Pick your artwork before you buy that sofa....

Sofa- red, yellow, tan, black or white? Leather, corduroy, linen, wool.... Sofas come in so many choices in colors and fabrics.

As I am creating an art piece for our living room, which is composed of three separate canvases, I am surrounded by all our belongings.  Some of which are still in boxes in the house and in the garage. This home has recently been combined- all of my stuff and my husband's for the first time. We have many duplicates of several items. So as we pick through what items will remain to reflect a new combined style for us. Each piece brings elements of our own personality and combining them in the interior design is establishing a uniquely different look for us and honestly still a little ecletic. But I have the ability to create artwork that can combine the elements in the room together- it is like a super power in some way. Saving our room from disorder. Ok, I am just getting silly now. As I began this process, I began thinking about non-artists and how if you pick the art piece last it could be daunting to find the art piece to match your current selection of decor. So I began to think, why not pick the art piece first for a room? 

I am not saying it is impossible by any means, just requires a little more legwork when you are trying to buy an art piece. Sofas are abundant; they are everywhere. You watch tv there is an advertisement for sofas stores. They are in magazines and online. Now good artwork and good artists that fit your budget, and style needs are lot more difficult to find. Once you do find some artists really examine their work. How does it make you feel? Do you just love it? What does the piece say to you? Do you want to continue to look at or do you need to look away? Where is your eye drawn to in the piece?

Also keep in mind, you can request for an artist to create something custom for your home. But make sure you find similar looking styles and colors with in their body of work that has already been created. Don't expect the artist to create drastic changes from their existing body of work. They might try something drastic and they you might not love it either. 

Here is Phase 1 of this piece. I haven't created a series pieces or anything this large before. I have always seriously worked small. Even as a child in school, I would write in this teeny tiny print. So I am amazed that this is not intimidating but really fun. 

I am working with a light shade of lavender on the walls of this room. For color- think light gray and light purple blended together. I had actually started painting this in the art studio and was pleasantly surprised to see the colors matched the room. Once I am done I will share the finished piece with you. 

Feel free to share your sofa shopping stories, or combining household tips. 

Art- as the accent piece.

After only having moved all our belongings in this weekend, I am contemplating decorating of the interior space. The walls and ceiling are freshly painted in the living room, among many other changes throughout the house. The furniture is being arranged and rearranged, but the walls remain bare. We are taking this time to learn to live in our new home. Right now, I am focusing on getting the living room working. My theory is, some order is needed when you are surrounded by confused and unorganized state (of stacks of cardboard boxes filled with your possessions that you just got back from storage after almost a year) you should have one place that is ordered, even it is small space within a space. So we are focusing on one room- the living room. Now you might be wondering why I am not selecting another room like say the bedroom? Well, the bedroom floors aren't quite 100% yet so all the furniture is about a foot from the wall. It is livable at the moment but not ideal and that is an entirely different story.

Here is the before view of this room and the entrance to the house in this short video clip. As I watch this video again and again I keep noticing different things. The accent wall I want to add art to is a bold red wall in the before photos.

Here is 'in progress' shot of the living room's accent wall with its primed walls and a sample of the lavender painted on it. The plastic draping the wall is for protection when they were removing the popcorn ceiling. 

Here is an 'after' shot- showing the very light lavender color and brown toned wood floors. The wall I  will start with is what you see immediately when you enter the home. I want to do an eye catching art piece here, something really large but I not have any really large canvases at the moment and heck they are cumbersome if I want to take it to art class, nor do I have the free space in my garage while it is in progress.  So I am planning to do 2 or 3 24x48 size canvases and hang them all together. I haven't painted anything this large and never had to match it to a room, before so it feels a little daunting.

Today I found inspiration in the photo below, from a blog I read. This photo has a colorful mix of furniture, and motley of style of decorative elements along with the art piece it is a pleasing combination. The silver/ pewter mirror balances the some of the color found in the art piece and creating a harmonious room. My intent is to find a balance similar to this that will compliment our existing stained wood furniture and our existing decorative pieces.  

So besides blog- I find inspiration in this great group of women I paint with every thursday. One of the artists, Ann Golumbuk, I paint with has always painted art work for house. She says this way she gets a chance to enjoy it before it sells. And I absolutely love her work, and her joyful way of living- she is inspiring. She is one of the many people who inspire me. Here is a look at some of her pieces and a link to her website.

I am going to take a photo of her more recent work that isn't found on her website yet- it is really quite fun. She actually took first place in a local art show. Here is her website: http://anngolumbuk.com/


Another artist, I paint with is, Jan Lord. She is this wonderful, kind hearted Canadian who is very talented. Her work that I am currently interested in has these warm and wonderful beiges and with this sketchy images from arrows to fish in them. The sketchy images remind me of drawings found in caves. Here is one of her recent pieces that took 2nd place in the same local art show. http://janlord.net/  Jan is also on pinterist as well. http://pinterest.com/janlord/artsy/

I will keep you posted on the art piece that is created for this wall. I might even do a video on its creation. I just have to let the painting take me where it wants to go.