Where Can I find Art To Collect? - Online Shopping
- Jeanette Johnson
- Mar 15
- 3 min read
Where can you find art to collect? Are you kidding me?! You can find art ANYWHERE!
Art can be found in conventional and nonconventional places. You might expect that you have to go to a gallery or know someone on the inside, and while that might help in some instances, that's certainly not the case 99% of the time.
You can find art at your local school, community center, church bazaar, or street festival. But in this article, we're going to take a look at that great equalizer of all shopping centers - Online.
This is Part Three in a series of articles in which I'm going to cover three main topics:
Why would I want to start “collecting” artwork?
Where can I find quality artwork?
Who should I be collecting?
This is part one in the subject of WHERE. Where can I find art to collect?
The most obvious place to look for art these days is online. It's never been easier to discover new artists and follow their work. You can scroll for hours and find someone whose style feels just right. But I still encourage you to find artists in real life when you can. There's real value in meeting the person behind the work. Seeing artwork in person changes everything—the scale, the texture, the small details a screen just can't show.
That said, most of us do shop online, so it helps to understand how it works.
Large marketplaces like Etsy can feel like walking through a giant art fair. There's a lot to choose from, and the filters make it easy to sort by color, size, style, and location. You can absolutely find beautiful, handmade work there. I've bought a variety of gifts and home items on sites like these, and most have been handmade; a few turned out to be scams.
You can also check out places that use a technology called "print-on-demand." These sites print artwork that has been designed, digitized, and uploaded to their shops for print on canvases, aprons, dish towels, mugs, and the like. Some artists might even link directly to these types of shops, so you know that they're in partnership with each other.
Be sure to look carefully.
These platforms are crowded now. There's a rise in AI-generated images, copied designs, and mass-produced goods masquerading as handmade. It can be harder to tell who is a real maker and who isn't. I'm not saying don't shop there—just slow down. Read the shop history. Look closely at the photos. Trust your instincts.
Your Assignment This Weekend: Find an artist on social media or in real life that you enjoy and see what's available for sale in their online store.
The safest place to buy an artist's work is through their own website. That way, you know the work is truly theirs, and more of the money stays with them. Running a website isn't free—there are yearly fees and payment processing costs—but it usually costs less than selling through a large third-party platform.
The cost of doing business adds up. That's why I always come back to this: when possible, meet the artist. Learn about how they make their work. Ask questions. A real connection will tell you more than any product listing ever could.
How does this help me when collecting art?
While you could buy the latest and greatest popular art off the shelf at Homegoods, you'll feel better about your purchase for a longer period of time if you have a connection with the artist or if you know it's a one-of-a-kind original work.
When you're talking about inviestment in art, you should really be looking for something that matches your personal style and draws out an emotional connection. That's where the joy is.
Want to read more? I have the FULL GUIDE available to download! Click here to get my guide to Create a
Stay tuned for the next installment in this series about "How to collect art" and if you haven't already - subscribe to my email list for alerts when new artwork drops and you'll get first access to new pieces!
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