The Swarez Guide To Choosing Art For Your Home, Part 1
How Do I Know What I LIke?
You have decided you want to invest in a piece of art for your home that you and your family can enjoy for years to come. Great. Now where do you start? 
The good news is you don’t need to be an expert, or know one, to get it right. You just have to know what you like.
“But I don’t know what I like Ed!” That’s fine, I’ve created this two part blog series to help you find out. In this post I am going to talk you through finding out what you like and don’t like and in the second part I will be showing you how to find and choose the art you want and how much you should expect to be paying for it.
Stylistic Preferences
Stylistic preference is the posh way of asking “do you like art that is ‘splodges of colour’ or do you prefer paintings of people or places”,or to put it another way, abstract or figurative?
First of all let’s explore the different styles of art to get a bit closer to knowing what you like.
Figurative Art
It’s not all cavaliers on horseback and spaniels with little girls in white dresses crying against a wall. 
Remember the prints that Grandma used to have? There are so many living breathing artists working today producing amazing landscapes and portraits you really will be spoilt for choice.
If you want art that is a depiction of real life, you love paintings of the coast, woodlands or people, then figurative art is going to push your buttons (also referred to as realistic art).
A key question to ask yourself when choosing your art is whether its a view you are looking for. Do you want to feel as though you are looking through a window into another time or place? If you do then figurative art is for you.
Abstract Art
My personal favourite, obviously! According to the Tate Gallery website “Abstract art is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead use shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect”. 
Abstract art can be whatever you want it to be, it can be a mood, an emotion a feeling, a personality. The possibilities are infinite. When it comes to choosing abstract art you only really need to know what colours you like…
Abstract art, unlike other forms does not date, its timeless. Fashions come and go and abstract art remains. You can tell a good one becuase you’ll get an emotional rersponse from it or, in other words, you get to finish to story off for yourself. If you don’t then move on to the next one.
Painterly 
The term painterly is used to describe a painting done in a style that honours the medium that was used to create it, whether that was oil paint, acrylics, pastels, gouache, watercolor, etc., in painterly art you can see the loose brush strokes.
Think Vincent Van Gogh or Monet, although there are plenty of living artists still painting in this style and you won’t need a lottery win to have one hanging in your home.
Linear 
Paul Klee once said “A line is a dot that went for a walk”. There are many types of linear art thick, thin, horizontal, vertical, zigzag, diagonal, curly, curved, spiral, etc. and are often very expressive.
Lines are basic tools for artists—though some artists show their lines more than others.
Line art may tend towards realism, or it may be a caricature, cartoon, or simply an expression of something controlled and very precise – like in the work of Piet Mondrian for example.
There are so many different types of art it’s probably easier to start with what you don’t like.
How do you want Art to make you feel? Do you want the art in your home to inspire you, make you feel safe, evoke emotion or memories?
Do you want a blue painting because it matches your favourite rug? Art is very personal and there is no right or wrong. You like what you like and that’s it. The beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Join us in Part Two to find out how and where to buy the Art you want.
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