The Fine Art of Investing. According to Sarah Ryan, who runs the online gallery newbloodart.com, those who had the foresight to invest in several of her exhibiting artists have enjoyed returns that have put the best minds in the City of London to shame. A number of painters on her books have seen the value of their work double in recent years. Some have enjoyed returns of more than 400%. Ryan, who spends her time constantly on the lookout for artists to represent, says MA students, who have typically been honing their art for several years, tend to make a better investment than recent graduates. "There is a fair expectation that they will continue to work in their medium for the next decade "thereby improving, and hopefully becoming commercially successful," she says. Artists on her online books who have done well in recent years include 31-year-old Emily Gregory-Smith, who produces Turner-esque semi-abstract paintings of the area around Aberystwyth where she studied, and still lives. Her larger (1 square metre) works used to sell for £600 now they would set a collector back around £1,800. Canadian artist Nathan James, who combines silk-screen printing and stencilling with traditional painting to achieve his distinctive works, has seen one of the biggest valuation leaps. At his first solo show in London in early 2007, a 1.2m x 1.8m painting was listed at £2,200. Today that size would sell for £12,000, representing an increase of 445% in just over two years a stellar investment by any standards. Click here to read this article