These are two of my favorite paintings. I got them both at antique stores on antique alley in NH in 2024. They are both oil on canvases. The left was $70 and is signed “V Bjorkholm.” From what I can find that was most likely an alias for Mark Osman Curtis (1879-1959) who was Scottish born but moved to Denmark during WWI. I have never been so lost in a painting before. Something about the pinks and purples in the mountains, the idyllic countryside, the sheep; I can imagine an entire life there. The right painting was $40 and is signed “Wayne Cooper.” This painting is most likely a scene in Alaska and is one of the most textural pieces I own. You can feel the movement of the river looking at it.

The top 3 pieces in each photo I got from facebook marketplace for $70 for all three in 2023. The left two are unsigned and are scenes in Italy; the right is signed but I honestly can’t make it out; it also comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. The top right painting somehow reminds me of where I grew up in south Florida if you don’t look at it too closely. The bottom left photo of the cat is signed but it is mostly covered by the frame and I don’t want to take it apart; I’m obsessed with this painting though. It’s an oil on canvas like the rest so far but it has much softer blending. In the right photo, the bottom left is just an Anthropologie Venice architecture sketch that I got secondhand. The bottom right is a favorite; it is a hand-colored lithograph made in the early 1800s that I got from Brimfield flea market for about $10.

Both of these paintings I got from facebook marketplace in 2022 in the suburbs of MA, both are oil on canvas, and both were $20. The left painting was made in Italy and shows a street and grocery store “Delicatessen” in Positano, Italy. I actually went on google maps and found the exact place. It feels very quaint and unserious and romantic. It’s a naive perspective, the colors are quite whimsical, and I just love looking at it. The right painting is actually in a style I normally hate: broken, disjointed brushstrokes. The style usually feels chaotic to me but I think the relatively limited color palette makes it more digestible.

I purchased the top and bottom left painting at an antique store in Maine, the middle left on facebook marketplace, the top right at Eldred’s auction house and the bottom right in Colorado. I honestly can’t remember how much these cost exactly. The top and bottom left and the bottom right were all around $20. The middle left and top right were maybe $200, which is the most expensive so far on the tour! The top left is such a cool piece; it is silk-based textile art, so it’s created using dyed or painted silk and it looks like a scene of an East Asian village. The left middle painting is oil on canvas and signed M. Jackson. Looking through many M. Jacksons’ works, I’m guessing it’s most likely Martin Jackson, a Philadelphia based painter in the 1900s. The bottom left watercolor is surprisingly one of my only winter scenes, no signature. On the top right is a pastel on board and the auction cites “DUTCH SCHOOL” as the artist or maker; it is an early 20th century landscape with a windmill. The bottom right is one of my first paintings ever. It is a watercolor titled “Sand Dunes” by Kelsey Shields and it still has a special spot in my heart.

All three of these paintings I purchased at Brimfield Flea Market. The top left and right in 2023 for $200 and $100 respectively; the bottom left in 2025 for $100. These are 3 of my favorite paintings as well. The top left is an oil on canvas; I remember the dealer told me he got it an estate sale in New York where it had been hanging for generations. Unfortunately, I don’t know much else about it. If you look closely, you can see two people walking together at sunset and I always say that this painting is what my life will look like when I am 80. The bottom left is a coastal pastel signed “Vail Barrett” from Roxbury. When I saw the right painting at Brimfield, it was on the ground in a corner, the frame was barely hanging on, and it looked like it was struggling. When I tell you, my jaw dropped when I saw this painting…it’s an all time favorite; I love this type of late academic style work. It is signed “H. Marshall Jones” and I believe it is a late 19th century painting so it is OLD. Unfortunately, I can’t find much on this painter. The only contender is a Marshall Jones living in Boston and painting during summers in Nantucket during the last quarter of the 19th century, but his art doesn’t seem too similar to this.

Ok so here on the right we have probably my favorite piece (tied with the Marshall Jones piece above)! I got this on facebook marketplace in Rhode Island for $200 in 2024. It is an oil painting of the alps by a German artist “Gunther Heinzel”. As you’ve probably noticed by this point, I am SO drawn to escapism and idyllic landscapes when it comes to paintings. I purchased it from one of the most interesting people I have ever met on facebook marketplace. He was a war veteran with the quirkiest personality and most eclectic garage. The left two oil paintings are a pair signed “Karim” I got from Brimfield in 2025. Unfortunately, I don’t know much more about these.

Both of these paintings currently live in my bedroom. At the time of this post, this left painting is my most recent acquisition (late 2025). It is an oil painting from facebook marketplace purchased for $400 (my most expensive painting purchased to date). It is signed M. Serafina, referring to Maria Serafina, an Italian artist born in 1955. It is quite large and I absolutely love the florals here (which is quite rare). The right painting is a watercolor by Fausto Battelli, an Italian lithographer and painter, that I purchased for $100. I found it at an antique store in Michigan on my way down from the great lakes back to Chicago. I honestly look at it every morning when I wake up and everything feels so peaceful and calm from this rooftop in Rome.

These two paints are my earliest pieces of artwork together with Sand Dunes. The left painting here is an abstract piece titled Tally by Patrick St Germain for CB2. I purchased it in 2021 for $300. It was really before I started getting into vintage art and paintings and I loved it. If I recall, it was designed to reflect the writing of Cy Twomnly in the style of Basquiat. I honestly still love it and feels so different than everything else I own. On the right is a reproduction of one of Monet’s paintings, Charing Cross Bridge, that I got from Craigslist in early 2021 (before facebook marketplace was really a thing) for $100. Monet is one of my favorite artists of all time and this is as close as I’ll ever get to having one of his paintings in my home, so I’ll take it! This is a limited edition piece from the Brushstrokes Collection / the Museum Shop and this reproduction is actually super well done and it comes with a Certificate of Authenticity! This, for obvious reasons, is one of my favorite pieces.

The oil painting on the right I bought on facebook marketplace for $100 back in 2022. It is signed “B.H Duke” most likely referring to Bertha Hatton Duke, an American artist from Indiana and active during the mid 20th century. The top left painting was from Brimfield, no signature and not much else known, and the bottom left was a gift from my sister from her travels in Italy.

I found this little moon macrame wall hanging at an antique store for $10 and I’m obsessed with her. I acquired the tiny oil painting on the right from the artist’s square in Montmartre when I was in France for $30 from a local artist. I honestly cannot remember where I got the vintage print of Amiens, but it was one of my favorite architectures to learn about in college.

On the left are two prints (I couldn’t have a real painting in the bathroom!) by George Samuel Elgood that I got at Canal Street Antiques for $75. It’s kind of wild that I hadn’t heard of him until I purchased this; he was the leading garden painter in Britain! The middle painting I got at Brimfield Flea Market and is signed on the back “Susannah B. Howard 2008”. I believe she is a Philadelphia based artist. The right lithograph I found also at Canal Street Antiques for about $20 and is signed “Martha Williams.”

The left and right prints were part of a set of 3 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston prints I got off of facebook marketplace for pretty cheap. Amazing frames. The middle my partner purchased at a goodwill for $5 along time ago!

That concludes the tour of the current art in my Boston apartment! I really got into collecting artwork in 2020, so I have been doing this for the last 5 years and it’s honestly such a fun hobby. Some of these are a bit pricier than others but also some of them come with insane frames. I would say it’s super reasonable to find real oil/watercolor/pastel/etc paintings out in the wild for $50-$200 no problem and the more you hunt, the more likely you are to find a great deal! Considering it can also cost $50-$100 to print and frame other art, I think this is a great addition to anyone’s art collection!