Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in an art gallery?

I don't anymore, because I do!

My home is now a "living art gallery." It's filled with paintings by living, working artists from all over the world. Great artists whose work I feel quite honored to have in my possession. I own about 90 paintings, most of which I've acquired directly from artists online.

Isn't the internet great? More on how I got the paintings in a moment, but first I want to tell you a bit about the road I took toward becoming an "art collector."

I grew up in New York City. I attended public schools. For as far back as I can remember, my classes would often go on field trips. Field trips in New York City are heaven for a kid. The city is literally your oyster! Anyway, we would often visit museums. The Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, to name a couple. I loved looking at all of the masterpieces. Very inspirational. I suppose I fell in love with art in the second grade. As I got older, I somehow lost touch with the power art can have in one's life. I took a couple of art history classes in college and even sat on the board of directors of an art group when I lived in Virginia. Still, I never thought that I could become a collector. That's until I looked online!

There are so many artist websites out there. EBSQART.COM is among the best. Just look them up!

There are so many talented artists out there who are struggling. They paint or sculpt or take photographs because they feel it's what they were born to do. Many of them aren't represented by galleries and all they want to do is make a decent living by selling what they create. Many of them create beautiful, expressive work that is worthy of being displayed in some of the finest galleries. They sell their work online for a variety of reasons. It's really a win-win situation for both the artist and the buyer.

In most cases, the art is quite affordable. The most that I've paid for a painting (so far, anyway) is $265. The artist gets to sell his or her art quickly without the interference of galleries. Galleries often charge artists commissions of 50-60% on paintings sold. Who wants to pay that? It's unreal. With online artist websites in general, artists get more of that money and the buyer gets an affordable, original work of art. Clearly, I'm not a wealthy collector, but whenever I buy a painting from an artist online, I really feel that I'm supporting them.

What could be better than that?

EBSQ is pleased to publish Michael's work as a regular feature to the EBSQ Zine.