Price is (almost) no object

Have you ever seen a work of art that was love at first sight? I have a painting that I couldn't really afford, because I knew if I didn't buy it I would regret it for the rest of my life. I learned this the hard way: I still long for that special art glass piece that got away.

Yes, it was a painting of a sheep. I saw it at an art fair in Ann Arbor. I had just gotten my mother's inheritance, so I could have afforded it. But I felt guilty about spending the money that way. I think of that painting a lot. I used to weave and wool was my fiber of choice, so I have a special affinity for sheep. I often look at the space above my fireplace mantle and I think that painting should be hanging there.

A picture of Van Gogh's painting Starry Night affected me that way. I wanted so badly to look at that painting for hours and hours; just sit in front of it and listen to it.

xenchu, you said you recently read a book about Van Gogh. When was it that you actually "got" Van Gogh? I always "liked" his work, but for many years I wasn't deeply affected by it. And what was it about Starry Night that affected you so?

For me, Wheat Fields With Crows is the ultimate Van Gogh painting.

Oh, yes. This Herman Leonard photograph of Billie Holiday made me understand why people collect photographs. When I first saw it, at A Gallery for Fine Photography in New Orleans, I thought, "Wow, that's a lot for a photograph!" So I passed. A few years later, back in New Orleans, the price had gone up, and I did not pass. It's so worth it.

By a couple of local artists: Anne Elizabeth's skyearth, and this multimedia piece by Pam Paulsrud and her daughter, Cori. Both purchased at benefit auctions.

And my Whistler: Jo's Bent Head. I love this one so much. It was a stretch to buy it, but I'm so glad I did!

I bought the book for the pictures of his paintings. I don't know when I 'got' Van Gogh but I always at least 'noticed' his painting.

I am really not sure I 'get' his paintings; I am not sure I have sufficient artistic taste or knowledge for that. But his brushwork, his colors and his subject matter have always appealed to me. I think his tortured life comes through in his painting and it somehow resonates with me.

I've had two midlife crises.
At age 40 I had to have an Anita Rodriguez.
At age 50 I went to an auction and acquired two more.
See my profile for one of the latter two.

As for Van Gogh, Vincente Minnelli's "Lust for Life" with Kirk Douglas turned Van Gogh from enjoyable to thrilling.

a smile because i am always finding art that i love. My girlfriend caught me conspiring to steal a Monet pastel from a nearby exhibit just last sunday! she told me she'd have the car 2 blocks away behind a stand of rose of sharon, if i got that far she'd let me keep it, but she wasn't going to wait all day.
and damn if i've forgotten the name of the work already.

and yeah, of course it's better off where so many others can see it,

but every time we go to an exhibit, we eah pick one we'd steal.

I once purchased two exquisite prints, both nudes (female), by an artist in New York. I wanted a third - it was of two women, again nude figures, resting on a bed. A husband was with me and he became very anxious about that third one. Whereas I typically wasn't so considerate, I caved to his anxiety (was it the fact I wanted to hang it above the bed?) and only purchased the other two. I have since divorced that husband. I regret the loss of that third work.