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Susie Collingbourne
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How to Turn Your Favourite View into a Custom Painting
More Than a Photograph We all have a photograph somewhere on our phone that we can’t quite bring ourselves to delete. It might be a stretch of coastline visited every summer, the view from a honeymoon walk, or the quiet horizon seen from a holiday cottage window. The image itself might not be technically perfect (the light slightly blown out, the horizon not quite straight) but it holds something much more important than precision. Commissioning a Custom Painting It holds a
Mar 155 min read


Why It's Better to Buy Original Artwork Over Mass-Produced Prints
There is a painting on a wall somewhere that will stop you mid-sentence. It has texture you want to run your fingers across, colour that shifts as the light moves through your room, and a presence that pulls you in. That painting will be an original , and print could never quite satisfy in the same way. 7 Reasons to Buy Original Artwork 1. The Aura of the Original We live in a world flooded with images. Social media, print-on-demand services, and high-street retailers have
Mar 127 min read


Commissioning a Painting: A Guide for First Time Buyers
For many collectors, commissioning a painting marks a confident shift in their sense of style and taste. Buying finished artwork is often instinctive: you fall in love with something that already exists. C ommissioning a painting, by contrast, is an act of collaboration . It is deliberate, intentional, personal, and planned. An art commission begins not with a canvas, but with either a desire for a thoughtful gift to celebrate a significant birthday/anniversary or (more usua
Feb 235 min read


How to Place a New Painting So It Blends Beautifully with Your Existing Décor
There’s a special kind of thrill that comes from bringing home a new painting. Whether you’ve just fallen for a windswept seascape or finally commissioned an artist to capture your favourite bit of Scotland’s coastline, the excitement is real. Then comes the slightly trickier part: where on earth do you put it? People often assume the challenge is matching a painting to the sofa or waiting until they redo the whole room, but placing a painting is much more playful than that.
Feb 155 min read


Art as a Gift for Life’s Milestones
Why Life’s Milestones Deserve More Than Traditional Gifts I want you to close your eyes, and think of the best gift you’ve ever been given. Aside from the joyful childhood delight of a new sledge or a longed-for toy on Christmas morning, I would be willing to bet that the best gift you can remember receiving as an adult is one which was personal, thoughtful and meaningful specifically to you. Not bulk-bought, mass-produced or generic, but one which was chosen to celebrate you
Feb 126 min read


Bringing Your Story Into Art How I Create a Commissioned Painting
This blog takes you behind the scenes of how I turn those stories into bespoke artwork. Whether you’ve commissioned art before or are quietly considering it for the first time, I hope this guide removes any mystery and shows how warm, collaborative, and enjoyable the process can be.
Jan 157 min read
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