Glasgow Art Fair: How you could snap up an original piece with a little guidance from the experts

• An assistant at the Art Fair puts out a sculpture by Jilly Sutton, in front of a David Bromley painting. Picture: Robert Perry

With 46 galleries showing works from more than 1,000 artists – some of them well known, others just emerging – there will be plenty of choice for the 16,000 or so people who are expected to attend over the event's four days. Such diversity will be a blessing for those simply going to view the art, but could make things difficult for those visitors with a chequebook in their pocket and a nascent desire to start buying art on their mind.

So, if that tatty band poster or hand-me-down Biba print is beginning to look a bit tired and you are thinking about beginning your own private Uffizi Gallery, where do you start? First off, if you are going to the Art Fair, then you are heading in the right direction.

Cristina Armstrong is the fair's producer. She points out that the fair is a relaxed environment in which to come and appreciate works by a huge range of artists. Rightly or wrongly, there is a lingering perception that some private galleries are staffed by terrifying guardians who will demand to know your views on the Colourists before letting you in. The Art Fair is not like that. It's about inclusion.

"We run informal guided tours of the site so people can come along and get a flavour of the types of work on offer," says Armstrong. "They can help first-time buyers get the confidence to speak to the gallery owners, who will be more than happy to answer any questions about the works they have for sale."

John Green has been running his eponymous Glasgow gallery for 25 years and he agrees that the Art Fair can help demystify buying art. "For many people, it is a minefield," he says. "We do things like Art Fair because they make the art very accessible to people. Some people won't come into a gallery for fear of being nobbled by a fast-talking dealer.

"The Art Fair is a great place to start because it is a very open space and it is easy to wander there around without anyone approaching you if you don't want them to."

Once you are in, what should you buy? The one answer that keeps cropping up is: buy what you enjoy looking at. Jane Houldsworth is the director of Flying Colours Gallery in London. She will be at the Art Fair and her advice is very succinct: "Clearly identify your price bracket and then fall in love. There are no rules. Go with some gut instincts and I would recommend chatting with the people on the stand who are usually very helpful. They should know a lot about the piece of work – but the important thing is that it speaks to you."

Green offers practical advice about ensuring that the art's physical size suits the room you intend to hang it in and, wisely, he also advises that purchasers sound out any spouses before committing. For Green, buying art for decorative purposes or simply to cover a crack in the wall are equally valid reasons but his fundamental rule is "buy what you like".

Don't feel as though you have to justify your choice by spouting critical theory at the person who is selling the art. You don't have to validate your decision or prove that you are somehow clever enough to deserve the art. The gallery staff will be as delighted to sell to you as they would be to Charles Saatchi. Perhaps even more so – 20-odd years into the role, Houldsworth reckons she still gets a kick from selling someone their first piece of art. "People think that they have to say something intelligent about the painting. Truly, it's fine if you just like that shade of yellow."

Samantha Eccles bought a painting by Glasgow artist Heather Lander when she was remodelling her flat several years ago. "What attracted me was the colour and movement of the work. It wasn't until I hung it on the wall that I began to realise what these shapes represented, and I realised it was quite an erotic painting. It's interesting when people come into the flat, who sees it and who doesn't. It's become a real talking point."

Of course, the elephant in the room is money. Good art is not always cheap. But with schemes such as the Scottish Arts Council's Own Art Scheme, which allows would-be collectors to spread the cost of buying a painting over a longer period, and many artists keen to strike similar deals, buying art has never been easier.

"Dealing with the artist directly allowed me to discuss a payment plan that was suitable for me, so I invested in the piece over the period of a year," says Eccles.

"There are a lot of up-and-coming artists out there who would be interested in doing a similar thing because they have lots of canvases that are difficult to store but they are keen to have (them] hanging in public or private places."

Then there is buying art as an investment. Anyone who is seriously considering doing just that is unlikely to be reading this beginner's guide to art buying but, perhaps surprisingly, both Green and Houldsworth simply say don't do it. Both could point would-be investors towards works which might be suitable but both dismiss investment as the best reason to buy art. They are happy to discuss value and explain why a piece costs what it does but make no claims about their skills with a crystal ball.

"The biggest thing in all of this is that if you are buying for any other reason than really liking the work is that you are missing the point," says Green. "If you are looking to invest, then buy an artist with a big reputation, but you are wasting your time if you can't live with it."

Houldsworth concurs that buying an artist who is already established enough for their work to fetch serious money is a safer bet than taking a punt on an unknown. However, like Green, she doesn't think that investment is a good reason in itself to buy art.

"People ask the likely future of an artist and I tell them I can only talk about the past. I don't have a crystal ball. Investment is a 'by the way' sort of thing, but I don't think that it should be a prime mover in purchasing. Buy what you like because you like it."

'The only rule is my husband and I have to agree we like it'

LESLEY McATEER, 39, RUNS A COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS WITH HER HUSBAND IN GLASGOW

I'VE always liked visiting art galleries but when I was younger I couldn't afford art – I was either a student or on a low wage. It's only in the past few years that I've started buying original art. I've been going to the Glasgow Art Fair since the first year really. I tend to buy one piece every year and I do tend to buy it there because there's such a great representation of galleries.

For someone like me who has a full-time job, has kids and is really busy, it's fabulous because it's a one-stop shop, and it brings in galleries from all over the place.

One of my favourite pieces is a Catriona Miller that I bought two years ago. On that occasion I did go to the Art Fair thinking, 'I would probably like to buy a Catriona Miller'. She had jumped up in price since the year before and I wanted to buy one while I could still afford to.

I loved the painting as soon as I saw it. It's called Miss Terri and it's a portrait of a woman. She has a beautiful face and I love the colours. I tend not to take anything else into consideration when I'm choosing artwork. I don't think about how it would sit in my house, I just think, 'I love it and I have to have it'. The only rule is that my husband and I have got to agree that we both like it.

The Catriona Miller cost 1,400, but I tend to buy my artwork through Own Art, the Scottish Arts Council scheme, which makes it affordable. I pay a 10 per cent deposit and then the balance, interest-free, over the next ten months, and you can take the picture away as soon as you pay the deposit. It means it spreads the cost over the course of the year, and, of course, by the time the next Art Fair comes around, you've paid it all off.

It's very exciting bringing a piece of artwork home. You know you're bringing in something that you're going to have for a long, long time and you know you're going to treasure.

When I buy a piece of art I like to live with it for a while and maybe put it on different walls in the house before it finds its final resting place. Then I might change it all if I buy something else. The Catriona Miller has moved twice, from the hall to the lounge and back to the hall again, but to a different place. I wasn't looking at it properly before, but where it is now, I look at it every day.