I don't think you'll find a painting that large for $500.

An artist whose work I saw at the DC Design House a few years ago was willing to have a print made of the original I fell in love with (the original was about $6,000). My 30" square print, which is beautiful and was made in the UK, was about $500.

You don't want to know how much it cost to frame. :)

The 65"x50" size makes it that expensive. A 40x60" from Costco costs $329.

I hear you, BUT, what substitute piece of art could you find that you'd like for that size and price.

I have on occasion found a Ballard print on Art.com and the canvas mount price was less than on Ballard.

I've had my eye on this particular piece for a couple years. I haven't found it elsewhere for sale, even after googling the artist.

I did see it in person at our Parade of Homes this month. It is very dark and doesn't reach it's full potential in a dimly lit room (like it was in)... just FYI. I think it would be beautiful in a room with lots of light.

Anyway, the price does seem high, but I agree with the others.... It's huge. It also is a decent quality piece since there is texture on it. I haven't found anything comparable at that size...

Here are a couple photos I took in person:

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Deee said:
"But I know I can get a nice piece of original art for the same amount of money."

Yes, but the original art would be no larger than 9 x 12. Not quite the same effect as that very large poster!

You can't possibly purchase an original work of art of a comparable size for $500 unless it is at one of those "starving artist" sales, in which case the work would not be of comparable quality----even to a poster.
I am sympathetic, though! Here is my "poster" story:

For our anniversary about twenty years ago my husband bought me a lovely large print for $500--- the Raphael angels. It is lovely, printed in France, and at the time it was unusual, but unfortunately the subject caught the public eye and in a couple of years that image was plastered all over mugs, calendars, tee shirts, etc. I even received a hostess gift of a plastic tray with those angels silk screened on it! After you could buy trinkets in WalMart with the very same image I was sorely tempted to pack it off to the church jumble sale. But I just couldn't, since my husband had given it to me. When we moved to our current house the designer hung it in pride of place over a sofa in our living room. It goes there perfectly, and looks lovely, and if it is not quite up to the quality of the oil painting over the mantle, well.... It is worth far more in sentiment to me. The interior designer(who to his credit did not even wince visibly, lol) said he had had to work around sentimental objects his entire career, and after a $2000 reframing job it did look a LOT nicer!

Sorry about the glare from the flash-

kswl - I love your story.

I realize I can't buy a giant oil for $500. I like the size of the poster but I like the subject matter even more.

Next time we travel to the big city I'll check in Ballard's and see if they have the poster displayed in the store. If my family loves it I'll probably treat myself.

We've spent lots of money updating this house and all the purchases have been very practical. I am about due for some frivolous.

Ugh - I have never double posted before. How does that happen? The site usually kicks back consecutive posts unless you change the subject.

deee, the price is fair, imo, for a gallery wrapped canvas giclee, at first I thought you were looking at one of those rolled up posters on paper, but this is a different product. don't worry about the double posting, I still have not figured out how it can happen but I see it quite often now on the forums.

I do like the overall effect of this giclee, the reviews on Ballard seem excellent.

I was immediately drawn to the sky in that piece. This is a different sky, but somehow the overall feel is similar to me. This artist offers 24x36 pieces for $110.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dusk Landscape

I hate to say it, but you very may well see $20 versions of that soon. It's such a commodified image at this point. If you like it, though, giclees are considered higher-end reproductions and will hold their value better.

Another idea: if it reminds you of some of the spectacular evenings you have where you are, and it's not about the artist's individual conceptual statement, how about making a similar-size version of a carefully chosen photograph you yourself have taken?

I have recently seen some of those in the home of a new friend and I have to say they were done in such a way that they looked like art, not family travel photos -- landscapes, but not crisp-clear photorealism. Rather, the image had been played with a bit and softened--I don't know how, but I'm sure you could learn--I thought they were paintings from far away, but my friend had taken the photos and done the work in a photo rendering application herself. They were cool, and definitely 'art' rather than just enlargements of snapshots. And you'd have the experience of creating it to remember, too, rather than just the experience of clicking and ordering...

I've never bought giclees, but I just looked up the offerings of a local artist, who sells both original oils and giclees of them. An 11" x 11" print, in a limited edition of (usually) 250, sells for about $150 or so.

As others have pointed out, the print you like is enormous. I figure that, around here, an original oil of that size by an artist with even only a good local reputation could be on the order of $8,000 to $10,000.

Am I out of touch with the giclee market? Could it really be worth $500?

The cost of having a print that size produced is not small - it's around $350 if I have a single print made of the 48x60 size. Unmounted, on canvas.

I am sorry I haven't read all the responses, but I do disagree with the statement you can't find a huge original piece of art for $500 or less. I agree it might take a year or so to find one you like/love, but there are auctions by me in the hudson valley and I indeed have purchased very large paintings for less than that. Huge framed prints for that matter too. I have a small house now, so I have not purchased any that are large in awhile, but I do still track the auctions and scope them out. :)

"Is it really worth $500"...
Worth no....charging?....it seems so.
No way in hell would I pay 500 bills for an inkjet print of a photo....that tomorrow will be worth about $50....and in a few more years you will be hard pressed to get $20.
It's rather like paying large bucks for a 5 karat size ring of CZ and "gold tone"...it looks glitzy but is really worth nothing.
Spend your $500 on a night on the town and find something else to hang on your wall.

At the very least, wait until there's a sale. Never pay full price for a mass-produced piece...

Do you or a friend have access to a nice camera? Take many photos of scenery, skies, sunsets, whatever, in your area. Find a good print shop in your area where you can get high quality large prints made. Now you have your own original!

This kind of art is not printed on a printer that is akin to your at-home inkjet printer.

Is there profit built into the price? Of course.
Is the profit obscene? Probably not.

This morning I emailed a gallery that has a small marsh painting done by the same artist. I'll let you know if I get a response.

Thanks for all your suggestions and advice. I can't see myself using a landscape photo as wall decor so I probably won't go that route.

This is behind my house and through the trees. Sadly, I can't see the view from my house.

deee... That does look similar. Maybe it was meant to be.... :) I still think the piece is beautiful. Are you the type who has a hard time finding pieces of art you like? or will you be able to find something else that moves you?

To those mentioning photography, do you know this print is of a painting?

Gosh, Dee, what a beautiful setting! No wonder you like that piece so much--- the place you photographed must look exactly like that on a gray day.

Dee, have you considered blowing up your photo?

Here's a link to an Apartment Therapy post abost oversized printing at Staples....its cheap, and you can mount your print on canvas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Apartment therapy

Here's one of my works I'm willing to share, if you do decide to use it, download it and then email it to a site that does canvas transfers. Groupon offers a good site quite often.

Here is a link that might be useful:

I once bought a giclee for $1000 - about 10 years ago. I have to admit, I regret it.

yaya, that's gorgeous!

Beautiful photo, yayagal.

jeannine, when I suggested printing out a photoshop-altered photo, I didn't mean on an inkjet! There are *extremely* high quality photo printing mechanisms, e.g. at FedEx/Kinkos and many other places. I do believe some places can even print on canvas, as yayagal mentioned.

And so dee, you now have two amazing choices: the pic of your own area OR the Gardenweb Gift from the incredibly talented yayagal -- WOW, yaya, that is such a gorgeous photo, just pregnant with intention with that boat sitting there waiting to leave...and the light reflecting differently on the sloped part of the boards, echoing the reflections on the water--truly brilliant.

Either one of those choices would create something more meaningful than the privilege of paying $500 to a large company reselling the same image over and over...Who doesn't love g'web!

Thank you terriks,awm03 and flyleft. Anyone is welcome to use it. I had it done up for my bathroom and the textures are so strong that most people think it's an oil. I had them transfer it on canvas. I'm an artist by trade so photography comes natural to me.

$149 at IKEA for giclee like item?

Here is a link that might be useful: ikea

yaya, I showed your pic to my husband and he really loves it...we're thinking of printing it out too : ) Do you have a particular photo-to-canvas place you recommend for one reason or another? Or are they basically similar?

We also want to know if you have a website. Your art must be wonderful.

I'm listing below several sites that you can use, get the one with the best deal as they all use the same process. I think the photo will look best in a vertical rectangular shape. You'll be shocked at how beautiful it comes out. I had sent it to my kids and my daughter had it printed up as a surprise. I was planning on doing the painting myself but it looks so much like the real deal, why bother. I don't have a web site as I'm a sculptor and do life size busts and subjects to be sold. I paint by client only these days as I'm retired now. I'm happy you like it. Enjoy!!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Serenity by S.S.

Yaya, just lovely.

Interesting post. My first reaction was --- if you like and have liked it for a while, even though $500 is overpriced, it is not an enormous sum.

But someone above said "never pay full price for a mass produced item". That is good advice!

deee, re "can't see using a landscape photo as wall decor": don't tell Ansel Adams...he'll be crushed!

(a joking way of saying that *anything* can be art -- even something that is coarsely classified as a 'landscape photo')

Costco transfers photos to canvas. Here's their pricing:

Costco has a very good reputation for print quality among our area photographers. They use high quality inks.

Something to remember: the higher your camera megapixels, the clearer the resolution for large prints; smaller resolution cameras (10 mps & less)make fuzzier large prints. Here's a guide that shows how large you can go before losing image quality:
Guide for enlarging photos

If you have a photo editing program like Photoshop, Elements, PaintShop Pro, or Picasa, you can add special effects to the photo to make it less photo-like:
Picasa photo editor special effects info

Here is a link that might be useful: More info about Costco canvas prints

Yayagal, forgive my ignorance but how would the picture be centered when you changed it to a large rectangular shape? I'm not understanding the process. I would think that part of it would have to be chopped off.

It is just stunning.

Bump

If you have a Garden Ridge in your area, they have a tremendous amount of original artwork(oils)for $200 or less, and BIG sizes. I 've looked at many beautiful scenes, etc., but personally like vintage art, oils or prints.

It's a beautiful picture with a 'quiet intensity', if that makes any sense, and don't think you would tire of it~ that's worth the money right there! Good luck . ;o)

Francypants I stated that incorrectly, even I don't understand it haha. Let's start again. Have it printed a tad bit wider than high, for instance like 10x14 as you look at it straight on but maybe first make out a few paper prints to decide. That's a real cheap way to do it before having it printed on canvas.

If you have a Garden Ridge in your area, they have a tremendous amount of original artwork(oils)for $200 or less, and BIG sizes. I 've looked at many beautiful scenes, etc., but personally like vintage art, oils or prints.

It's a beautiful picture with a 'quiet intensity', if that makes any sense, and don't think you would tire of it~ that's worth the money right there! Good luck . ;o)