Though I could enjoy speaking on the topic of art for sometime, I found myself without a way to truly understand the differing values in the ways of thought that permeate this grouping of human experience, and found myself looking to sources over the Internet to further my knowledge to utilize the information gathered to purchase paintings.  I have always been interested in the passions evoked by the series of artists and movements that proliferate what we have come to know as the history of art.  Reflecting on this notion of life’s passing interaction whether Romanticist, Surrealist, or Minimalist in nature.

Speaking on Minimalism now, the ideas that made this movement unique relied heavily upon the work being stripped down to the barest fundamental aspects, and laying bare those integral parts of self-expression.  Many pieces of work other than visual art has been affected by these ideals of minimalism, and acted outside of this particular aesthetic appeal, creating new ways to interpret literature and even lifestyles.  As far as painting goes, however, the minimalist paintings will typically use limited color schemes and simple geometric designs.  Minimalist sculpture is focused on the materials used.

Some of the phases commonly agreed on about this movement are each notable for how they have progressed the overall conception of minimalism as a movement.  A distillation in forms was the first phase, with contributors claiming in order to create a universal language of art that masses were meant to understand easily, and seemed poised to support the rapid industrialization for particular settings of the time.  Searching for a purity of form, and paving the way for the abstractions to come later on, allowing for the second more notable phase to reach its’ crescendo afterwards.

Much of the formats for commercial artwork we see today have had a great deal of background in this movement of visual art, allowing us to understand on a fundamental level what the message is that the work is trying to convey, and a large amount of the signs and signals we find today relies heavily upon these ideals to translate a universal meaning to the general populace.  We can easily see the progression of minimalism in these examples of the world over, and it almost as ingrained into our society now as much as we care to see.

A minimalist painting will typically use a very limited amount of colors and have a very simplistic geometric design. Minimalism in sculpture, on the other hand, is much more concerned with the materials used. Many people believe that minimalism in generally is about geometric shapes, but this interpretation depends widely on the branch of art as well as the interpreter.

But the simplest way to describe minimalism is that the less that is in the painting or work of art, the better it is. Minimalism is all about drawing attention to the few objects and colors of the composition. In this way minimalism shows us that less is better, for the eye is not drawn away by this of that filler or extra objects.

Minimalism is about starting with nothing and then carefully applying the few objects and colors that will define the piece as a whole. Minimalism is still one of the major parts of contemporary art, but it is used I conjunction with other styles and flairs from other art movements to form new types of minimalism.

Some of the most valuable early artwork comes from a point of time before the Renaissance had begun, and going on through the early Middle Ages, referred to as the period of Gothic art.  During this particular time in history, the artwork took on telling narrative stories through pictures, and much of these pieces were Christian and secular in nature.  Some of the earliest examples of Gothic art are sculptures found on cathedral and abbey walls, and the first real form of Gothic artwork began as architectural works in fact, even becoming the subject matter for many stained glass windows at the time.

The style of painting that further defined Gothic art wasn’t produced until nearly fifty years after Gothic architecture and sculptures, and even though the break between Romanesque artwork and the Gothic styles has remained imprecise at best, the beginnings of Gothic artwork seems to occur in various areas at different but related intervals.  The artwork began in England and France around 1200, and in other areas like Germany and Italy between 1220 and 1300.  The paintings stayed just as narrative as the architecture on church walls during this time, and has stayed the territory of secular storytelling for a long time afterwards.

Though Gothic art in paintings has had a relatively short time as the medium of choice amongst the artists, there is evidence that the artwork falls into four particular styles of these paintings, and these were the most common forms during this time period.  The fresco, the panel painting, the illuminated manuscript, and the artwork done on stained glass are all depictions of Gothic painting.  Of these particular types, stained glass artwork had remained a strong reminder of those ages long past, and is still created by master artisans that learned their trade skills from these dark ages.

In the case of the other three particular forms of Gothic painting, frescoes continued to be used as the pictorial narratives on church walls in southern Europe, and were a consistent incorporation of early Christian and Romanesque traditions.  In Italy, during the 13th century, the panel painting began and spread throughout Europe.  With this proliferation, panel paintings became even more predominant by the 15th century, and becoming even more popular than stained glass at the time.  Since not all monumental works have survived, illuminated manuscripts are the most complete record of Gothic painting, and provide a comprehensive account of styles that would otherwise perished.

As the state of the world began to change, so too did the interpretations of the artwork as a reflection of these changing times and attitudes, and the movement became known as International Gothic by the late 15th century.  From there, it had evolved into an art form depicting not just secular stories and allegories, but also resulted in the occurrence of more illuminated manuscripts and paintings as increased trade and the rise of cities and universities grew.  With this proliferation of growth, more people were literate, and lead to better records kept with this occurring.  Leading up to many of the well-known medieval artists today.

The International Gothic style of artwork was developed in Burgundy, Bohemia, and northern Italy in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.  During this period in Gothic art, artists traveled widely around the civilized world at the time creating a common aesthetic among the aristocracy of the time, and removing the concepts of contrary artistic styles.  The main influences for this period in artwork were derived from northern France, the Netherlands, and Italy.  It was during this time, that aspects of rational uses of perspective and setting became a common feature, and other features included flowing lines and rich coloring.

In the case of Gothic sculpture, it had evolved from the elongated forms of the Romanesque style, and became a more naturalistic expression in the early 12th and late 13th centuries.  Influences from Greek and Roman statuary were incorporated into drapery, facial expressions, and poses.  The sculptor Claus Sluter and the changing tastes for more naturalistic styles became a harbinger for the end of the Gothic period of art, and signaled the beginning of the evolution into Renaissance period at the end of the 15th century.

In a time period where upheaval was the normal occurrence of many of the people then, Gothic art fell into the broad scope of medieval artwork that included such disparate elements and styles as Viking art and Celtic art, but in varying degrees relied upon the artistic heritage of the Roman Empire and the early Christian Church.  In fact, much medieval artwork has the history of these elements conjoining and converging into the remarkable artistic legacy we read about today, and have contributed over time to the outcome of many other forms of art from the Renaissance to the present day.

A 20th century art movement with its’ roots in Italian and Russian beginnings, Futurism is said to have largely began with the writing of a 1907 essay on music by the Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni, and explored every medium of art to convey its’ meanings.  The Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was the first to produce an article in which was summed up the major principles that became the Manifesto of Futurism in 1909.  It included the passionate loathing of ideas from the past, and with that enmity of political and artistic traditions, espoused a love for speed and technology.

The philosophy of Futurism regarded the car, the plane, and the industrial town as legendary of the technological triumph of mankind over nature.  With Marinetti at the helm, a few artists of the time introduced the tenets of the philosophy to the visual arts, and represented the movement in its’ first phase in 1910.  The Russian Futurists were fascinated with dynamism and the restlessness of modern urban life, purposefully seeking to provoke controversy and attract attention to their works through insulting reviews of the static art of the past, and the circle of Russian Futurists were predominantly literary as opposed to being overtly artistic.

Cubo-Futurism was a school of Russian Futurism formulated in 1913, and many of the works incorporated Cubism’s usage of angular forms combined with the Futurist predisposition for dynamism.  The Futurist painter Kazimir Malevich was the artist to develop the style, but dismissed it for the inception of the artistic style known as Suprematism, that focused upon the fundamental geometric shapes as a form of non-objective art.  Suprematism grew around Malevich, with most prominent works being produced between 1915 and 1918, but the movement had halted for the most part by 1934 in Stalinist Russia.

Though at one point, those Russian poets and artists that considered themselves Futurists had collaborated on works such a Futurist opera, but the Russian movement broke down from persecution for their belief in free thought with the start of the Stalinist age.  Italian Futurists were strongly linked with the early fascists in the hope for modernizing the society and economy in the 1920s through to the 1930s, and Marinetti founded the Futurist Political Party in early 1918, which was later absorbed into Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party.

As tensions grew within the various artistic faces that considered themselves Futurists, many Futurists became associated with fascism which later translated into Futurist architecture being born, and interesting examples of this style can be found today even though many Futurist architects were at odds in the fascist taste for Roman imperial patterns.  Futurism has even influenced many other 20th century art movements such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Art Deco styles.  Futurism as a movement is considered extinct for the most part with the death of Marinetti in 1944.

As Futurism gave way to the actual future of things, the ideals of the artistic movement have remained significant in Western culture through the expressions of the commercial cinema and culture, and can even be as an influence in modern Japanese anime and cinema.  The Cyberpunk genre of films and books owe much to the Futurist tenets, and the movement has even spawned Neo-Futurism, a style of theatre at utilizes on Futurism’s focuses to create a new form of theatre.  Much of Futurism’s inspiration came from the previous movement of Cubism, that involved such famed artists as Pablo Picasso and Paul Cezanne, and created much of the basis for Futurism through its’ philosophy.

I have found that people buying paintings for relatives usually have a very specific thing in mind when they set out shopping.  It is very rewarding to find just the right painting for a space that really needs it.  Sometimes color is the only consideration.

Content is also very appropriate to consider.  If you are buying a painting for someone that has very distinct tastes, it is important to keep that in the forefront of your mind.  The painting of a rooster might be great for one relative but not for another.

Size constraints need to be taken into account when buying paintings for relatives.  If your Aunt Eloise lives in a small apartment, buying a painting for her that takes up an entire wall is not a good idea.  It is a good idea to take a look at the place the painting will go before purchasing one.

Color can be a big factor in the buying of a painting.  If the color clashes with your relative’s décor, they will probably not be very excited about hanging it.  If the color is just right, it will hang on their wall for a very long time.

Religious themed paintings are difficult to buy for friends, but easy to buy for relatives.  More than likely, you know what religion your relatives adhere to and what symbols are most relevant to it.  Jewish symbolism is lost on a Christian family and vice versa.

Choosing to buy paintings for relatives based on the artist’s previous work is also a good method of finding great art.  If your relative already has purchased art from an artist that they like and that they hang prominently in their home, then it is a safe bet to buy another piece from the same artist.

Sometimes buying a nice painting for a relative has a point of inspiration, like a vacation.  If your mom and dad just visited Paris, a nice painting of Paris might be a great choice.  It is good to know what landmarks they enjoyed most and find an artistic representation of it.

I have some relatives that I’ve bought paintings for that were interested in the Middle Ages.  I found some very nice reproductions of the work that was popular in that time period.  Buying reproductions is acceptable if the painting is prohibitive in cost.

There is an aunt that I adore that is always buying painting for relatives.  Her heart is in the right place, but she has a hard time picking paintings that are appropriate for the recipient.  She bought her daughter a lovely painting that was Baroque and completely did not fit the feel of her home.

Landscape paintings done in the Romantic style look so nice in my uncle’s home.  I bought him a reproduction of a Monet that he hung in his study.  I enjoy watching him study that painting.

My little sister has requested that anyone buying her a painting should stay away from Van Gogh.  She has equal dislike for Cezanne and Gauguin.  I’m not sure why she feels so strongly about Modern and Contemporary art.

I happen to like cubist paintings by Kandinsky.  My husband bought me a reproduction of a Kandinsky that I keep in my den.  I can look into it and see so many different things.  The painting comes to life and I feel so many emotions when I look into it.

When speaking on buying paintings of the Expressionist movement, it is always a good idea to review what elements make Expressionism unique, and to gain an understanding of some of the artists representative of this particular artistic movement.  The agreed upon intention of Expressionist artwork is not reproduce a subject accurately, but to instead portray the inner state of the artist, with a tendency to distort reality for an emotional effect.  The movement is closely associated with its’ beginnings in Germany, and has a few different but overlapping schools of thought within.

The term Expressionism was first used to describe the movement in the magazine produced in 1911 called “Der Sturm”, and was usually linked to paintings and graphic work that challenged academic traditions at the time.  The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche later helped to define the area of modern expressionism better by clarifying the movement’s links to ancient art before any more modern interpretation had, and applied his own unique philosophy to the movement.  He has been quoted stating that disordered and ordered elements are present in all works of art, but that the basic traits of Expressionism lay in the mainly disordered aspects.

The Expressionist point of view was usually conveyed through the use of bold colors, distorted forms, and a lack of perspective.  Generally, a piece of expressionistic art is one that is expressive of intense emotion, and much of this kind of artwork occurs during times of social upheaval.  Though it can be argued that an artist is expressive by nature, and that all artwork is truly expressionist, there are many who consider the movement particularly communicative of emotion.  Later on, artists like Kandinsky changed 20th century Expressionist work through the formation of Abstract Expressionism.

The art historian Antonín Matějček was elemental in coining the term as the opposite to the Impressionist movement as well, and though Expressionism seems well defined as an artistic movement, there have never been a group of artists that called themselves Expressionists.  The movement was primarily German and Austrian, and many of the different groups of thought were based around Germany at the time.  Another artistic movement that heavily influenced Expressionism was Fauvism.  This kind of artwork is characterized by primitive, less naturalistic forms, and includes the works of famed painters Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse.

With this influence firmly in place, Expressionism grew into striking compositions that focused on representing emotional reactions through powerful use of color and dynamic approaches with subject matter, and seemed to counter the qualities centered on by the French Impressionism of the time.  Where French Impressionism was to seek rendering the visual appearance of objects, Expressionism became an opposing movement seeking to capture emotions and subjective interpretation, and it was not important to reproduce a visually pleasing interpretation of the matter that the painting represented.

Expressionism has crossed over into many differing fields of artistic vision, with sculpture and filmmaking being primary examples today, and have influenced many people throughout the course of its’ existence as a movement in art.  These visions have combined over time to create the comprehensive idea of what Expressionism has become, and many people have found this type of art very appealing and eye-catching.  Throughout this century, much Expressionistic artwork has come to be representative of what art can come to be, and many people have been influenced by this very emotional artwork.

What started out as a rather avant-garde art movement has become one of the greatest examples of artistic forms breaking that mold of convention, revolutionizing European painting and sculpture up to the present century, and was first developed between 1908 and 1912 during a collaboration between Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso with influences from the works of Paul Cezanne and Tribal art.  Though the movement itself was not long-lived, it began an immense creative explosion that has had long lasting repercussions, and focused on the underlying concept that the essence of an object can only be captured by showing it from multiple points of view simultaneously.

The movement had run its’ course by the end of World War I, and influenced similar ideal qualities in the Precisionism, Futurism, and Expressionistic movements.  In the paintings representative of Cubist artworks, objects are broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form, and the artist depicts the subject in a multitude of viewpoints instead of one particular perspective.  Surfaces seemingly intersecting at random angles to produce no real sense of depth, with background and object interpenetrating with one another, and creating the shallow space characteristic of Cubism.

French art critic Louis Vauxcelles first used the term cubism, and it was after viewing a piece of artwork produced by Braque, the term was in wide use though the creators kept from using the term for quite some time.  The Cubist movement expanded from France during this time, and became such a popular movement so quickly that critics began referring to a Cubist school of artists influenced by Braque and Picasso, many of those artists to Cubism into different directions while the originators went through several distinct phases before 1920.

As Braque and Picasso worked to further to advance their concepts along, they went through a few distinct phases in Cubism, and which culminated in both Analytic and Synthetic Cubism.  With Analytic Cubism, a style was created that incorporated densely patterned near-monochrome surfaces of incomplete directional lines and modeled forms that play against each other, the first phases of which came before the full artistic swing of Cubism.  Some art historians have also pegged a smaller “Hermetic” phase within this Analytical state, and in which the work produced is characterized by being monochromatic and hard to decipher.

In the case with Synthetic Cubism, which began in 1912 as the second primary phase to Cubism, these works are composed of distinct superimposed parts.  These parts, painted or pasted on the canvas, were characterized by brighter colors.  Unlike the points of Analytical Cubism, which fragmented objects into composing parts, Synthetic Cubism attempted to bring many different objects to create new forms.  This phase of Cubism also contributed to creating the collage and papier colle, Picasso used collage complete a piece of work, and later influenced Braque to first incorporate papier colle into his work.

Similar to collage in practice, but very much a different style, papier colle consists of pasting materials to a canvas with the pasted shapes representing objects themselves.  Braque had previously used lettering, but the works of the two artists began to take this idea to new extremes at this point.  Letters that had previously hinted at objects became objects as well, newspaper scraps began the exercise, but from wood prints to advertisements were all elements incorporated later as well.  Using mixed media and other combinations of techniques to create new works, and Picasso began utilizing pointillism and dot patterns to suggest planes and space.

By the end of the movement, with help from Picasso and Braque, Cubism had influenced more than just visual art.  The Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was inspired by Cubism in some examples of his music that reassembled pieces of rhythm from ragtime music with the melodies from his own country’s influence.  In literature, Cubism influenced poets and their poetry with elements parallel with Analytical and Synthetic Cubism, and this poetry frequently overlaps other movements such as Surrealism and Dadaism.

Buying orange paintings for friends can be very rewarding.  This can also be a business if it is done properly.  If you know your friend’s tastes, you can be very successful.

I have been finding the most delightful paintings in orange lately.  I have been buying the paintings for friends.  They have been very well received.

I found a seascape that had a beautiful red and orange sunset in it.  The artist was Robyn Joy and buying paintings from her has been relatively easy.  Her prices are reasonable and the quality is excellent.

There was a painting that I decided to buy for some friends that were getting married.  The painting was enormous and perfect for the loft they just purchased.  It was orange and red and had a very stylized heart represented in the center.  The painting was shipped from Germany and arrived only three days before the wedding!

The painting that I chose for my son’s college roommate was of orange sneakers.  He got an executive position at Nike and needed help decorating his office.  He loves the color orange and was thrilled that I actually found some dynamic modern impressionistic art for his office that featured shoes.

My yoga instructor has been a good friend to me.  I found buying a painting for her to be a very rewarding search.  The painting that I ultimately chose was an abstract nude orange oil painting.  She proudly hung it in her studio.

My love of orange paintings tends to lean toward the abstract.  I keep finding paintings that really speak to me.  Buying the paintings for my friends has been really fun.  One of my oldest friends received a painting of orange blossoms for Christmas.  I know that orange trees bring back wonderful memories for her.

While I was searching for just the right painting for my friend’s new home, I found a wonderful artist named Aileen.  I bought her painting called Sunset Palm.  It was an original acrylic painting on solid wood.  It was breathtaking.

Folk art is something that I am not very good at buying.  I found myself drawn to some pieces at a local gallery that were very colorful and fun.  I even found myself buying one!  The friends that I bought the painting for are cat lovers and this was a folk art painting of three cats.

The painting I bought for my best friend looks very stylish on her plain walls.  It complements her modern furnishings and it makes an instant focal and conversational point.  This painting is orange and burnt sienna has a dream like quality and, according to the artist, is born from our rich cultural heritage of myths, legends and poetry. It is full of atmosphere and evokes feelings of mystery.

Pop art is fun to buy for friends.  I had a friend move to Southern California and buy a beautiful home.  I found the perfect painting for his stark white kitchen.  The painting is of an orange and a glass of orange juice.  It looks so nice on the new wainscoting.

My niece is getting married later this year.  I have spent quite a bit of time getting to know her soon-to-be new in-laws.  I have found a lovely painting for them as a welcome to our family gift.  They are involved in rose competitions and I found them a wonderful oil painting of a wild orange rose.  I can’t wait to give it to them.

The most energetic painting I’ve purchased was for a friend of my husband.  I found an art student at the local college that was trying to sell a wall painting she had done in orange and green.  The painting depicted orange and green in nature and how they represented the moods of the day.  I wanted to keep this one for myself.

I have a friend that teaches in a Montessori school.  I found that buying a painting for the school was pretty easy.  The classroom my friend teaches in is called the Iris room and I found a lovely watercolor painting of an iris that was very vibrant.  My friend and her students sent me a very lovely thank you note for buying it.

I have a family that has commissioned me to find all of the Jewish paintings I can find.  He has given me no budget constraints.  I’m not sure why he doesn’t have guidelines set up for me to follow; he just wants to amass a collection quickly.

I found an oil on canvas that was a Jewish painting called Jewish meeting.  The artist was Amparo Cruz Herrera.  The artist is Spanish and this work exuded grace.  I liked it a lot.  I purchased it for eight thousand dollars.  My benefactor was happy with the purchase.

My client made no distinction between Jewish paintings that were of a religious nature and those that were only painted by a Jewish person.  I bought a rare Leon Bakst that was dated 1910.  His subject was a person in an exotic costume.  I’m not sure where my client plans to display it.

The next Jewish painting I found for him was a cityscape in oil of a deserted house in Veroia.  This painting only cost six thousand dollars.  Veroia is a Jewish neighborhood in northern Greece.  I thought that this painting was a little bit unsettling.

I found another good Jewish painting for my client.  The title of the painting was Juedisches Oesterreich Jewish Austria and was created by Frank Ettenberg in 2004.  The person that sold me the painting said that the painting evoked a feeling of the artist's state of being face to face with nationalism, his ethnic identity and an existential situation.

I found another Jewish painting I liked for four thousand dollars.  The oil painting called Birds of Paradise was painted by Maurice Sterne.  Sterne was a Jewish immigrant from Russia.  He was the first person to have a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  He exhibited 174 paintings, drawings and sculptures.

I found a Jewish painting of a cat that sold for thirty five hundred dollars.  The artist of this work was Wettingfeld Zarojewski.  I could not find any other work from this artist at all.  My client really liked it.  He is also a cat lover in addition to being a collector of Jewish art.

There was a wonderful Jewish painting of a woman seated.  I fell in love with it on sight.  The woman depicted looks so reflective and comfortable.  I feel at ease just gazing at her.

I finally found a religiously significant Jewish painting for my client.  The artist was Joan Landis and the title of the painting was Simhat Torah.  This is the painting that was used by Pomegranate Publishing for their 2003 calendar and their greeting cards.  I thought it was lovely.

I liked the Jewish painting by Joan Landis so much that I sought out more of her work.  I purchased two paintings.  One of the paintings was named Shabbat and the other one was Mikveh.  I took the three that I purchased to my client and he fell in love with them.  He asked me to find more of her work.

I found more work by Joan Landis and I purchased every one I came across.  I found three more of the Jewish paintings on eBay at reasonable prices.  I purchased Shavuot, Purim and Birth for three thousand dollars each.  I felt like I got a bargain.

I liked the colors in the Jewish painting I bought called The Tailor Shop.  This painting was created by Jacob Glushakow.  He was an active member of the Jewish community in Baltimore.  His parents were immigrants from Russia at the start of WW1.  He has a painting that is still kept in the permanent collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

I was fortunate to find two Jacob Glushakow Jewish paintings on the same buying trip.  The other painting I found was entitled Barn in Maryland.  I liked it a lot and my client was very pleased with what I brought for him.

I have been looking for impressionist cityscapes in various mediums to decorate my home.  I prefer to hang art that was created in the last fifteen years.  There are so many great artists to choose from.

I have decided that I want to have three impressionist cityscapes painted in acrylic.  I will be buying one called Stormy Desert that was painted by an artist named JoanAnn.  The piece is painted on a 40” X 30” canvas and has flowering cactus plants in the foreground.

The next impressionist cityscape painting I plan to buy is called Tuscan Waterfall.  The piece is a triptych and is on three gallery wrapped canvases.  The artist lives in Tennessee and supports herself with her art.

The last acrylic impressionist cityscape that I plan to buy is called Autumn Dream.  Autumn is my favorite time of year and the painting captures every color of autumn.  The artist painted the sides, so there is no need to have it framed.  I can’t wait to see this hanging in my home.

I have found only two impressionist cityscapes that I liked in the Gouache medium.  The first was from an artist named Joe Wojdakowski and the subject is an area located in Wells, Maine.  I’m not sure why I am so drawn to this particular impressionist cityscape, but I am and plan to buy it.

The other Gouache impressionist cityscape that I plan to buy features Big Ben in London.  The artist is an Englishman named Alasdair Rennie.  The scene is rainy and I like it a lot.  It reminds me of my time in London when I was a child.

The first oil impressionist cityscape painting I bought was called Koi Pond Reflections.  I’ve seen this artist’s work before and I always really like it.  The painting was completed using brush and knife.  The painting has not arrived, yet, because the paint is very thick and needs to complete the drying process undisturbed.  I cannot wait to get it!

I really like having various styles of impressionist cityscape paintings.  I don’t just like variety in the mediums; I like variety in styles and influences.  I really fell in love with an oil impressionist cityscape painting called En Sendero that was originally purchased in Oaxaca, Mexico.  I purchased the painting for just over three thousand dollars.

The oil impressionist cityscape painting of Paris that I want was painted by a well recognized painter Radik Atoyan.  He is Armenian and signed the painting in his Armenian language.  He has a unique way of using color that just makes his painting look special.

I have also been interested in watercolor impressionist cityscape paintings.  There is an original painting that depicts an urban rainy night that I think would be perfect for me.  The painting just makes me feel good to look into.

I made a purchase not long ago that was painted by an Israeli artist named Yosef Kosssonogi.  The use of color in this watercolor impressionist cityscape is so vivid.  I could not wait to hang it on my wall.  After the shipment arrived with the painting, my brother came right over with a level to hang it.

I found a painting that reminded me of a vacation I took to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The impressionist cityscape painting was created by Adam Maeroff and I think that it is the perfect painting to complete my collection.

Buying folk art paintings has become a passion of mine.  I’ve been looking for them everywhere it seems.  I found a bunch of folk art paintings recently and I am having trouble deciding which one to buy.

There was a folk art painting by Rev. Howard Finster that is titled Howard in 1944.  This is an all enamel folk art painting that was painted in 1988.  The smile on this portrait is very engaging and makes me smile just as big.

I am also really taken by a folk art painting that was painted by painter Bill Dodge in Oct 1962.  The title of the painting is First Trolley To Van Nuys.  The painting is on board and depicts the center of town with all the people in town.  They are in the windows and on the street.  The town market, bakery, Hotel Van Nuys, an ice cream parlor and the Wing Lee Laundry are all depicted in vibrant color.  The women in the foreground are against the Trolley and their signs say "Ban the Monster" and "Keep Van Nuys rural".

Thomas Chambers is one of America’s foremost folk artists.  I found a piece by him that I just don’t like very much.  It is a bit austere for my tastes.  The subject is a fishing scene with villagers and boats.  I don’t think that I will purchase this folk art painting because I just don’t like it.

There was a folk art painting I found called Alligator Fisher that was painted in 1940 that I really like.  The blue of the bayou is very calming and the trees give it a very Southern feel.  There is a swamp house in the painting and I like this one very much.  It reminds me very strongly of Louisiana.

My mother started this passion of mine for folk art paintings.  She had a folk art painting by John Roeder in our parlor growing up.  I used to spend hours just staring into it.  The trees were so relaxing to lose myself in.  I have asked her to give me this wonderful folk art painting many times, but she says that I will have to wait until after her funeral!

I found one folk art painting during my journey that I felt sad every time I looked at.  The name of the painting is A Letter from My Mother.  The look in the girl’s face is so serious and sad.  I have no idea where this folk art painting should hang.  The painting itself is magnificent; it just makes me feel sad.

There is a whole subset of folk art paintings that represent black Americana.  I don’t usually buy any of these pieces as they don’t speak to my experience.  I did find one piece that I purchased for a collector friend of mine that loves this type of art.  The folk art painting had a whimsical feel to it and a woman relaxing in a hammock.  He hung this in his hallway and has loved it for a long time.

My brother likes folk art paintings as much as I do.  He prefers animals to be the subjects of paintings he purchases.  I found a lovely clouded leopard folk art painting for him last Christmas and he has asked that I keep my eyes open for more like it.  He said that he will buy any art I find for him because he trusts that I know and understand his tastes.

I have kept my eyes open for animal themed folk art paintings for my brother, but I just can’t seem to find any as nice as the leopard that I got for him.  The grand extent of animal themed folk art paintings I’ve found recently was a painting of two owls on a limb and I know that he would not like it.  Ever since we were kids, owls totally freak him out.

Buying and collecting abstract painting can be a labor of love.  I love abstract paintings.  I think that my favorite medium is gouache.  I recently purchased a work from Oscar Bluemner.  The person I bought the abstract painting from had it in storage for over twenty years.  I am going to hang this piece in my office.

I found an oil abstract painting that was dated 1947 that was painted by Louis Bassi Siegriest.  I liked the composition, it felt oddly soothing.  The artist signed the back of the painting.  It was a little out of my price range, but I bought it anyway.

Trade Winds is the name of an abstract painting I bought from the artist Joanne Riddle while I was in Connecticut.  The piece was huge and I had to have it sent by freight to my home.  The blue in the painting was so vivid.  The whole composition was absolutely inspired.

I bought an abstract painting for my sister-in-law last year.  The artist of the piece was Leonardo Nierman and the medium he used was oil.  I bought the piece unframed and took my sister-in-law to framer to choose the frame.

I tried to buy an abstract painting from the mayor of our town.  I offered him two thousand dollars for the modernist abstract colorful figure.  The artist used red, white and blue and I wanted to acquire this for my stepmother.  She would have loved it, but the mayor was unwilling to part with it.

My mother has decorated her home in a style that she liked in Santa Fe.  I bought a large abstract painting for her from her favorite artist, Lou Monti.  She has seen his work in a number of homes and always raves about them.  She was so happy when she saw the painting I bought for her hanging on the wall of her living room.

I dated a guy once that had a signed abstract painting by Robert Gilberg on his wall.  I saw something different every time I saw it.  That painting had an attraction that I just can’t quite explain.  He was always buying art and changing out abstract paintings on his walls, but this particular piece always stayed.  I guess he was attracted to it as well.

The abstract painting that I bought for my older brother did not work in his apartment.  I ended up buying a painting that was a little too large for the room it was intended for.  The colors did not work in the only room that worked for its size.

I ended up selling that abstract painting the same place that I had bought it, on eBay!  I ended up making a profit on the abstract painting.  There was more information in my auction about the artist, Richard Diebenkorn, than there had been in the auction that I won.  I think the extra hour of research I spent made the abstract painting’s value increase.

I learned a long time ago that an abstract painting is worth exactly as much as someone is willing to pay for it.  I have friends that just cannot be convinced of this basic truth.  I think that if no one wants a particular abstract painting, then it is worth nothing.

My brother used the money from the sale of the unwanted abstract painting to find himself another abstract painting.  He ended up with an abstract collage that was made in the late 1930s.  I liked it when I saw it and it worked beautifully in his office.