Morning Friends and welcome to the Blog today. I wanted to share with you a couple of recent Thrift Store “Art” finds and talk a little bit about “Art” at the Thrift Store. I really enjoy oil and water color paintings and love hanging them in my home. While I don’t have thousands and thousands of extra dollars to spend on named artists, my hubby and I have picked up some interesting artwork over the years and some of it has been from Thrift Stores.
People buy paintings at Thrift Stores for lots of reasons but one of the most common is for the frames. Often Thrift Store art work is housed in beautiful, elaborate frames that are worth much more than the actual art. I have done it a number of times myself. You buy the art, bring it home and pitch the actual painting. Then you use the beautiful frame for another project. We’ve made mirrors, bulletin boards, chalkboards, trays, etc. over the years.
Occasionally I actually buy the art work because I like the painting or it is by an established artist and worth much more than the Thrift Store price. I ran across a few pieces this past month that I thought I’d share with you. The photos above are from an oil painting acquired last week. I’m drawn to sea scapes…..who doesn’t love the beach. This particular one caught my eye immediately.
You can see the artist’s name above. Always thrift shop with your phone. Put the item in your cart and then take the time to look up the artist. It’s sometimes as easy as putting in the name and the word “Artist” to be able to pull up the relevant information on line. You’ll know pretty quickly if the piece is valuable or just an appealing piece you happen to like. This one turned out to have some value.
Always check the back to see if there is additional information that might be useful. this is probably in the original Artist’s frame. That’s always a good thing. If you decide to change the frame, keep the original frame. It can sometimes add to the value of the painting.
This painting is interesting because it is meant to be hung on the diagonal and the wires were mounted accordingly. It reminds me of where we used to live on Lake Michigan. The dunes, the sky, the water and a lone seagull make an appealing composition that is beautifully executed in this painting.
The next piece is an etching. The artist, Barbara Garrison, is noted for her whimsical subjects and a variety of print making techniques. This is not a hugely expensive piece but captured my heart. Love the cat theme and I have several examples of cat art works. This piece was a couple of dollars but was nicely framed and a subject I liked.
The piece is quite small which makes it easy to find a spot for it to hang.
Don’t walk by any sculptures without taking a closer look. You never know what you will find. You can read the background on this piece here: https://www.thriftingwonderland.com/post/vintage-parisienne-café-thrifted-metal-sculpture
I don’t buy a lot of art work from the Thrift Store but once in awhile there is a treasure. Buy what you love and you won’t be disappointed no matter the actual monetary value.