Transatlantic moves and making a home

I have recently moved home from London to New York and have faced the expense of decorating a new home. Our list included: New sofa, new bed, new sofa bed, new table and chairs… new lights, crib, changing table, dresser, cushions, highchair, rugs, not to mention all of the new electrical appliances because the voltage is different from England’s. Cue new TV, kettle, toaster, sound system… The list is endless and the cost eye watering.
The time spent in home décor shops over the weeks (as well as that grim afternoon in Ikea with screaming baby that I want to forget) has made me realise just how necessary a service Paint me a Present is (if I say so myself).

In my own home decorating mission I realised three things:

1) Moving home is stressful and incurs a never-ending cost of things you forgot you needed.
2) Art is officially overpriced.
3) Art can transform a room and make it a home.

Aside from Ikea prints, I haven’t seen a genuine piece of artwork for less than $1500 here. There is no shortage of galleries in New York of course, but they all have to fund the cost of the space they rent by charging exorbitant prices for what they sell. The plain white canvas with a black splatter by anonymous artist priced at $10,000 was a highlight in realising point 2.

However these galleries also know the universal truth of point 3 and therefore play to the crowds. Amongst all the staple buys of a home, they know that what we put on our walls in our homes is hugely important to lift our mood, impress our friends and reflect our tastes, in a way that no other furniture item can.
So in the last few weeks we have bought the staples and installed the toaster. However what we await with baited breath is the personal and wonderful paintings we have the pleasure of owning, on route by ship from England, to complete our home. Because without them, home isn’t home!

Remember, creating one of these pieces of art through Paint me a Present can cost as little as £50 or as much as £500, and the upper limit is for something the size of your very tall friend by your slightly shorter friend. Big enough for even the biggest of walls in the biggest of homes (lucky you, said from the small New York apartment)

Happy moving and/or homemaking and log on to http://www.paintmeapresent.com today to make your order.

How to choose a wedding present

With invites coming through the post for spring weddings, you have made a decision to get brilliantly thoughtful presents for your friends this year. Before now there hasn’t been a service where you can get quality art at an affordable price without an ‘in’ with an artist. But then Paint Me A Present came along. If you are reading this you know about the service and you may have decided to give a painting as the wedding present… so, how on earth do you take the plunge and order one?

First you need to decide on the subject matter. To give such a personal present in the first place would suggest a level of intimacy with the recipient so we hope this is not too challenging. Instinctively you will know what will go down well and what won’t.

First question to answer: do you want it to be for them about them, or do you want it to be for them about you and them? The former would mean you choose a subject close to the recipients’ hearts, the latter would mean you choose a subject of a shared experience with them.

Then you need to decide if you want a painting of someWHERE, someTHING or someONE.

WHERE- ideas are their favourite holiday destination (or one you shared together), the location of their upcoming nuptials, the house they share, the place they got engaged, where they met or their honeymoon spot.

THING: ideas include a painting of a shared hobby or an animal.

ONE: the obvious suggestion is that you can get a painting done of them both together. Or you can get a painting of a significant other for them both.

So subject decided, you are very nearly there- now you just need to work out how to procure the photo and choose an artist.

We are lucky enough to live in a very image-rich era; Facebook gives us access to everybody’s photographs and google image has millions of images at the touch of a button (but make sure the google image is of high quality!) Scan a magazine or an old photograph even….once you have the what you will easily work out the how.

Good news is that even if you cannot find the exact image, you can leave our artist instructions at the final stage of the ordering process to add, remove or personalise the image at the painted stage.

Talking of artists then. We have all sorts, from photorealist painters to cartoonists to those who do more abstract interpretations. Think about the couple’s style and what they are like. If traditional go for photorealist painters, fun go for cartoon or quirky go for abstract. You can guarantee all work that comes through the site will be excellent.

If you need a bit more guidance email us for advice at info@paintmeapresent.com

Wedding presents are your chance to get personal for a couple’s very special day. Start thinking about their present now and browse testimonials here:

http://www.paintmeapresent.com/index.php/testimonials/testimonial_list

Beat the January blues- buying art can make you happy

Not a year goes by that we don’t read how the middle of January is the most depressing time of the year.

According to Google, clever scientists have narrowed the nadir of people’s woes to January 24th. It is due to a combination of debt, work and weather. I would add January detox, lack of holidays and darkness to the list. Cue violins and a box of tissues.

However and luckily, according to other scientists who published their findings in March last year, there is a solution. And since it comes from scientists it is official….

Dah dah daaah! Looking at art can generate dopamine in the brain. Being amongst it induces a feel good effect, ‘lifting you out of the mundanity of life and giving you a new sense of perspective.’ [Source: Art Fund]. Some art can even make you feel like you are in love apparently (they didn’t say which art in particular for those who are spending these long cold nights alone- sorry). Now this study interestingly came out at exactly the time that a famous art gallery was promoting a new exhibition, and in a similar set of circumstances
I have chosen to twist those findings ever so slightly.

So we conclude: ‘Buying art can beat the January blues according to scientists’.

If you are depressed, come to http://www.paintmeapresent.com and order a piece of art to lift you out of the winter sadness. If you have a friend that is depressed, send them to http://www.paintmeapresent.com so that they too can buy themselves out of melancholy or even better, you buy said friend a Paintmeapresent as a present to cheer them up.

Big smiles

3 week countdown, for Christmas orders…. And first baby

So now starts the countdown, for two fairly big events. The first is the deadline for Christmas orders. My artists need 3 weeks to turn around a painting so taking into account Christmas postage, orders must be in by the end of November to stand a chance of making it under the tree. The second big event is the arrival of my first child… due on 3rd December…. my early Christmas present is hopefully doing the final stages of cooking and getting ready to come meet us.
2,000 people picked up a flyer and listened to my spiel about Paint me a Present last week at the Spirit of Christmas Fair. The feedback was wonderful. A lot of oohs, aahs, calling friends back to have a look, taking note of artists’ styles and genuine praise for a new concept!  Importantly, there were also many promises to place the order before the deadline. I helped a bunch of brainstorming customers think of what pictures they have of relatives’ pets, weighing up which photo of their child would be most appropriate and pondering views that would mean the most to their friends. By the way, I am still very much on call to help think of the best subject matter and composition, so keep the enquiries through the website coming! (Hit top right ‘Get in Touch’ on www.paintmeapresent.com)
Many sleepless nights had gone into the mental preparation for the fair as my nerves set in. What reception might it receive amongst such a discerning audience? These guys were the ultimate shoppers and if they didn’t give it a thumbs up, my business would be a novel idea, but not a feasible business. I am delighted that from the first of 50 hours spent manning the stall, all feedback pointed to the start of a lucrative and fun time in Paint me a Present’s story…. if even a quarter of the promises convert into orders, I will have some very busy artists over the coming six weeks!
So now to deadline number two.  Of course this deadline is way more flexible and completely out of my control. 3rd December could mean hanging around until the 17th, getting bigger and boreder. But in case you were wondering, bets are being taken and my money is on the 29th November, and for a girl.  What do you reckon?
So here’s to a very productive few weeks of getting things together and hitting go (on both an order and labour), and then a period of creating, nurturing and happy recipients!
Bye for now x

Competing with the big boys- Paint me a Present attends Spirit of Christmas

So I said to myself: what better way to tell thousands of potential present-buyers about a new gift service than to exhibit at the UK’s biggest Christmas fair? Well, there are probably a lot more ways, in which case please let me know and I will appoint you Head of Marketing.

Short of alternative creative influence, I have taken the plunge and signed away a fair sum of cash to take over one of the stalls at the Spirit of Christmas Fair 2012 at Kensington Olympia. It calls itself the ‘Home of Christmas Shopping’ and it should have footfall of about 45,000 people.  45,000 crazed present-buying customers getting organised for Christmas and looking for inspiration that sets their presents apart from the others under the tree! Sounds wonderful to me and the best hang out ever for Paint me a Present.

But there’s a lot to think about after making the initial decision to put your money on the line and your brand out in the big guns’ arena. Notably, how do you draw customers in?

Shall I dance a jig to Jingle Bells? Offer cake rivalling the creations from the Great British Bake Off? Ply them with 2 for 1 Quality Street tins? Hire some male models to smile invitingly and occasionally take their tops off? Pretend to faint to get some sympathetic attention?  Splatter paint on people and force them to engage, if only in anger?

Well some of the above have actually made the cut, so watch out….

Really though, there is a lot to worry about. For the first time you are not a computer or phone removed from strangers seeing your company for the first time. The crowd you are targeting are not necessarily supportive and encouraging friends and contacts. They could sneer at it, avoid the flyer, walk past and shake their head… and any of those outcomes are terrifying. Absolutely hunker-down-under-the-duvet-and-avoid-the-world scary. But you know what? Time to grow some balls. What’s the worst that could happen? Nah, I won’t think about that for now.

So anyway, please come along to Kensington Olympia between 30th October and 4th November and see us at stand GH15a, upstairs by the entrance. At the very least you will get some sweets.  Whatever you do, don’t just walk past.

For more information about the Spirit of Christmas Fair see: http://www.spiritofchristmasfair.co.uk/

To remind yourself of Paint me a Present’s amazingly appropriate offering (especially for Christmas) see www.paintmeapresent.com

Paint me a Present 8 weeks after launch- what are people ordering?

So, 8 weeks in to the venture and www.paintmeapresent.com  is thriving. Thank you all for your support so far and keep the orders coming!

I thought I would share some of the paintings that have been asked for since our launch in order to prove two things:

1) There is absolutely no pattern emerging in what people want

2) The saying ‘it’s a blank canvas’ couldn’t be more fitting to how PMAP is being received

The protagonists of commissioned paintings so far have included:

1. - A school
2. - A happy couple on their wedding day
3. - An engagement ring
4. - A church of a christening location
5. - An old family home
6. - Some teddy bears
7. - An old fashioned telephone box
8. - Personal portraits at sea, at home, on a bike!
9. - A child at the playground
10. - A week-old baby
11. - Dogs in the sea
12. - A bunch of lillies
13. - Windmills
14. - A view of a favourite walk
15. - A horse mid jump
16. - A stunt aeroplane mid-flight

I commend all the present givers for their creativity and their faith in the artists to deliver on very different subject matter. So far no one has been let down and it goes to show just how talented the PMAP artists are.

I expect this individuality to continue. Whilst I set up this service imagining some quite conservative commissions of people and pets at rest, or a traditional landscape (which we are absolutely able to do!) I think the action shots and unique subject matter is testament to our great photography and our open mindedness!

If you want to commission a painting for someone and are still a bit confused of what you should order think of their favourite belonging, person, view, building, car, holiday, pub or an event they love and remember- you will be able to find the images easily with a bit of help from google or Facebook albums!

Happy commissioning x

Why do men always leave present buying to the last minute?

The situations may be different but that feeling is the same. It can hit you on the day before your Mum’s birthday, the morning of your wedding anniversary or the 24^th December.  You have left it to the last minute, again.

The panic and guilt overtakes you with a cold sweat, the situation is all too familiar. You are either at the train station (where you only have Accessorize, WHSmiths and Paperchase between you and a disappointed looking mother who is there to greet you at the other end), on the internet at work (where you are desperately searching  for a solution to the holding position you set earlier when you realised your wife had remembered your anniversary but you had wanted to “save the surprise” for dinner that evening) or in the middle of a rammed Oxford Street, hungover from two weeks of work booze-ups and caught up in a crazed melee of bags, coats, people, more people, queues and lack of help.  You are on your own.  You have cocked up.

Previous solutions, none of them recommended, are to buy gift vouchers, buy a CD, buy a DVD, ring the special person and lamely ask what they want for their birthday/ anniversary/ Christmas, write an IOU, split up, go on holiday. They all scream pathetic and that you are a bit of an insensitive b*stard.

Another solution is to throw money at the situation. Lots of insensitive b*stards do this. I am sure a significant proportion of the economy is propped up by this. There is an equation for effective present buying which includes an inverse relationship between the length of time left until the occasion and the amount of money you blow on it. In that heady panic and guilt ridden state, the £100 budget you previously set yourself has just turned into an iPad. An expensive present invariably sends a signal that “I love you but I don’t think about you enough [sorry]”.

So why do some of us insist on leaving it to last minute? What’s going to change between now and the event in a month’s time?  Are you suddenly going to get a lot richer?  Are you going to miraculously stumble over the perfect gift (and actually have the foresight and generosity to think of the perfect recipient)?  Probably not.

The solution is not difficult, it just takes a small bit of planning (a diary reminder will suffice) and a medium that allows you to have a choice and quickly make a decision without any panic. Paint Me a Present is one of those beautiful things that helps you do that – 5 minutes of thought and 3 minutes of ordering and you have created something lasting and thoughtful.  It screams that you are a good bloke, even if you are not.

And it pays, guys. The more effort you are seen to put in the more you will get back. You will see.  You may even get that iPad you wanted….

www.paintmeapresent.com