Bex Maini
Nov 28, 20206 min
Updated: Nov 30, 2020
Welcome to my colourful gift guide for art lovers! This ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated as I just kept remembering and finding artists I love.
I think I have slightly eclectic taste in styles of art but they do all have one thing in common - colour! I like bold, vibrant colours be they tonal or more of a spectrum. I like acrylic, inks and watercolour abstracts to geometric digital art, typography and papercutting - many of the examples below being inspired by nature.
I hope you find something you like below, enjoy...
Ice Pink Sky painting £1200, Late Swim painting £900
Sundown Swimming print £175, Sea Diving print from £165
It's no secret that I'm a HUGE fan of Sophie's paintings, working with acrylics her paintings are vivid and inspired mostly by the seaside in Brighton where she lives and has a studio. We are lucky enough to own one of her original paintings which is in pride of place in our living room and I soon fell in love with another (even bigger) painting she did. Sadly we have neither the space nor the funds for a second painting BUT she creates smaller, limited edition prints of some of her work so it was a no-brainer to invest in one of these for our spare room. I finally got it framed and up on the wall yesterday and I love it! Sophie is currently offering 10% off ALL her paintings and prints over on her website this weekend only so if you're interested, get over there fast!
My living room and spare room in deep dark shades of green and blue-green.
(Watch out for more info on those rainbow prints through the doorway below.)
Now we have some of that luscious Sophie colour palette upstairs too and it goes wonderfully with another favourite artist of mine, bluebellgray...
Rothesay Print from £40, Botanical wallpaper £2.80 A4 sample or £125/roll, "Sod It, Let's Paint It Pink!" print from £60
Another artist whose work I adore is Fi Douglas who runs bluebellgray, based in Glasgow. Fi occasionally sells original paintings but has plenty of prints in her store. The thing I love most about Fi's work is that it's available as many different products from oven gloves to bedding and you can even buy fabric to make anything you like! We have a blind made from the Rothesay fabric and our footstool is currently away being re-upholstered in the same, with some cushion covers being made out of the scraps (something I've been meaning to do for two years since we made the blind)! They do sample sales every year but you have to be super quick as they are VERY popular!!
I also have a tablecloth in my other favourite print, Botanical, as well as the Stornoway cushion and a print of Morar. I've even used some wallpaper samples to create more art in our spare room which is becoming somewhat of a bbg shrine! It all looks so fabulous with our Hague Blue walls!
Shelf of prints above the bed in the spare room.
(The little picture on the right is detailed below too.)
Happiness, Keep Going, Positivity
All from £5-£20 (discounted if buying more than one)
These prints are so vivid in real life, I have one so far and a few Christmas and birthday cards and they're all super vibrant!
I've just noticed Laura is currently on maternity leave on Etsy so I can't link to any of her gorgeous prints for sale BUT you can follow her on Instagram to see when she opens again (it's a lovely colourful feed too!)
Midnight Tides 2 £40, Vivid 1 £15
Carnival Of Colour painting £130, Deep £135
Chris and Sam work together running workshops on acrylic pouring as well as selling a selection of their art. I've been to one of their workshops and it was great fun as well as getting to create my own rainbow masterpieces to keep. I also own a couple of Chris' paintings.
Island in the Making IV, Float II
Beth is another local artist with a love of colour. She works with inks to create beautiful abstract pieces, we snapped one up when she held a sale last year and I love it!
The wall hanging is from Weave Love Amy who made some beautiful rainbow pieces during lockdown and I fell in love with this one! I made the Macramé plant hanger with a kit from Cocoon & Me. (My plants are fake as I am incapable of keeping greenery alive, I'm amazed the twins have made it to six!)
Cabin Snowglobe, Dose Of Happiness, Treehouse Bell Jar
Jellyfish, Peacock, Rainbow Seahorse
Bookshelf, Rainbow Rain, Camera
All £15 for an A4 print
I adore Charlie's intricate papercuts! She occasionally sells originals and takes on commissions but also has so many beautiful prints to choose from. I've already bought her 2021 calendar and the succulent polaroid camera print but I have my eye on a few more as soon as I can find some wall/shelf space for more art in my home!
Seeing, Feeling each from £15-35
I love these for obvious reasons but more subtle ones too. They're not just pretty rainbow prints but clever too - each one is made up of words associated with the colours they're printed in - one "seeing" and one "feeling". I have these in A2 size for the full impact and they look great hanging on our upstairs landing (you might have spotted them through the spare room doorway above)! You can buy them individually or save by buying the set of two.
All from £15 A4 -£75 A1
I love these mid-century style geometrical designs by Rose & Sarah! They have a huge collection of animals as well as other prints (some less colourful). I had trouble choosing so invested in some of their greetings cards for now.
Journey print £280, Way To Go print £180
Come With Me birch panel painting £4,250 (also available as a limited edition print for £315)
I discovered Emma's work via Instagram a while back when she was running an offer selling a new original artwork every day for just £33 each. I loved her Moon Boy series as Kalyan absolutely adores the moon and gets so excited when he sees it so I snapped one up after missing out on a couple of similar ones. It's a painting and line drawing with added glitter in the sky, I love it!
Emma is currently selling Christmas art bundles for £50 over on her Illustration Instagram and she also takes commissions.
I've recently discovered some new artists too which are firmly on my wish list this year, like I said, I just need to find some space!
The Climb print £15, The Release print from £15, No Body Blues print from £12.50
I love the meaning behind these prints, I urge you to read artist Stacey's thoughts about each one by clicking the links.
Rainbow mounted print £35.50, Rainbow mounted print £36.50
Teal & Green card £3.75, Orange & Teal mounted print £36.50
Matryoshka Dolls print from £12, Alphabet print from £12, Caterpillar print £2.50
Rain Cloud print from £12, Rebel print from £12, Pattern print from £12
These top three would be perfect in a nursery as would the bottom three but I'd also put those up in my office!
I'd love to know which is your favourite artist above, have you spotted anything you'd like to have on your walls? Do let me know in the comments below.
I can't write up a post about my favourite art without mentioning the most special and bespoke art there is - family photos! I recently got a new print of the twins framed - my absolute favourite from this year, back before the madness when we were in Malaysia. I was also able to visit a previous client before the second lockdown, to photograph my photograph on their wall, such a joy!
Bespoke framed prints from £275
Kalyan's pretty happy about our new wall art!
Of course, I'd love to help you with this! Creating amazing wall art with my clients is so rewarding, seeing how much happiness they get from having the photos they love on the wall to see every day is just amazing! If you're thinking about something truly bespoke, let's have a chat about your ideas...
You can book a free consultation call to chat about your family photos via my website - it's super quick and easy!
Not ready to chat yet? No worries, why not download my pricing guide?
You can also buy my gift vouchers online if you fancy treating yourself or dropping some hints to your loved ones this year!