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Simple checklisk for buying artwork as a gift

My suggestion:  Only purchase a painting,  drawing, or print for another person when the other person …

  • is with you or
  • has written the name of the artwork and the artist and given it to you.

An exception is when you have seen the artwork together, the other person gushed over how much he/she would love to have it, and you go back later to buy it.

But:  If you are still determined to buy something, then use this checklist …

Check all that apply:

___  The other person is not with you and has not told you what to buy (it will really be a surprise).
___  The other person has not seen the artwork yet.
___  You love it and know that the other person will love it, too.
___  You may or may not like it, but are pretty sure that the other person will like it.
___  The artwork is a scene of somewhere you both have been.
___  The artwork is by a (relatively) well-known or popular artist.
___  Similar artwork has been going up in value.
___ The artwork costs money.
___ The artwork is free.

If you checked one or more of the above items → DO NOT BUY IT.

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Transcend the obvious. Three things to consider when buying art.

MCleft200s

The holiday season is almost upon us

Original art and prints are a wonderful thing to purchase for yourself, a loved one, or a friend. There is much good art available online at reasonable prices. If you don’t believe me, check out FineArtAmerica.com, Etsy.com, Deviantart.com, Art.com, and many others.

But are you conscious about your purchase?

Are you going beyond the obvious reasons to buy a piece of art: Collecting, investing, decorating?

Those are good and worthwhile endeavors. I do all three. But when we are about to buy a piece of art, it might be a good idea to step back and transcend the obvious.

Three things to consider when buying art

1 → What will your purchase do for you? A good piece of art will make you feel good almost every time you look at it. You shouldn’t take too much blow-back from your friends over it, but in the end, it doesn’t matter because of rule number one:  You like it. A good piece of art might even make you feel better about yourself, just because you feel good about having it. It’s a psychology thing and it works.

2 → Will you feel good about sharing it? Like it or not, the artwork will connect you to a community of people who own or like similar art. It’s like a car, once you buy one, you see lots of them on the road. Car people go to car shows. Art people go to museums (and flea markets). Part of “pride of ownership” is telling your friends and others about it.

3 → Are you prepared for what the artwork says about you? It tells everyone what you like, what you value, and how you lead your life. Heavy stuff. I recommend invoking rule number one.

 

MyWork180

 

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Thinking about Voyager 1 – Repurposing Paintings into Planetary Landscapes

The spacecraft, Voyager 1, was launched 36 years ago – and now it’s gone! It is the first human-built object to leave our solar system – a heck of a long way. Click to see the story at Voyager-NASA.

In honor of  Voyager’s milestone, I am repurposing previous paintings into a series of “planetary” digital images. Like Voyager 1, the original paintings are long gone, only the images remain.

Martian Sandstorm (Michael Liebhaber, oil on panel, 9x12in, 2007)
Martian Sandstorm (Michael Liebhaber, digital print from oil on panel, 9x12in, 2013)