I have about 10 original paintings around my house (excluding my own!) on various walls in various rooms. None of the paintings are hugely expensive but all were considered buys. Very few people buy paintings casually, you will not put something on your walls that you feel lukewarm about. It is for this reason that I remember the time and place of every art purchase I have ever made.

Looking at and buying art taps into senses that the purchase of other items simply cannot. When you are enjoying a painting you can truly immerse yourself in the colours, forms and mood of the piece. It is this that makes buying art a memorable experience and therefore something appropriate for marking significant occasions like the birth of a child, anniversaries and other such events.

I have three young children and decided when our first, Eabha, was born, that we had to mark the occasion with something both tangible and enduring. My husband and I love art and decided to buy a piece of art for any significant occasions such as the births and first birthdays of the children. Thus far we have bought paintings reflecting our tastes and our personalities with probably a lot of what we felt at the time in them as they are all quite bright optimistic pieces (we were still blissfully unaware of the levels of sleep deprivation we were yet to endure!). As the children get older we will buy more for their personalities than ours, and these paintings will be reminders of what personality traits were apparent to us in that child at the time.

We hope eventually for the walls of our house to be a kind of gallery timeline, reflecting both our personalities and tastes, along with the emerging personalities and tastes of the kids. It is a work in progress and I am enjoying every minute of it!