@Jenny
Ah, you are such a lover of art! I love that question...(uh, oh - here comes another of my "stories"!
We toured the states doing art/craft shows professionally for some 30 years. We're also graphic artists...hand-pulled silkscreen printers working from tonal separations of our original photographs and drawings. We are easily attracted to the work of others we've met along the way, who see the world the way we do. We've collected a number of works from artists we love. Some come from galleries, some from art shows, some from just keeping in touch. Obviously we need more wall space.
I started the serigraph collection with my first paycheck when I was a teenager. It just happened. I fell in love with an artist's work, and they all still delight us on the walls after all these years. My cousin in Canada is a well-known, totally incredible painter - we've some of her work as well.
As lifelong students of cultural anthropology, we've a seriously huge collection of Indigenous art and textiles. We usually buy directly from the artists and craftspeople. My uncle and aunt started that love when I was a baby, with my baby jewelry, art pieces & books about the tribes of the southwest US, South & Central America. They, and I have always traveled, which gave me and them so many sources for collecting, no matter how many times I've sworn to not acquire anything that would not fit into my day pack and carryon, or wear on the plane home as yet another layer!
I grew up in the vastly multicultural SF Bay Area, so my tastes reflect that as my "normal." We were also gifted a lot of Asian antique furniture from Creek's mom, & bought Danish Modern as well. I guess when you're as old as we are, it naturally accumulates? It all goes well with the architecture - Frank Lloyd Wright loved his collection of Japanese art; he designed elegant buildings and furnishings there.
As serious art collectors have advised, collect what you love, and want to live with. This is much more important than investment value.
Have fun with it, love it!
Kitty