Living with Art: Mixing Patterns

Because I’ve gotten some questions at the gallery about how to arrange art in a home and bring different pieces together, while keeping the look cohesive and airy, I thought it might be fun, and hopefully helpful, to write an occasional post about living with art in one’s home.

We recently installed William Morris-inspired wallpaper on one of our living room walls and rehung some art so I thought this would be a good starting point, since there is a variety of color and pattern mixing happening here. I love how it turned out and think it works because the white frames on the art provide breathing room and unity. The reflective surfaces of the glass also bounce more light around the room, which visual lightens up the wall.

The orange in the the butterfly piece at the bottom of the trio of artworks adds a note of contrasting color (a direct compliment to the blue on the wallpaper) that ties in with the warm wood on the furniture and floor. Replacing it with another piece in a lighter color scheme like I use on my art would also work, creating a softer, more romantic look overall.

There is a clear nature theme going on here, which adds to the unity and works with the organic textures in the room. I really love bringing nature into to my home in art as well as other ways—stone, plants, lots of wood, etc.

The larger two works are mine and the butterfly on the bottom is by Midnight Oil Studio, purchased at the Sturgeon Bay Fine Art Fair years ago. I love this piece as the lower wings make me think of snow-capped mountains. The ceramic planter was purchased in Amherst, Wisconsin. I don’t recall the artist’s name but the studio and gallery were in two silos which was very cool and fun to visit.