My wife is a very good artist, and since we’ve been on a very tight budget recently, for last Christmas we discussed the possibility of giving one of her paintings to a friend as a gift.
D said she felt “funny” about that, because it would make it seem like she thought of herself as a “Rembrandt”, and she doesn’t think she’s all that talented.
(You’d have to know her to know what I mean - she’s very low-key, which is one of the things I love about her).
We’ve had another friend actually ask for one of her works, and she gave it gladly, but she definitely is reluctant about actually gifting one.
I am not a professional artist, but I love to draw. I recently gave a good friend a drawing of a crow for her birthday. She loves crows. I took my time and had fun with it. She loves it. I have also been doing some of what I call “doodling.” Ink pen drawings/doodles that are interesting. My dear friend asked me to make him a triptych. I am working on the third right now and will soon be framing them for him. Your wife should not feel funny about this. Many folks really appreciate art – in many forms. If she is good at it and enjoys painting – gifting one of her paintings is more meaningful than a store bought gift anytime! I’d say paint away! And yes, give them as gifts to those who appreciate art.
If it were me, Quasi, I would only give the painting as a gift if the friend had already expressed keen appreciation of it at sometime in the past. And even then, although that person might like the painting as a work of art, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they would want to hang it in their home as they may feel it doesn’t fit their particular style or the ambience of their home. Plus, if your friend doesn’t particularly care for it, gifting it would likely create an obligation to display it so as not to offend you, and he or she may feel a certain annoyance at having to do that.
I’ve given away paintings of mine before, but always to someone who had expressed a keen interest in them first, and even then I always asked if they would like to have it before I gave the painting to them.
I have given photographs as gifts, and I have also given pen and ink wash portraits as gifts; if this friend appreciates and enjoys your wife’s art, I think the gift would be greatly appreciated. It’s certainly far more personal than any other gift I can think of.
I know the idea behind this is that money is short, but bear with me.
Perhaps instead of the painting itself, she can get it copied and turned into stationary? Blank note cards? People still do send thank you cards and things like that. You could get a whole bunch made and send them out as gifts to multiple people.
This keeps your wife from sacrificing something she probably loves.
It also removes the obligation that the giftee display the painting (which they may not want to do not because it’s horrible, but because it simply doesn’t match their color schemes or they have no place to put it).
It’s also a gift that keeps on giving. A beautiful note card is something a person might pin up on a bulletin board.
Choosing art for your home is a very personal thing, IMHO. Particularly if you are more of an art appreciator. My partner in particular does not like art as gifts because it’s too risky. It’s difficult to predict whether or not the recipient will actually want the piece, even if you know their taste in art. For example, there are works hanging in galleries, that I could sit and stare at for hours on end because I think they are brilliant and fascinating, but I would never want those same pieces hanging in my living space. My partner and I have been living together for three years, and it was only last month that we were able to find a painting that we both really liked enough to purchase, although we’ve been looking all his time.
My partner has a friend who has a vast art collection. He’s known her for over 20 years and knows her tastes very well. He bought her a few pieces and unfortunately she really isn’t fond of them. I really like the one, though. Really, for people who appreciate art, what you choose for your living space can be a VERY personal choice. It would be like buying someone a hair style that you choose
There are many people who simply don’t care, however. We have a friend who had an interior decorator buy all the furniture and paint for her house. The decorator also chose some rather bland, meaningless “paintings” that had a color palette that went with the decorating scheme. Those textured prints, they aren’t even real paintings, are there as visual background noise. You’re not actually meant to look at them. Art might work in a case like that.
That’s actually a really good idea! Staples sells blank stationary, designed to go through the printer. If you have a decent colour printer, or have access to one, you could probably make a really nice gift. I would definitely appreciate that.
Edit: BTW, my partner and I both really, really like home made gifts in general. The stationary would be cool. There are probably a lot of other similar things you can make based on the image of a painting.