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5 Tips for Selecting Art

Here are 5 easy tips to help you when you are selecting art:

1. Don’t think too much, don’t process and dissect your choices.  Try to relax, it’s easy to choose art really.

2. Follow your first impulse, it is usually the right one.

3. Don’t worry what others may think.  The piece of art you choose is speaking to you personally, not to others.  Others will have their own experience, it is their own.  Art transcends.

4. Let your heart decide for you.  Are you feeling excited about a certain piece of art?  That is a good sign, you are in love with a piece of art!

5. Go ahead follow your heart and get that piece of artwork.

To get started and use your new found skill try a look at our web store at MAPSandART.com for hundreds of unique art pieces from around the world, all originals no reproductions and great prices.

Watercolor Seascape - Sailing-main- 10163M

How to Pick Art

How to pick art? – This is either the most complicated question or the easiest in the world.  It is our opinion that you can hire a contingent of designers, decorators and architects to give you an incredible home with no equal anywhere in your neighborhood, however the art is your own to pick  and we will make it easy for you.

Professional designers and decorators are very useful in helping you pick  the right color of an antique butterfly print, size and tint of an old map or that landscape engraving for the office, however when it comes to art it is you that must decide.  Art is a product of the soul and it is there that you must find your inspiration.

A very broad statement indeed, so let us define it more clearly.  When defining a work of art we are not talking about the antique print or map that we have on offer on our website at www.MAPSandART.com, those originally had the intent of transferring information to an audience whereas original art work on paper has the intent of sharing emotion through a quasi-spiritual visual experience.  You are the one that is having that experience and are most qualified for the job.

This is the reason that we have divided our extensive collection at www.MAPSandART.com into three distinct sections: Antique Prints, Old Maps and finally Original Artwork on Paper, also known as Works on Paper.  Each section creates a different experience and put together they offer a unique touch to your home that cannot be replicated in any of the big retail stores.  People that shop with us are happy since they have themselves acted in the universe of artistic creation.  Their choices are unique.

With this is mind let us answer the question of how to pick artwork and specifically art work on paper.  Don’t think too much, don’t process and dissect your choices.  Try to relax, it’s easy to pick art really.  You should follow your first impulse, it is usually the right one.

You might be overly conscious of what friends and family will think of your choices.  Don’t worry what others may think.  The piece of art you pick  is speaking to you personally, not to others as much.  Others will have their own experience, it is their own.  Art transcends.

The solution is to let your heart decide for you.  Use your brain for picking antique prints or old maps.  Relax and feel inspired when you are picking art.

You are looking at a piece of art now, do you like it?  Is it beautiful to you?  Does it speak to you?  Are you feeling excited about a certain piece of art?  All of these are good signs.  You are in love with this piece of art and when you are in love you should go with it.  Get that piece of art.

That is how to pick artwork!

Go visit our web store at MAPSandART.com and follow your heart’s desire.

Recommended Reading – How The States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein

A lot of our map customers ask us for recommendations for further reading. Here is our first recommendation.
How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein
This is an interesting and easy to read book about the history behind the borders of each state. For example, why is the border between Tennessee and Kentucky not a straight line? You can find the answer to this and much more in this book.
How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein  Available on Amazon (isn’t everything?)

How to Clean Plexiglass Frames

Plexiglass is a wonderful framing material, it is light and does not shatter.  The downside to using this material is that it can become scratched if it is not cared for properly.  When your plexiglass frame needs to be cleaned please follow these instructions to avoid any of those dreaded scratches!

1. Lay an old towel on your work counter.
2. Take the frame off the wall and lay it on the towel picture side up.
3. Blow off any dust and then wipe with a soft damp (not wet) cloth. For fingerprints use a weak solution of dish detergent and water.
4. Gently dry the plexiglass with a clean soft cloth to avoid water marks.
5. When scratches are present, use a plastic cleaner such as Novus or Brillianize to remove scuffs. Always spray the product on the soft clean cloth and not directly on the frame to avoid getting any cleaner inside the frame and damaging your artwork.
6. Never use Windex, any product containing ammonia, or directly touch the Plexiglass with your fingers, as this may scratch it.

European Buying Trip

Natasha and David have just had another great show at their two locations at Round Top, Texas. It was rainy, it was full of bugs, we were deep in mud, we were busy, we were selling and we are happy.
For the Spring Round Top we will have a slot in the new book for Round Top: Parisian Cowboy’s Guide to the Round Top Experience.
Book on Round Top

The Parisian Cowboy’s Guide is recommended by the Marburger Farm Antique show:
Marburger Farm

Now it is time to go replenish our stock for the next shows. David and Natasha will be spending the next 4 weeks on their European Buying Trip looking for extraordinary art work on paper and antiquarian maps. Natasha will be in England part of the time while David will be in France.

After a short sojourn in Portugal, David and Natasha will be back in Santa Fe. You can find them now on yellowpages.com
Antique Maps and Works on Paper in Santa Fe