and the occasional auction, to find art that we love at an affordable price.
So why D'Oyly John. Well actually it doesn't have to be. It could be any number of artists we search for or any number of pictures but there's something I love about his colourful mediterranean scenes and this print was an early one we found. It's probably from the 1960's and what we have discovered since starting to collect is the range of media and editions that are out there from oil to watercolour, pastels, mixed media, screen prints, lino, woodblock, etchings and the list goes on. Moreover there's originals, artists prints, limited edition prints, those that are signed others that aren't, that make the buying of art and then trying to identify who its by, when it was created, how many are out there etc. all the more exciting. Particularly if you come across a gem and we have found one or two - at least we think so!
Crucially though is that we don't buy art because we think it might be valuable we buy it because we love it whether it's by a known artist or not, whether it's in the best condition or not and whether it's likely to increase in value or not. The essential rule to collecting we think has to be that you like it and want to hang it on your wall to be enjoyed every time you look at it.
Having said that I'm still searching for an original D'Oyly John at a price we can afford. My partner would prefer a Russell-Flint - but that's another story. We'll keep you posted but in the meantime here are some of the pieces we love and acquired at an affordable price.
So this is where I think my interest in art started and I recall blu-tacking these covers to the walls of many a rented flat over the years usually in a pretty shabby state with no sign of any of the chic! And although I have enjoyed visiting art exhibitions of both established and newer artists over the years I never thought I would find myself collecting art, particularly original art but so it has been that over several years we have developed our collection by searching through second hand shops, junk shops, charity shops, boot fairs and the occasional auction, to find art that we love at an affordable price.
So why D'Oyly John. Well actually it doesn't have to be. It could be any number of artists we search for or any number of pictures but there's something I love about his colourful mediterranean scenes and this print was an early one we found. It's probably from the 1960's and what we have discovered since starting to collect is the range of media and editions that are out there from oil to watercolour, pastels, mixed media, screen prints, lino, woodblock, etchings and the list goes on. Moreover there's originals, artists prints, limited edition prints, those that are signed others that aren't, that make the buying of art and then trying to identify who its by, when it was created, how many are out there etc. all the more exciting. Particularly if you come across a gem and we have found one or two - at least we think so!
Crucially though is that we don't buy art because we think it might be valuable we buy it because we love it whether it's by a known artist or not, whether it's in the best condition or not and whether it's likely to increase in value or not. The essential rule to collecting we think has to be that you like it and want to hang it on your wall to be enjoyed every time you look at it.
Having said that I'm still searching for an original D'Oyly John at a price we can afford. My partner would prefer a Russell-Flint - but that's another story. We'll keep you posted but in the meantime here are some of the pieces we love and acquired at an affordable price.
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