Art Collecting for the Rest of Us

One joy of my adult life has been the discovery that art doesn't have to break the bank. And I mean real, original art. Good original art. Pieces such as this one, which I bought last night from Derek Davis:

Figure sketch by Derek Davis, oil on gessoed paper, 14 x 10"

Gorgeous, isn't it? Subtle, intuitive, full of light, life, and color. Guess what I paid for it. No, go on. Guess.

Twenty-five dollars.

Behold, I am an art collector, for less than it'd cost for myself and a friend to get dinner at Chili's.

This isn't a once-in-a-blue-moon deal. Most of us who make art professionally create things at all kinds of price points. In Derek's case, he paints quickly and does these studies for fun and practice, so he has a lot of them. He lets them go at $25 each rather than hang around his studio gathering dust. I got the benefit of that, and so can you: he was making more last night, when I bought this one.

Art is for everyone, and artists know it.