garden art

Leaf it to me…

It seemed a shame to have a print or two put in our guest room, and then the rest of the photos end up sitting on a hard drive in my office, unseen and unloved for eternity. I decided to dip my toe into the water of on-demand printing...

This summer I want to create an eye from leaves in the garden – to make an Eye-Heart-Buffalo collection of three pillows!

Last summer, as I was wrapping up tour season, I took some time to take some photos that I’d been thinking about for quite a while.

The result was a series of photos featuring leaves from my garden–from annuals, perennials, houseplants, and shrubs. I ended up enjoying the process and the final images a lot. I’d posted them on my Instagram and Facebook pages, and they seemed to get a good reaction.

I like the photos so much, it seemed a shame to have a print or two put in our guest room, and then the rest of the photos end up sitting on a hard drive in my office, unseen and unloved for eternity.

I decided to dip my toe into the water of on-demand printing and offer them up to be used on products to be ordered online through Fine Arts America.

I took another couple photos and a leaf hearts poster I’d created years ago and set them up too. Any image allows a buyer to choose a product in many categories:

Wall Art

Great for offices and housewarming gifts! They can be ordered from 5.5″x 8″ up to 39.5″x 60″ and come framed in a variety of frame and mat styles and colors – even tapestries are available.

Home Decor

Lifestyle

Apparel

And for each of these to get to choose–not only sizes from small to 2XX. You choose from a variety of colors. Even the size of the image on the clothing–from large centered on front to small over the right chest. BE WARNED! Sizes run very small. Order a size or two larger than you would normally order!

Stationary

I still sell my books–the one I co-authored with garden writer Sally Cunningham, Buffalo Style Gardens, Create a Quirky, One-of-a-Kind Private Garden with Eye-Catching Designs, as well as books and posters I designed

I hope you can find something that spurs you to make a purchase!

Future plans

In the future I’d like to expand the site to include stock photography. I have tens of thousands of photos of gardens that I’d love to have available. I often gets calls from magazine and book publishers looking for specific garden photos. It’d be great to have them all in one place, categorized and tagged. Right now when I get a call, I’m mostly going from memory on what I have in photos–NOT a good system!

I set up the site because people seemed genuinely interested in having posters or clothes available with the photos. I’ve had a smattering of sales – well more than enough to pay for the annual fees for the online store. I’m not counting on Fine Art America to do much pushing and promoting. Marketing and promoting is my day job, so it’ll only do as well as I promote.

Jim Charlier is an advertising designer/photographer/crafter with a serious gardening problem. He is co-author of "Harry Potter: Herbology Magic: Botanical Projects, Terrariums, and Gardens Inspired by the Wizarding World" (Insight Editions, 2023) He's co-written a garden design book featuring the funky, quirky and fun gardens by the gardeners of Buffalo titled "Buffalo-Style Gardens: Create a Quirky, One-of-a-Kind Private Garden with Eye-Catching Designs" (St. Lynn's Press, 2019); he writes a long-standing garden blog (ArtofGardening.org); led the largest garden tour in America, Garden Walk Buffalo; has written for, or provided photography for dozens of magazines and books; has made presentations and participated in panel discussions on garden design and garden tourism nationally and internationally.

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