awesome art that won't break yo bank!

For a while now I've been wanting to share a few of the artists I've fallen in love with as I've slowly started gathering pieces of art for the awkwardly blank wall above my bar table. It's a gradual process, but I finally feel like my money's going to something better than random things I don't need from Target or fedoras from Gilt Groupe that don't even end up fitting - final sale in fine print. (It was some kind of weird day when I thought a fedora was my style. Blessing in disguise.) Anyway, thanks to the wonderful world wide web, finding awesome art on the cheap has kind of fallen into my lap.

And there's really been no better time to do this post than now, because last Friday I received this super pretty watercolor print by the talented Laura Trevey of Bright Bold and Beautiful in the mail. This is the kind of art that makes me so happy to be a girl. It's elegant, colorful, and fun and has lotsa pink. The best part is that I actually won the print through a giveaway on Laura's blog, and included with it was a hot pink shade of Essie nail polish! Total score - thank you Laura! I can't wait to get this lovely piece of art framed and hung on the wall.


And some of the other artists I'm so happy to have discovered...

Alexandra Valenti Photography. (You may have heard me talk about this talented gem before.) After flipping out over Alexandra's work featured on Design*Sponge, I immediately purchased her "Rope Swing" print and began following her professional page on Facebook (slightly obsessed). I now find myself falling head over heels for every new photo series of hers that pops up on my minifeed. Girl does not disappoint! Her mysterious, bohemian, black and white portraits are shot in the most interesting locations, and the colorful "painting" on top makes them especially unique. Truly stunning stuff.

Another discovery via Design*Sponge (I'm soooo original), I found the perfect piece of modern art for my collection in "thepairabirds" work on Etsy. I was struck by their geometric designs of faceted gemstones created with colorful woodgrain. Funky right? I chose the amethyst print because it's my birthstone and I'm sentimental like that. I do hope to get a few more of the gemstones in the future - if I don't have them on my fingers, I want them on my wall!

And last but not least, an Ideal Bookshelf print by Jane Mount was another instant (midnight) purchase (for a baby gift!) after I stumbled upon some of her wonderful work featured in a Camille Styles post. Does seeing that top photo give you a really big smile like it gave me? Quite simply, she paints collections of books that one might find on any old bookshelf - everything from Goodnight Moon to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (however I did not see Fifty Shades of Grey so calm down). I got way too excited when I saw the bookshelf above - The Brothers K? My favorite book, and very few people have read it. I highly recommend it. If you are one of those cool people who has read it, you better leave a comment below.     ;)

Have you discovered any artwork that you couldn't live without on the web? 

fyi: all images are from the artists' websites