Seaweed Artwork
Where do you find affordable art? One piece we love in our home is this hand-pressed seaweed print from Cornwall, England, where my aunt lives.
Two friends — Melanie Molesworth and Julia Bird — make their artwork by foraging for seaweed on beaches or in shallow water after a storm. “We love it when they’re faded and a bit sea-bashed sometimes,” Julia told Toast. “Some of the beautiful pale pink colors are very faded as they’ve been drifting about in the sea. That can make them so beautiful.”
Julia in her studio
They make prints of all sizes (I have the largest “A1” size), as well as notecards and tea towels. How lovely are those?
Where do you find artwork? I’d love to know :)
P.S. My aunt’s house in Cornwall, England, 10 pieces of artwork for kids, and 11 cool ways to hang family photos.
(Top photo taken in the guest bedroom of our Brooklyn home; wallpaper by Rebecca Atwood. Foraging photo by Toast. Studio photo from Melanie Molesworth and Julia Bird’s book.)
Tags: affordable art
Comments
101 commentsI keep circling back to this post and these ladies’ style. Which of COJ’s “Five Days of Outfits” give y’all this vibe?
Most of my family makes art and our house is filled with my husband’s photographs, my Dad’s photographs that he printed in his darkroom, my sister’s botanical art, my brother-in-law’s bird art and my abstracts and landscapes. It makes for a very personal collection of art and I love every piece that we have on our walls. Sharing our work here, if you would like to see: https://www.karinacoghlin.com/ https://www.paulcoghlin.com/ https://www.instagram.com/michaelwebb.art/ https://www.instagram.com/christianahalewebb/ My dad is 96 and sadly doesn’t have a website or social media ;)
These are so, so beautiful. I love them. I collected seaweed and pressed/dried it in an attempt at making my own seaweed art last year. Decidedly NOT as beautiful as these :) #asperations
These seaweed prints are so cool! For the last few years I have been working to transition careers and become a picture book author and illustrator! It is a competitive field. I sell prints on the side as a way to make a little money. https://www.etsy.com/shop/EvieRichner
evie, your pictures are just charming! saving to come back later. thanks for sharing.
My #1 place to find art on line is 20X200.com. A really immense selection of great art, with insight into the artists and the works. Beautiful framing, too.
Thanks for the shout out, Vicki! And to Joanna herself for all her support of 20×200 thru the years. Please come have a look around! https://20×200.com/
We were visiting our son in Yancey County, NC and got to enjoy a studio tour. We loved having the chance to support these artists – many of them lost everything in floods from Helene. https://toeriverarts.org/the-journey/the-events/studio-tour/ We were thrilled to visit the Penland School Gallery and The Mica Gallery https://www.micagallerync.com/ We were lucky enough to get a piece by Vicki Essig https://www.micagallerync.com/ Shameless plugs for artists and an area near and dear to my heart.
I always end up making my own or buying from my artist friends! I have a shop on a print on demand site and also am open for commissions (both digital or traditional art) in case anyone is interested! https://sisudoesart.threadless.com/ https://ko-fi.com/sisudoesart
My lovely husband’s work: davidalcantar.com
So happy to see art discussed here! I am a member of a gallery that has Flat File work : hundreds of original artists prints (woodcut, etching, screen print, monotype) and you can see them all online! It’s so easy to scroll through and find art that you connect with and they are all original prints. We are asked to update our “file” each year so if you discover an artist you love you can begin collecting them. https://www.zeamaysprintmaking.com/see-prints/flat-file/
My all-time favorite artist is my best friend, Hans. He makes gorgeous pottery out of Portland, Oregon that fill my home in NYC. Brings a little sweetness to our long-distance friendship to have them close to me here. https://www.instagram.com/raddishceramics?igsh=MXV6djRoMDh5bjJxdQ==
Juniper Print Shop by Jenny Komenda. Easy to find great prints, and their site is the best and very user friendly!
I have been obsessed with these since you posted about them a while ago. I ordered a seaweed a week or two before I told my husband we had to get a divorce. It arrived back from Framebridge last week and it’s the first piece of art in my new apartment that didn’t hang in our family home. It will always be special to me!
Ooh I have one of these! It was a gift from a beloved friend. She bought a calendar I think, then framed her favourite images and gave them to a couple of us to commemorate a wonderful long river swim we all did together in Devon. This must be another sign that I need to hang it onto the wall, without further delay!
I love going to local “open studios” and have purchased a number of small artworks from artists there. Often, they also have discounted pieces available. Or I find something that totally speaks to me and I am saving for that … it’s also very lovely to visit the artists’ studios and see where they work.
These are beautiful, thanks for sharing. I love the idea of just putting a frame around what nature has created.
This seaweed art is so intentional and lovely. A friend of mine has a sister who is also creating beauty out of the seas’s gifts. Find her stunning creations at @forestmoonart Living in a valley surrounded by mountains, I find a unique solace with artwork inspired by water. Thank you so much for sharing!
For the past year or so I’ve been obsessively following the Liz Lidgett gallery in Des Moines, Iowa and building a list of artists I’m saving up for. I love watching Liz’s stories and learning about the processes the artists she represents follow. Plus a majority of the gallery’s art is by women artists!
I love their seaweed art! How fabulous! I also love talking about art and I’m thrilled this is today’s subject. I’m an artist and mainly offer sketch art reproduction Giclée prints, my smaller work is affordable and speaking of travel, many of my pieces capture European cities. If anyone would like to take a look. https://www.pascaleberkowitz.com/
Hi Pascale, thanks for sharing- I really like your art!!
I was just admiring more of your work, I scrolled down and saw a line work of a home that I thought- that could be in my town, then I saw it was entitled “Homes of New England No 11” and thought, hmm, I wonder where in New England inspired this. So I went to your about page & saw that we live in a neighboring town, no wonder the house looked familiar :) Now I am just trying to decide what to purchase first.
I love your art!
I love your art, Pascale!! Signed up for the newsletter, would love to buy art in the future!
Oh Pascale I love your work!
These are beautiful! I generally get my artwork at art festivals throughout the year. It feels good to support small businesses and finding unique art that you know you won’t find on everyone else’s walls!
My best friend is my favorite artist, by far. Check out her page. http://www.lindsaybroadvalley.com
Oh Gosh, where to begin. I love art, and sincerely believe that one should always choose with their heart as it will bring so much joy alongside a feeling of calm. I have collected for many years, mostly affordable art made by emerging artists. Other than being captivating artwork it is also great to be able to follow their future career and see how their art evolves. At the moment I have my eyes on Studio Bron Bleu (only on Instagram, waiting for the website and hopefully online shop to go live). The artwork is this amazing serene and atmospheric universe anchored in blue tones. Besides original artwork I also love to have art made by our kids framed and displayed at our home.
Forgot the Instagram name it’s: @studio.bron.bleu and there are so many other lovely emerging artists out there.
Thrift stores, antique stores, flea markets, garage sales. We don’t have any big name art but our walls are full of beautiful vintage landscape paintings that have cost hardly anything and really fit our house and who we are. I just picked up a huge seascape this weekend for $17!
What a magical duo! I think the COJ community needs a little cozy retreat weekend with these ladies!! I, for one, would LOVE to meet them and try my hand at their art, while soaking up their pro tips and some fresh, salty sea air!
I love art and think I have a pretty decent collection that has been slowly put together mostly from Facebook Marketplace and various antique and thrift stores. I really limit how much I buy in general, but if I find art I like at a reasonable price I always get it. When I was in college and super poor I’d fill walls by rasturbating stills from movies, and in my 20s I’d get things printed at Costco and put them in Ikea frames – I still have some of those today! Where there’s an art will, there’s a way!
Speaking of art and travel: My husband and I are making our way up to Maine in September. We are looking for a historic hotel in a cozy town, and I was hoping this community could give me recommendations. We’ve been to Portland before and loved it, but we’re hoping for a smaller city with beautiful views. (We’re also scouting for a move one day.) Appreciate any advice!
The Claremont Hotel in Southwest Harbor is absolutely fantastic. Recently renovated, beautiful. SW Harbor is on Mount Desert Island and you can get to less visited parts of Acadia really easily. The town itself has adorable restaurants. It’s tiny. The views are to die for. At least when we went. The Claremont had a cabaret night in its old fashioned game room where guests came together and sang along to old standards played by an 80yo local woman. It was a magical, magical experience. I love Maine!
we just got back from visiting Bar Harbor and Acadia on Mt Desert Island, and it was unbelievably picturesque – exactly how you imagine a Maine coastal town. We stayed at Bar Harbor Inn, which is a splurge, but right on the sea with beautiful views and I think it’s been there since the 1800s. But there were so many little B&Bs throughout the town also!
Adding to Valerie’s Bar Harbor recs, my best friend and I took a trip to Maine last year and we loved our stay at the Central House inn while we were visiting Acadia. It was quiet and clean, they have cozy common spaces including sofas around a fireplace, and the central location makes it super easy to walk around to nearby restaurants/stores and the waterfront. Affordable room rates, too.
OP here! Thank you all for your recommendations! We spent last night looking at each one. This is going to be a hard decision, lol.
I have not been to this hotel, but know the owners from Boston when they ran a series of delicious and fun pop-ups. I can’t wait to check out their new venture in Maine. https://www.barncastle.me/
Travel! I love to drop into local little print shops or galleries and buy art when traveling :)
These are beautiful! I thought I recognized Melanie Molesworth’s name from by bookshelf, and sure enough, there is a decorating book there with her name on it–Junk Style!
Seconding local studios, galleries and art fairs (these pieces always have an added layer of meaning), and then the obvious: museum gift shops.
I loooove museum gift shops and exhibition posters.
My favorite art is by my cousin, whose current project is called Sonder (“empathy through eavesdropping”). It features textiles printed with snippets of overheard conversations of strangers. Some are funny, some are weird, all of them are beautiful and poignant. I have her stuff hanging all over my house. She’s seriously the coolest person I know. Check out her stuff — especially if you want to support queer artists during pride month! https://www.meganconstancealtieri.com/copy-of-sonder-1.
I love browsing this site: https://studenten-kunstmarkt.de/en/ it has artwork from art students, so lots of original art and not all of it is my cup of tea. I do enjoy looking through it and seeing what they put out there. They have smaller works for around 100€, a lot is more expensive. But still excellent value for original artworks. I have my eye on a few that I’m saving up for.
Last year, we visited my dad’s home town and went to see the building my grandpa lived in before his death 30 years ago. We noticed beautiful original artwork on the walls, all with a price, painted by the café owner’s mom. The pretty gigantic two-pieced painting on the main wall, however, had no price. Probably because they didn’t think anyone would by such a big painting… We did. It is an original, from a town where my roots are, with a motive reminding of a place very special to my husband. It juuuust fit into our car to be transported 340 miles to our home, and looks like it was made for our living room :) Felt like fate. On the next wall over, we have a painting of the chillest cow ever, which we affectionally call Adele; bought in a gallery in the town we first lived in together, by an artist who draws almosts exclusively cows. I often think we should just throw out the TV and hang Adele in its place a few feet below, because she calms me down.
The “Garage Sale Art Fair” in Kalamazoo Michigan every late winter is the BEST place to find art – artists of all mediums from all over the country bring the pieces they most want to sell, price them low, it’s all cash only, and we’ve stocked our whole house with unique gorgeous pieces!
Rachel do you live in Kzoo? I grew up there!
Art/design colleges usually have graduate shows each year – a really great place to find affordable original art, and support young artists.
We frame small, everyday family photos in large frames, with passe-partouts. Same with the top tier kids drawings. It feels elegant and classic.
Art gallery director here: I would say the way to buy affordable art is by developing relationships with the local artists in your community and the small galleries. You may be surprised by what is within your reach. There are ways to be creative if you only have a very small budget for art, like setting up a payment plan with a gallery, or bartering your services – whether creative, medical, business, etc., directly with artists! It’s so important to support this ecosystem. I totally believe art is essential in our lives:)
100% agree with buying local art!
This. Forever this. As an artist I agree completely. As a curator I agree completely. “Affordable art” is plentiful if you ask.
Thank you for sharing! A good reminder there’s never any harm in asking.
Love when you post about art! Those prints are lovely and it’s wonderful to hear about their process. I’m an artist and my smaller work is affordable, for anyone who would like to take a look. Brightly colored, geometric abstraction, works on paper and on panel. I sell online, as well as work with curators, art consultants and galleries. https://www.saatchiart.com/elyceabrams https://elyceabrams.com/home.html
Beautiful!
Wow, I especially love your round pieces. Gorgeous!
Oh my goodness– I am taken by your most recent works (on paper), Elyce. So vivid, beautiful, and moving!
Thank you all for your very kind comments! I really appreciate it! I love this supportive community.
My husband’s hobbies are playing the guitar and woodworking. I was able to find six small black and white line drawings of woodworking tools, put them in black frames and hung as a group. I bought three large b/w sketches of guitars, also framed in thin black frames, and hung as a group. These were relatively inexpensive. We also hang small and large quilts. Try to find pieces of art that reflect your personal interests (album covers, concert posters, etc.). That gets you started while you save for more expensive pieces of art.
I would love to know how you hang your large quilts! I have one my great grandmother made with her grandmother and would love to display it.
Anne, you can either sew a sleeve on the back (take the width of your fabric X 9” and sew a tube, then sew the top and bottom of the tube by hand to the back of the quilt. Then you put a dowel through the sleeve and rest the dowel on nails. Make sense? Generally if you go to a quilt show, quilts are hung with sleeves like these. Or……a much easier way is to buy a curtain rod that meets the quilt width and then use rings with clips. That’s how hang my big quilts now. I only sew a sleeve if I’m exhibiting a quilt.
I have one of their pieces! I chose it in their store in Lyme Regis, Dorset, last summer! It was so hard to choose – so so many amazing options. I spent so long studying all of the pieces! It sits pride of place above the fireplace in our living room. I also bought some postcards to frame and gift to my mother and sister in law. Magical little gallery/shop!!
I just bought some gorgeous pieces of pressed moss and seaweed that look just like this at an estate sale – they were dated 1888! They were laid out in such beautiful arrangements, they look almost like watercolors.
Oh my goodness, thank you for this! This lovely artwork jolted me to a moment on our honeymoon (in Port Isaac, Cornwall) eleven years ago when my husband scraped mud from his Keens with a piece of purply red seaweed (kelp?) he pulled out of the harbor. We had taken a shoe-sucking ramble through gorse and a muddy streambed. At one point a German man popped up out of nowhere, took one look at us, said only, “Wrong shoes,” and continued on. Anyway, I took a photo my husb. scraping his (apparently wrong) shoe while I was doubled over, laughing! Some of the prints look like that plant. I’m going to order one for our next anniversary! Otherwise, our artwork is mostly my kids’–7, 5, and 2. Inexpensive and colorful and charming. :)
I can smell the salt air off them from here.
These prints are really beautiful! I am lucky to have my friends works on the walls of my home. My dream is really to be a patron. Let the artists bring sense to this world.
Chiming in on the art fairs, festivals, art walks and flea markets! My walls are covered with a real electic mix of prints and paintings I’ve collected over the years, some made by friends and family!
These are very beautiful. :-)
I won a beautiful floral print from this local NC artist, and I love her watercolors. I’ll be getting another one for my living room next, maybe this one: https://brightkindcreative.com/products/floral-art-print-pink-orange-and-green-painting?_pos=51&_sid=9a1bb260f&_ss=r Or the mushroom one (Lauren O ☺️): https://brightkindcreative.com/products/mushroom-art-print-clair-de-lune-peony-painting?_pos=48&_sid=9a1bb260f&_ss=r
My daughter. Wish I had more wall space. I also buy at markets. There is a Sunday marked in Melbourne and quite a few years ago I discovered an artist who paints our city and St. Kilda landmarks. When my sister turned 60 my son (her godson) purchased a beautiful painting of his of the St. Kilda pier (before they ‘updated’ it) – one of her favourite places. My sister loves it.
I paint with my kids (10, 10, and 5) sometimes, and we have an “art gallery” wall of our paintings in our family room. Acrylic paint and canvases are pretty inexpensive (buy the cheap stuff!) and we all enjoy sitting on the floor and vibing out with our paintings. I just hang each canvas on a nail in the wall (no framing = super easy), and we switch out the paintings on the wall after the next art night. I’m not a talented artist or anything; it’s just something that we enjoy doing together. And the art can be bad or just weirdly abstract, it’s super low stakes bc it’s cheap and rotates! Also, Courtney E. Martin had an awesome piece about how to make art as a family: https://courtney.substack.com/p/a-family-that-makes-art-together
I love creating art but have yet to find a medium that I have any talent with. There are so many ways to create art, but trying them out can get expensive. I’m an artist with no art!
I feel like I’m the same way. It takes so long to develop a craft, and in the mean time it looks horrible. I want to start digital collaging. That’s relatively free/inexpensive.
I’m like you. I want to but the expression is always mid. We have a non-profit in our area that collects old art supplies or things they want to donate for teachers to use (Wellman Project – it’s a great wonderful thing for our teacher community). They host a monthly “Hot Mess Craft Club” where you can go make a guided craft/art piece without judgement. It’s the best way to spend time in the community, creating, using hands. Highly recommend signing up for a class in your area and who cares if it is any good!
Oooh, this Ira Glass quote is for you! “Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” ― Ira Glass
I recently learned that my local library has a monthly art club that is completely FREE! The teacher brings all the supplies, you don’t even need to RSVP – you just show up if you can. The last 3 times I’ve gone, its been such a lovely, community experience. I have zero artistic skills but I so enjoy myself and feel like I’m learning a little bit each time. Last month it was sort of a riff of speed dating. Everyone had a blank piece of paper and an image in front of them. Everyone picked out one shade of water color. You had about 30 seconds to try and recreate whatever part of the image you wanted on that specific piece of paper, with your color. Then you’d move to the next station which had a new picture and so on. I was stunned with how good most of the pictures turned out. It was super fun and creative! And who knew a collective group could make some cool art together!
Suz- thank you!!! Now I just need to pick a direction!
J K — oh, I have a quote (well, post) for that, too! You don’t have to pick. Do it all. https://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/136769873706
Thrift stores! Estate sales! Or get a gelli plate, or some cyanotype paper; they’re both great ways to easily make something unique and beautiful.
live in Colorado and we have a ton of different street festivals and art fairs that happen all over the state. I try and make it to as many as I can because I always find amazing local artists – here’s one of my favorites! https://www.katefitzpatrickart.com/
Love these beautiful pieces! If anyone has suggestions of where to buy affordable to moderately priced art work (originals or prints), I’m thinking of adding one or two pieces to our wedding registry. We already have lots of the essentials and I thought picking out a piece from an artist would be a cool gift idea. Are their any artists that you especially love and find meaningful?
Congratulations on your wedding! We did this, as well. My aunt gifted us a print from Blakely Little, a Charleston-based artist. Art is so personal, but I love her paintings because they remind me of spending time at the beach with my grandparents growing up. We now take our kids to the same beach, and the print makes me happy every time I see it.
http://www.bronteadam.com/shop I have a few of her prints, and have given them as gifts. My favorite is “Amongst the Kelp.”
Hi Jem, I have a gallery in Tucson AZ, there are two women who showed with me this month – the prints and works on paper will always be more affordable, but if you see something you like, we can discuss what a registry might look like, or how multiple people could chip in for one work. I love the idea of marking a milestone with art! And congratulations on your wedding.
I love that, Jem. I’m an artist and a recent college grad asked all of her friends and family to chip in and buy her one of my pieces as a graduation gift…! Love that both you and her want to mark these momentous chapters of life with art.
I love stadlercreative.com! She’s a watercolor artist who does a lot of portrait commissions. There’s a new stamp collection!
Hi Jem, to add in to your growing list of ideas, I am an artist who specializes in paintings of bridal bouquets. I have had people add one to their registries many times. Also, I’m happy to work out a payment plan, always, for people who appreciate art! https://www.marisarepeta.com/weddingcollaboration
Marisa, thank you for sharing your bridal bouquet site – your work is stunning. I got married years ago and I have been impractically hanging on to my (dried) bridal bouquet ever since with no idea how to commemorate it. I think I’ll ask for a painting of yours for the next anniversary or holiday!!! And maybe then release my dried-vase-set up ;)
thanks so much for your comment, Rachel, and everyone, really, for your enthusiasm for art- made my day!
Feel free to check out this curated Instagram account. TONS of fantastic art. This can be a good way to see what’s out there. You can follow the artists you like and maybe buy directly from them, or go see their work in galleries. So many artists all over the world making beautiful, meaning work. https://www.instagram.com/alwayslookingatart/
We made seaweed prints with my artist father when I was growing up in the 60’s. This just made me happy and sad at the same time as my wonderful Dad passed away a little over a year ago at the age of 97. Thanks for sharing this, Jo. ❤️
Marry an artist! And make sure they have artist friends that they trade art with. Our home is an ever changing gallery. If that’s not available… we love going to MFA or BFA art shows at your local college or university. Work is amazing and affordable. Great to support up and coming artists.
Seek out street fairs and local artists on social media to collect real art and spend money in your community. On a coffee walk with my dog this weekend, I stumbled across a wildly talented 16-year-old artist who was doing custom watercolor pet portraits for $25! It was such an insane steal and she captured my 10-month-old whippet in all his derpy glory perfectly. I have his portrait in my home office and every time I look at it, I smile.
I forgot to post a link, but LOOK AT HER WORK: https://www.instagram.com/pawtraits_by_pearl/?hl=en It’s so good.
We got a sketch of our dog at a street fair maybe 12 years/a lifetime ago- total children’s book illustration style that captured her mischief perfectly. She died as a very old doggie in April and I’m so glad we have it.
Omg where do you live?? I so wish I could stumble upon that artist where I live!
My favorite place to buy art is Etsy. Over the years I have collected many pieces from the artists on etsy. There are a few Ukrainian shops that have had lovely paintings that frequently made me feel that I wished my art budget was higher! I also have the enormous good fortune to have artists in the family. Their work hanging on the walls of my home bring me daily joy and the opportunity to remember them.
The Public Domain Image Archive has great, inexpensive prints, and some of my favorites are these seaweed cyanotypes by Anna Atkins from the 1800. Would make a beautiful set https://pdimagearchive.org/images/f45653b3-96f5-4fe5-887e-789efbbf6466/
So lovely!
I find art going to local art fairs and festivals. I have found a lot of affordable art that also supports local artists.
Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach is the best! Runs every summer and it’s such an amazing place to find really cool local art