I've heard some people talk about this with interior decorating, interior design, and try to say that there's ever a point
where mirrors are the high end way to go. I think unless you are getting a ridiculously large mirror, and you are in a time
in history when mirrors are just not really accessible, I don't think mirrors are generally the way to go.
Mirrors have their place, but my role is it's in the dressing room, the bathroom, maybe in the dance studio, where you have the
gargantuan mirror on the wall to see what you're doing.
But outside of that, I've only ever seen mirrors used as decor in a few scenarios.
The first is a situation where people were literally in a slum or a ghetto.
The second one also involved another type of high risk for theft scenario. So understandably, that person might not have
been wanting to put investment in the form of original artwork into that space.
And the third one that I have actually seen, and think is a completely understandable thing is when you have mirrors as a
part of something like a sculpture piece, some other type of artwork, but they're not a standalone thing. It's not just
like you've got a frame with a mirror in it and that's all you've got. When that's all you have, what that does is it
screams vanity. Now, whether it's screaming vanity about your personal appearance or the appearance of your home is
beside the point. It's screaming vain, and also screams trying too hard.
A serious issue I've had with people using mirrors on the wall for the purpose of looking high end is that you draw the eye
to the fact you clearly thought something should be there and yet, why is it not artwork?
While I’ve heard other people say other things to me, regardless of what the trends say, mirrors actually will look
cheap because they're saying, I clearly think something should be in this space, but I clearly can't
afford artwork.
Or they will say the space is too small and I need to use an optical illusion, a trick of light, to open it up.
Original artwork is, of course, ideal, but it's expensive for a reason.
You can't replace it.
You've got a situation where the artist did have to put the time into it, and they're only going to be able to sell
it once. They have to make a living or they can't keep producing artwork.
A great way to get something less expensive might be to see if you can get something that's been created by an
emerging artist. They're typically going to charge less than a well established professional. It's a gamble, but
in the long term, if you are someone who likes to invest in art, it can be the better investment if accidentally,
that artist hits it big time. And if you're not as concerned about the investment but only having something
that looks great in your space, you still get that same benefit of the lower price and there’s no real down side.
But realistically, it's still pricey, but it will get you that original artwork.
Obviously, I am an artist, so my big bias is toward making it myself. This is obviously something you can do as
well, and I've heard people talk about having done this. And what I'm going to tell you as an artist is it's a
wonderfully fun thing to do, but it's not the right way to go for everybody. Depending on what type of
artwork you're actually wanting in your home and your space, you just simply may not have the option to do it yourself.
Now, if you're looking for something really simple, I've seen a lot of things where I happen to agree with the
assessment that a three year old could do it, and yet an artist is getting paid a lot of money for that.
But I've also seen people make that assessment about things and then find out upon attempting to draw or paint
that same type of picture, maybe not the exact same thing, but the same type of picture that, boy, were they wrong.
I've even made this mistake myself. Usually with me, it doesn't manifest as the idea that, some little kid could draw
that, but it's the same type of principle.
It's the question of “Do I have an appreciation for what it took another artist to learn that particular skill set?”
And there's nothing like trying it and drawing a bad picture or painting a bad picture to to help give you that appreciation.
And for me, sometimes doing that will actually cause me to learn something or see something, and bring something of that
experience back into my other art and results in growth for me as an artist.
But when you're looking to do this for your home rather than looking to grow as an artist you're dealing with a little
bit of a different situation. But even if you aren’t looking to grow creatively and you don’t want to hang the end
result on your wall, trying to create the art yourself might still give you a better appreciation for what you're
getting if you ever do go out and spend money on professional artwork.
And with that being said, the final option, if you really feel like it has to be original or nothing, is to consider
just simply seeing if you can find an artist who will barter for their work. Now, that's not necessarily going to
be easy. A lot of artists will not do that, and for good reason. But it is not an unprecedented thing.
Which brings us to mass produced art.
If you have a piece of mass produced art on the wall, somebody's thought process a lot of the time might start and end
with, “I guess they like that picture”, maybe even extend to.
Whereas I pointed out with mirrors, people are going to think, oh, wow, that person is really vain.
If you're specifically looking to support independent artists and don't want to risk supporting a large company, first of
all, if an artist is getting things printed, chances are there's a large company involved.
However, what you can do is check out the question of, what is that artists experience with this large company?
So great way to do this is just pretend for a moment that you are an artist and actually walk through the process that
they would walk through when getting set up with a print on demand company, or at least part of it.
You can find things in whatever terms of service are specialized for sellers or artists or designers, whatever they're
calling the people who are selling through them.
Among the things to look for, are just simply that they're not employing the artists. They're just simply offering a
service to them.
You want to see evidence that the artist is selling through this place, not that they're selling to this place.
So if the artist is selling their time, that's a red flag. You don't want to be supporting that.
If they're selling their art to this place that can also be a concern. You want to see that the artist is retaining their
rights to this work, ideally the artist is granting a non-exclusive license meaning the artist can take their art somewhere
else and make money on that some work else where.
And you also want to see some very clear evidence that that artist is getting paid per item with their art on it sold, not
just once for a given design or picture.
And one of the things you can do with that is look for things like royalty or commission structures where that artist is
being offered. From where they artist is sitting they should be making a percentage off each item sold, sometimes
Print On Demand companies will offer the artist more control over this than others.
I would also warn that Etsy is not something that is as pure as you might think. A lot of people that are through Etsy
might be going through a print on demand services as well. I definitely could have something on there, because all I
did was click a box saying, “Hey, you're allowed to do this” in my account with some of my Print on Demand I sell my
art through. However without checking out the Print on Demand company itself you don’t know some of the information
you need to know if you are really supporting the artist’s or the people who are competing with them.
So if you're specifically looking to get an independent artist and you don't even want the print on demand company
involved, you may not be able to do that, but checking out what it looks like for the artist to deal with the print
on demand company is definitely one option.
Another way to handle this is to start right at the artist's website. Don't start with the print on demand companies,
don't go to these third party marketplaces, or social media, if an artist has their own website that’s the place you
I’m suggesting you look. The information on their website can help determine if they are, in fact, an independent
artist who's just getting third parties to fulfill their orders, versus someone who is actually working for another
entity and maybe not truly an independent artist.
Now that's not going to be possible in every case, because a lot of artists are actually operating out of a different
part of the brain than the tech savvy people and the business savvy people will tend to but if you can find their
website that can be a resource to help you determine what is going on there, and if you will, in fact, be
supporting the independent artist versus supporting another party in the process of buying that art.
“The other objection I've heard is, hasn't everybody seen this before?”
“And doesn't everybody and their brother have this in their house?”
“Doesn’t that look cheap?”
If you go to the online marketplace instead of your local store, one of the upsides to this is that for an artist who
is selling online to sell the exact same number of pieces as a your local retail store, your local retail store mostly
probably has sold things to people within a 50 mile radius. The artist who is selling their artwork online, mass
produced, but probably through a print on demand company, is an artist who, if they sold the exact same number of
pieces, will have sold them throughout the world.
So does everybody in your neighborhood have this? Probably not. There's a much better chance of that also, because
the online market is so heavily saturated, you do end up with a situation where there's a good chance that there's
so much competition out there that while artists are having to compete so hard the upside for you as the buyer is
you have a better shot at something maybe not everybody has, just for that alone.
Now, can absolutely everybody get it? Well, yeah, and I can't help you with that problem.
But my point is, if you're looking to set yourself a little bit apart, going online might be a better solution.
One of the options some print on demand companies will give is to arrange for things to be accessible only through
a direct link that maybe artist isn't sharing anywhere but through their website.
So you might be able to get something that's a lot less accessible to the general public. It's still something
everybody can get to, but again, it's a lot harder to find.
Now, the reason I know this is because I've actually seen this option offered to me through a print on demand
company that I saw my art through. I haven’t done that with most of my art, but there are a few items I have done with.
As to the question, does it make your space look cheap to use mass produced artwork? I just gave you some
options that will help you find some things that will be less overtly mass produced while still getting the
mass produced price tag.
With all of that being said, you need to choose something that you love, and enjoy regardless. You need to be
independent of the trends.
That means you need to quit looking at what's trending and start looking at getting grounded into who you really
are and what you really love, regardless of what is trendy.
A final rule you can always use to help your space look a little bit nicer, a little bit more high end, is ask
yourself the question about hypothetically, “if I had the kind of money I'm trying to pretend that I have, but
what would I really be putting into that space?”
Not “what would everybody else will tell me to put there?” Which is the question that people who chase trends
are really asking.
But “what would I be putting there?”
And “why would I be putting it there?”
If your answer is that you would be putting it there because that's what's trendy, or that's what a designer would
tell you to do you have a problem, and you need to get grounded into who you really are and what you really love.
I know I've already said that, but you do, and that’s what your answer is showing you.
However, if coming out with anything other than I “would be following trends”, then the thing you can do is figure
out what is the closest thing that you can get right now to what you would actually choose in that event, and use
that as a baseline to help you decorate your space.
You may not be able to get the exact same thing because that's just simply pricier, but what is the closest thing you would do?
And so circling back to the artwork question, the same principle applies. At some point, you're just gonna get what
you pay for. But in this case, how can you get artwork that maybe not everybody is going to realize the moment they
see it is mass produced.
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