Australian Abstract Painters

I'm one of 'those people' who really like abstract art. Good, abstract art mind you. One of my favourite artists is Dale Frank, an Australian painter. Frank's works also have an element of surrealism:

If I was seriously cashed-up, I'd definitely buy one of these (much to my husband's outright horror - we have totally different tastes when it comes to art!)

I think I'm just a sucker for really large works, with absolute colour saturation, and these paintings give me that in spades. Plus, Frank has the funniest names for his works, like 'No matter how little he ate he always remained persistently bloated.' Love it.

I also like Ben Quilty, although some of his paintings are a little heavy, or disturbing. I still appreciate them, but I'm not sure I could live with the more confronting ones. Love the budgie though.

Art and alternatives

I love art.  It can lift your mood, reflect who you are, and inspire you. And it totally transforms a room - I don't think there's such a thing as an amazing interior with blank walls (well, unless you're an ultra minimalist, but even then...)

But good art is normally expensive (as in, thousands and thousands). I'm lucky to have two large paintings by recognised artists, neither of which we paid for, mind you. I'd really like some more, but after our renovation I don't think there's going to be an 'art budget'! So what's the alternative? Well, I've been looking and there are heaps of really cool ideas for walls including mass photo displays, decals, paper garlands, tapestries, blackboard wall-stickers, mirrors, word press pieces, prints, vintage posters, and vintage maps.

Etsy is a great source of original art, plus prints and posters, often at really reasonable prices. And with the Aussie dollar this high, it's a good time to make a purchase...

I think these vinyl wall stickers at Urban Walls look really effective, with a similar effect to wallpaper. US$45 for 8 pieces.

This is an original 19x15cm oil painting at 'dailyportrait' for US$275. This shop also has lots of original sketches around the US$50 price range. The artist drew a portrait a day for a year, which is chronicled on his blog, and the results are up for sale at this Etsy shop. Cool, huh?

Dr Kennedy Jones' shop on Etsy has quite a few whimsical, retro-style prints around the US$30 mark. The obvious place to use them would be a kids' room, but I think they'd work equally well in a bedroom.

Letters - a little trite now, but essentially still a pretty cool idea. These ones are US$75 at William Dohman. 

An understated but fun print from Made by Girl (US$12.75).

If you like fashion illustrations, have a look at silverridgestudio. I love these colours - very moody ($US75, Glicee print).

Cute word-art (US$25 at dazeychick).

Gotta love the colour saturation (US$24 'Pink Triangle' print by twoems).

200+ birds cut out from old dictionaries for US$3.00 at LoveTspVintage - just imagine the possibilities! Also airplanes and butterflies available. So cheap you could order, like, 900 birds and just roll around in them...

Large, vintage maps can also be displayed as art. A world map would be great in a lounge room (this one is US$275 at Vintage World).


Well, I could definitely keep going in this vein so I'm thinking, look out for 'art and alternatives' episode #2...

Starting the post-reno 'covet list'

I'm starting to collect quite the list of things I covet. I'm not buying anything until after the renovation is done (by mid 2011 at the latest, hopefully) but that doesn't stop me trawling the web for things to add to the list.

Near the top would have to be art. We definitely need a few more pieces to add personality and colour into our home. I've found this cool map of London available at Made by Girl, which will look awesome with the colour scheme I'm going to do (grey, white and charcoal) and remind me of the time Tom and I spent living in North Kensington.

I also love these little ceramic stools/occasional tables available at Interiors Online.

Lastly, a new dining table wouldn't go astray. Not sure if I can afford the real thing, but I do like the Isamu Noguchi Cyclone Dining Table (though it's a bit small at approx 110cm in diameter)

And that's just the tip of the iceberg...