Oscar Bravo Home

FYI I changed my furniture layout again.

I get bored with my surroundings from time to time and when that happens I get the itch to go out and shop shop shop! But, unfortunately I can't really afford that and even if I could that would be very wasteful so instead of going on a shopping spree I use what I have and just move it all around. Not only is change therapeutic for me, it also helps me appreciate what I already have. Sometimes my plans of appreciating what I have backfires on me and I end up finding out that I “need” a few other things…like art.

I've been seeing a lot of figure sketches being hung up in homes and I really love how elegant and simple they look. I've been praying to the thrifting gods in hope of finding some vintage sketches for myself but unfortunately I haven't had any luck.

One day I will find some beautiful vintage prints like my friend Lea. Image via Creekwood Hill

I mean... I don't think I can get anymore jealous, LOL. An amazing collection of vintage figure drawings in my friend Kyla's home. Image via House of Hipsters

Since I have no patience for waiting and a limited budget I decided I would use my sketching skills that I learned in fashion design school and make my very own sketches and frame them like original works of art.

First thing first, find some inexpensive but nice frames. My go-to place for that: IKEA.

IKEA always has a fantastic variety of frames

I went with IKEA's Silverhojden frames that come in a bunch of different sizes and colors. The quality of the Silverhojden line is pretty good and what makes them inexpensive is the fact that instead of glass, the frames have a sheet flexible plexi-glass which I actually like since it makes the frame so much lighter and I don't have to worry about the glass breaking. I picked  gold frames with a white mat. I felt the mat and gold would really elevate the look of my sketches. The size of the frames were right and the price was even better. At 9.99 each I didn't think twice.




Before heading home I stopped at my local Dollar Tree store and bought some black poster paper and a box of white chalk. After that I had everything I needed to make my art.

As soon as I got home, figured out my frame layout with some blue tape, measured, hung some hooks and now all I needed to do was to start sketching! Oi! I googled "figure drawings" and "figure sketches" to get some ideas and then just started sketching, hoping for the best.





 This project was very forgiving! Not only did it not have to be perfect, if I didn't like how the sketch would come out, I could erase it with my sleeve since I was using chalk!

At first i wasn't too fond of my sketches, but now that I've lived with them for a few days I actually really like them! What's even more satisfying is that I only spent $42 on my project and had them ready in a couple of hours.








I highly encourage you to try making your own art! It's an original, inexpensive and its something you can be proud of! 90% of the art in my home was painted by yours truly :) and if I can do it...you can do it.

The large and small abstract art was done by me. The portrait was a printable that I purchased for $6. Get yours HERE.

My "fauxcasso" was my attempt at copying the master Picasso's "Head of a Woman" Purchase the print for under $7 HERE

Pages of a vintage book I found at the thrift and abstract art. All created by yours truly.

If you're totally afraid to even attempt to DIY your own art, then I have great news for you. There are some extremely affordable options on Etsy where you can download beautiful art for about $6 each and have them printed at your local print shop. I usually get mine printed in poster size at Walgreens  for about $12 and the prints are usually ready in two hours! Here are a few of my picks below. If you're interested in any of them, simply click on the item to get more information.



Hope I was able to encourage you to try and bring out your inner artist. Or at least get yourself to change up your furniture layout :)
-Oscar