You can now own an original piece of art with a 0% APR interest free loan. Art2Arts are pleased to offer 10 months’ interest free credit* through Arts Council England’s Own Art scheme. Art collecting is hot news at the moment, with more and more people buying art as a financial investment, and record prices being seen at auction houses around the world. The own art scheme gives just about anyone the chance to get on the ladder and begin investing in fine art. It’s a great way to support contemporary UK artists, while gaining a piece of original art that will truly enrich your living space.

Own Art is only available through galleries, museums and other arts organisations that have been approved by Arts Council England, Creative Scotland or Arts Council of Northern Ireland as registered members of the scheme.

Garden 2 by Hester Coetzee

How does Own Art work?
Buy any piece of artwork on the site, or commission an artist to create a piece priced between £100 – £2000, and spread the cost over 10 monthly installments (typical example: artwork costs £300, 10 monthly payments of £30). There’s no deposit required, however, if you would prefer to make an initial payment you can use the scheme as part payment and spread the remaining amount (typical example: artwork costs £300, you would like to pay £100 upfront, spread the remaining £200 over 10 monthly payments of £20).

You can purchase multiple pieces as long as the total cost does not exceed £2000.

 

Sundrenched by Anni Rice

Applying is easy, and the criteria are quite inclusive:
If you would like to apply for our interest-free loan please email your contact details to sales@art2arts.co.uk or call 023 92699 990.

 Own Art is available to all UK residents over the age of 18, subject to status. This means that you must be able to meet the following criteria in order to be approved for a loan:

• Over the age of 18
• A permanent UK resident
• Working at least 16 hours a week (employed or self-employed)

If you are not working but are married to or living with a partner who does have a full time job, then you may still apply provided that your partner is happy for their employment details to be included on your application form.

Visit the Art2Arts online gallery to see the hundreds of original art pieces that you could buy right away with an interest-free loan from the Own Art Scheme.

Art2Arts is a licensed broker of Own Art loans. Registered address: 30 Lower Derby Road, Stamshaw, Portsmouth, PO2 8EX.

 

 

Tags: art, Arts Council, investing, loan, online gallery, Own Art
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With the economic situation being what it is – call it a downturn, call it a recession, call it what you like – more and more people are looking to their local art gallery (or indeed, an online gallery) for an investment that’s got a greater degree of safety than your more traditional portfolio. No one’s saying that painting is recession proof, but there are a growing number of people coming round to the idea that when you’re putting your money into canvas you’ve got a more than fair chance that it will retain (if not increase) its value over time.

Some investors and collectors are looking towards buying classics, hoping that current trend for lower prices at the auction house will turn up a bargain that will make a decent return once the markets readjust, or that paintings by the old masters at least won’t suffer any extreme fluctuations in price. In other places ownership is shifting; pieces which have been off the market for a long time are becoming available again as collectors re-evaluate their pieces. For the art collector, the recession’s certainly brought up some interesting options.

If you’re browsing an online gallery like this one then, what sort of thing should you be looking for? Is there an artist, or artists, that you should be keeping an eye on? Are you better to buy art online than in a physical art gallery or an auction house?

What to look out for.

As I’ve said on this site before (and it certainly bears repeating), one of the most common pieces of art investment advice you’re likely to hear is to buy something that you actually like, something that you want in your space – if you buy it purely for the money that you hope it’ll make in a few years’ time, then you’re missing out on a huge part of the experience. Plus, if it doesn’t make a financial return you’ll feel cheated – remember always that part of the investment is the pleasure that the piece is going to give you while you own it.

The work of new, relatively unknown artists is probably some of the most exciting collecting you can do – the hope of finding the next darling of the art world isn’t far away from anyone’s mind when visiting a graduate show, and there’s an absolute joy in finding something before it becomes really famous that’s hard to replicate elsewhere. Again though this often comes down to finding a piece that you connect with – if the cliché is true and the best artists aren’t appreciated in their own lifetimes, it might take a while for their influence to be felt.

The benefits of buying art online go beyond the simple facts of gallery overheads and auction room etiquette, although these are important things, especially for the first time collector. And ok, obviously I’m a little biased, but the range of art and artists you can browse from a site like Art2Arts is probably always going to be wider than that you could find locally, especially if you live away from major artistic centres.

Browse the work of our established and up and coming artists to find your perfect investment.

Tags: art, artist, buying art, investing, investment
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Autumn has arrived late this year, but I think I’m finally beginning to get a sense of the leaves turning gold, along with a fresh chill in the air. Here’s Art2Arts top picks of autumn-themed art from the site.

Tina Ashton - The Tree of Joy.

Tina Ashton’s Tree of Joy picks up on autumn themes and colours while keeping a fresh and modern style. Heart shapes bring a fashionable focal point to the home interior.

Lovers Stroll in the Woods, by Casimira Mostyn

Lovers Stroll in the Woods - Isn’t this one of the nicest things about autumn? Taking a walk beneath the rust-coloured leaves? Casimira Mostyn’s informal and charming piece will remind you all year round of the relaxing qualities of a nature walk.

Natural Bloom by Caroline Ashwood

Caroline Ashwood’s painting uses autumnal metallics in a way which is both subtle and visually enticing. A bold and attractive floral semi-abstract that’s great for a home or corporate interior.

Dappled Chestnut by Verity Darby

Verity Darby’s Dappled Chestnut focuses on the qualities a single leaf while demonstrating warm autumnal sunlight.

Lonely by Rumen Dragiev

Rumen Dragiev’s painting uses impasto to stunning effect, creating a strong illusion of reflection. Rumen has a talent for capturing the spirit of autumn, and has several visually rich autumnal paintings on his artist’s page. The trees are bold and colourful, and this sophisticated painting makes an ideal statement piece for home or workplace.

Tags: art, artist, autumn paintings, nature art, nature paintings, painter, Painting
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Zulu Sensation by James Grimditch

With stock market investments hardly the go-to choice that they once were, investing in art has been steadily growing in popularity and becoming a more mainstream choice over the past decade.

The art investment advice we hear most regularly is to buy art you really love, rather than art you don’t really resonate with, but you believe will gain in value. This is really great advice and illustrates the primary advantage of art as an investment – you get something to display in your home or business premises that gives you real joy and pleasure over the years, whether it gains in value or not.

Graduate art is the cheapest to buy. You may not every sell the piece you buy for millions – but there’s a chance that you might, and the initial investment is low enough to be worth the risk. Art by famous and well-established artists is expensive to buy, and the net returns are lower, but the investment is a far surer one.

A couple examples among the hundreds of artists who have gone from little-known graduates to multi-million sellers within their lifetimes are  Peter Doig and Tracy Emin. Doig sold little work when he graduated, but is now Europe’s most expensive living painter. Emin’s crude and sketchy style may have been passed over by many visitors to her graduate show, but uber-collector Charles Saatchi recognised the challenging shock value of her work early in her career, and helped propel her to fame and fortune. She’s now one of the world’s top-ten most expensive living artists.

So with this in mind, how do you go about choosing your investment from amongst the many new and undiscovered artists practicing at the moment? Two elements are important; one involves your emotional response to a piece, and the other involves a bit of practical research.

In terms of the work’s appearance, as I noted earlier, you have to like it and be able to imagine living or working with it on your walls. But secondly, undiscovered art which has the potential to go *really* huge at some point in the future will have an, if not shocking, then arresting sense of originality. It needs to be something that is just really, really different –this shows that the artist has a well-developed visual identity and is ahead of his or her time.

The second and more practical consideration is the work’s longevity. Paintings, for example, should be properly stretched and use professional quality, lightfast paints. This is something you can determine when you speak with the artist, agent or gallery.

Elvis - by Steven Coughlin

With installation and sculpture, think about how you will store and preserve a piece if the material or execution are unusual. Mark Quinn’s “Self”, for example, is made in frozen human blood, and its owner (currently the National Portrait Gallery )must keep the freezer switched on at all times, to avoid this multi-million pound piece simply melting into a puddle.

Ready to invest in a piece you love by a new or emerging artist? Visit Art2Arts’ Latest Artwork section to see the newest of the new.

My hot picks for three of the best investments on Art2Arts are James Grimditch, Steven Coughlin, and Laura Fulner.

It Doesn't Matter What We Were, Only What We Are Now - by Laura Fulner

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Is it not true that most of us scrimp and save all year for that one week of pure bliss where we can go on holiday, relax, unwind and enjoy the sights, smells and senses of a warmer climate… Wouldn’t it be nice if that feeling lasted just that little bit longer?

Arrgghh we thought as much… Have a browse through our unique collection of sunset art paintings and relive those special moments where time has no meaning and for those few days the trials and tribulations of our stressful lives just fade away into heavenly oblivion.

Our featured artists have captured beautifully the essence of sunsets, ranging from the flaming oranges and reds of Fiji’s world-renowned sunsets to the blues and greens that make up New Zealand’s moody ones.

When browsing our site take a moment to study the detail that has gone into each and every brushstroke. The complex combination of colour and texture has been balanced perfectly to enthuse emotion and jog memory.

These masterpieces reflect poignantly how we feel when were away; the warmth on our skin, the crunching of the sand beneath our toes and the rhymic sounds of the oceans wave, these original designs capture these moments and can be relived each and every day.

Why not visit our Sunset Art Gallery for the latest selection of paintings. 

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Buying artwork online has never been easier and more fun. Gone are the days you would have to drive to a gallery where a few large pieces of artwork would hang, out of your price range and what were the chances of walking in and finding just what you were looking for.

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Taking the time to care for your piece of artwork is important. It has been created using the highest quality materials and taking a few simple steps can mean it will look as fresh as the day you purchased it, in many years to come.

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This article explores how we think about colour and the best way of choosing your artwork. By using your space you can enhance your artwork making it a focal point.

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