Finding artwork for your place can seem like a burden. For starters there are so many options to choose from, narrowing it down can be hard. And, besides, art can be expensive and when you're setting up home and when you have things like lamps, rugs and oh yeah, food to buy, it can be the last thing on your mind.
Jordan over at Oh Happy Day shares this great tip that has now become a tradition in their living spaces. A simple phrase is painted on white paper, making sure there's enough empty space around the words to provide balance and purpose to what you have to say.
It helps that since they recently moved to Paris it's in French so it looks extra cool, but no matter what language it's in, it's a great idea that makes the process of acquiring art for your space much more simple and a bit more personal. Check out all the details and tips Jordan has to offer over at Oh Happy Day.
Image: Oh Happy Day
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thanks for this -- Im always baffled at etsy sellers and their simple phrase "artwork". Why buy something so simple to DIY?
Does that art say "draw me a sheep?"
Cool idea, though. Jealous of their Parisian abode!
My problem is finding a place for my art.
dessine-moi un mouton? :-D i suspect to the French that doesn't look cool but hilarious … draw me a sheep? okay, it's a song title …
phrase aside, i find the result a bit meh … i guess for me using a passepartout (cool! French! i mean a mat) is either too much or there should be a difference between the mat and the paper … i don't know. i am just not really impressed with it …
on the other hand - before you have tried to do it yourself, do not underestimate the difficulty of getting something written down by hand that looks good enough to go into a frame. So i guess i like the idea of the hand painted phrase, but i would either add something (like colour or texture in the paper), or leave an element out (namely the mat).
(in the above example i would probably add a smallish scrap of paper with a sheep drawn or printed on it … ;-) )
"dessine-moi un mouton" is a sentence from The Little Prince. I love that phrase as well.
"Dessine-moi un mouton" is a quote from The Little Prince.
I like the idea of using phrases as art, but I'm sure I would spend way too much time getting the look and spacing right.... might still try it, though, I have some awesome quotes floating around in my head.
ugh, I hate "phrase art" isn't it about time this trend died? I gag every time I see "live, laugh, love"
I'd head to a student art show or 20x200 before I did this.
Okay, can I really be the only person in the world with way too much art?
I've got prints by the greats, originals by unknowns, compelling canvases found in thrift stores, beautiful old maps, art paper, swathes of exquisite fabrics, sheets of handmade paper, and every kind of ephemera coming out of my ears. Even if I ever got it all matted and framed, I'd never have the wall space to display half of it.
Do I just have really poor taste (and latent hoarding tendencies), or does any one else have this problem?
ahh, the little prince. with that phrase I'm immediately transported back to the world of antoine de st. exupery. I love the quirkiness of it and the memories it brings me.
Hi gorfram. My name is Sherry, and I too am an art, um, obtainer! (I might say "collector" but that gives entirely the wrong impression about the monetary value of my collection!)
Love thrift store paintings, love ethnic/folk art fabric and paper pieces, love carvings, love, well, too much of it all! So no, you are not alone.
A bunch of my stuff is in a salon type grouping in the stairwell. I don't permit there to be something on EVERY wall, but there is something on most walls... It's hard to part with things. But I have never had that "what should I use for 'art' question!)
What gorfram said.
And I'm not sure my hoarding tendencies are exactly latent. I have all of the above and more, and if I live another 50 years I couldn't get all of it properly framed and matted, and I'd have to have a "rotation" schedule for my walls that was measured in hours, not months.
That said, it's a sweet little quote.
@bindy: I got a strong, "Awww...so sweet!" moment when I realized they were quoting the Little Prince. Now I want to, too.
Some comments are so negative! I really like these simple posts because they give realistic, easy, and relatively cheap ways to freshen up your space. Then again, I am a renter with a small apartment and limited funds.
@Sherry & emmelem,
Thanks - it's good to know I'm not the only one bewildered by that "what should I use for 'art' question. In my life, art is everywhere. To gentrify a phrase, art happens.
(And while I'm not an artist, sometimes art happens directly to me: this thread has me thinking about using Google translator & my limited typographic skills to put together something reading "draw me a sheep" in French, English, and three or four other languages...
... Art; or, in my case, attempted art; never sleeps.)
you could write or say anything in french and somehow it always is cool.
I do like some quotes but most I get sick of a day later - at least this is cheap to change.
Always check spelling & punctuation.
If my hand writing were anywhere near pretty I might do this..
I'm thinking of stencilling something on the lovely walnut and slate blackboard I bought from Pottery Barn 15 years ago which never gets used.
But I can never think of one phrase I want to live with for the rest of my life. Some candidates:
"Out beyond the ideas of right doing and wrong doing there is a field. I will meet you there." - Rumi
"When one is poor, one buys clothes or one buys art." - Gertrude Stein
"When in doubt, dance."