Now we all have the opportunity to be an ‘artist’, it’s art made simple; art for the masses. Take any one of your favourite photos: holiday, family, still/action shot, scenic, landscape, underwater, etc. and they can be turned into a an original piece of artwork to hang in your home. It would also make an ideal present for that often difficult to find wedding, birthday or anniversary gift.

How does it work? After any necessary retouching/colour balancing of the photo it is printed onto artist grade canvas and then stretched to fit a kiln-dried fir wood frame using a centuries old method. There are also a variety of techniques to choose from to give ‘your’ work of art a unique twist.

Of course you don’t have to use your own photos. If you prefer something a little less personal to hang on the wall, but still want that authentic touch; there is a vast library available to choose from.
Images can be manipulated and custom designed to fit the needs of corporate or business customers.

Using this method we can all be an ‘Andy Warhol’ & what’s so brilliant about this is that we don’t have to be super rich to own our own canvas framed work of art. What a novel idea & such a fantastic way of preserving for all time a moment of our own personalised history.

Traditionally the material of canvas has been used throughout the years for artists to paint on, using a variety of media such as watercolours or oils. It’s for this reason that canvases are usually regarded as being saved for art, and seen as being for elite who can afford to purchase such expensive works for their homes.

However with the advances in printing techniques canvas is no longer the exclusive domain of the artist, now the photographer can utilise the remarkable effect of canvas, and have their photos on canvas whenever they wish. This means that your pictures, even ones you’ve taken yourself on your holidays or at your children’s party, can be printed on canvas and then displayed on the wall like a work of art.

Canvas prints look exquisite when hung on the wall, as they look just like works of art, yet are displaying your own personal photographs.

You needn’t be an art collector, or someone who is fabulously wealthy, to have an original canvas on your wall, nor need you be royalty to have your own portrait printed on canvas. With canvas printing you can have your portrait printed on canvas for very little cost.

The day you get married is the most important in your life; as such you’ll want a keepsake of the special day in the shape of your wedding photos. However hiring a professional photographer to take the photos is only the beginning of the process, you need to ensure your pictures are displayed properly as well.

Traditionally wedding photos are confined to wedding albums, opened very rarely when one is feeling particularly nostalgic; otherwise they are stored away in drawers or in cupboards gathering dust. This doesn’t have to be the case though, as the best way to display your prized wedding pictures, such as the bride and groom’s first kiss, is by having them hanging on your wall to enjoy everyday, and for your guests to see when they come round to visit.

When hanging your wedding pictures on the wall, you could opt for the standard framed picture, or you could try something more unique and artistic and have them printed on canvas. Canvas prints always look more stylish than framed prints, and add a certain glamour to your pictures. You’ll find having your wedding photos printed on canvas will make them far more appealing that having them hidden away in a dusty photo album, rarely seeing the light of day.

This Friday five paintings from the famed Pop Art masters Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were stolen from their home, in a Swedish museum. The paintings were in the Aaberg Museum, located in Baalsta just outside of Stockholm. Around 2 a.m. Swedish time the works were stolen from the museum, which comprised of three Roy Lichtenstein paintings and two Andy Warhols.

Carina Aaberg, the chief executive of the Aaberg Museum, stated:

Police have been seeking witnesses in the neighbourhood, she said. The stolen pieces have a value of $503,000 US.

This is extremely sad.

They have stolen some of our most prized possessions — some very valuable artworks — and they knew exactly what they were after.

As stolen artwork of this nature is impossible to sell on publicly, it’s likely that the works will be sold to private collectors who are well aware of the fact that they are stolen. This means it’s unlikely the paintings will ever resurface.

If you have a love of photography, using photos on canvas can transform your home. Colours date and the new wave are moving towards neutrals and mono-chrome.

How then can you inject colour and personality that won’t date, or is not too costly to change? The ideal way is through photos on canvas. Framed photographs are no longer ‘trendy’ – many outlets are selling frameless prints on canvas to the masses, but by using your own photos on canvas, whether it’s of the family, the pet or the flowers in your garden, you can now create an individual, unique look for yourself.

In the comedy film ‘Legally Blond 2’, there is an ‘Andy Warhol’ style canvas of ‘Bruiser’ the Chihuahua – how fantastic to have your own pet immortalised in a print on canvas!

You can be as conventional or as quirky as you like, with such a choice of special effects available for a printed canvas, Gainsborough’s painting of ‘The Blue Boy’ is old hat, you can have the blue-ised boy, the green-ised boy or even the red-ised boy!

You can start building up a collection of original canvas photography to give your home a complete new colour and theme for every season.

We’re in the height of summer right now in the UK, although it doesn’t look like it. The British weather is legendary for it’s temperamental changes and violent skies, even when it’s supposed to be the middle of July!

This means that for getting a tan or enjoying a picnic, we’re not that blessed. However when it comes to taking photographs outdoors, our weather is just about ideal. The best pictures, that ones that look truly great when printed on canvas for example, are not taken during strong, brilliant sunlight. Instead, they’re taken during overcast conditions, low light, early morning or in the sort of muggy, nondescript weather that Britain has so much of.

Therefore if you’re looking to take some great photos with a touch of dynamism, don’t despair at the lack of sunlight we’re experiencing right now. Instead grab your camera and go outside and make use of the Great British weather.

The digital age has brought about many changes, but never has the ability to express ourselves artistically been so accessible and sophisticated. We can now take our happy snaps with our digital camera and transform them into something remarkable. We can download them instantaneously, with no need to wait for them to be developed. We can perfect them with a tweak here and a tweak there or use our photo as a base to create a totally new image far removed from the original, using one of the many easy to use photographic editing programs available for your pc and which probably came free with your camera. Taking your own photographs one stage further, they can then be transformed into canvas prints.

Imagine a family portrait immortalised on canvas, creating a focal point in your favourite room or even a row of canvas photos cascading down the stairs as regal as you would find in any country pile. The point is large pieces of art, personal to you and your family, are no longer the preserve of the wealthy.

The applications of canvas printing are endless. Once upon a time, most of the homes and offices you would visit would display art from a limited number of mass produced popular images, such as Vladimir Tretchikoff ’s “Chinese Girl” whose green hued face stared down from countless living room walls during the 60’s and 70’s. Even now, much of the art in many homes has been purchased in a well-known Swedish outlet or from a well known catalogue chain! While that’s no bad thing, beauty is still in the eye of the beholder and what appeals to me will not necessarily appeal to you and vice-versa. Many large prints that are affordable have been pared down to a sort of visual common denominator, designed to appeal to the many, a sort of art “muzak”. Transforming your images or photos to canvas allows you to express yourself symbolically and artistically ensuring that the images on your walls are totally unique to you.

You may feel unable to afford a unique piece of work commissioned by an artist and yet don’t want a mass produced image, especially in the current “credit crunch” climate, so what if instead, you were the artist, collaborating with experts to create a print on canvas, made of quality materials, using the latest techniques, to your size, colour and style specifications at an affordable price and delivered to your door in 24 hours? You can even have your own Warhol-esque or Lichtenstein style print. This exciting new trend makes individualism attainable.

How satisfying to have a visual product that encapsulates your own personal artistic taste and expression. This medium really does allow everyone to express and realise a unique vision that is tailored perfectly to their environment. Thanks to technology, freedom of artistic expression is back in the hands of the people.

When you have your photos printed on canvas you don’t necessarily have to have them printed as is. Sure, your pictures make look good as they are, and photos to canvas always make your pictures look great, but they don’t have to be printed as they come. You can have your pictures altered to create a variety of effects, making your canvas prints stand out from other, regular photos.

For example, you could have your photo printed on canvas in black and white, removing the colour from the image. This will make your photographs look stylish and interesting, ensuring that the colour doesn’t detract from the composition.

One popular effect with photos on canvas is to have the picture turned into black and white, but to have a splash of colour to pick out one aspect. This could be your child’s eyes, the sun, a brightly coloured coat or dress, or anything interesting.

Another popular effect is to make your canvas print look older by turning the colour into sepia; this makes the picture have a brown/orange tone.

The Photographic Portrait Prize is a photography competition that has been running for fifteen years now and attracts some of the best talent from around the world when it comes to photography.

This year the competition has led to 7,000 photos being entered, with just sixty works making the shortlist for the final exhibition, which is being held at the Lowry in Manchester. The show has already been seen at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

The exhibition consists of a mix of family photos and photojournalism, covering famous faces from the world of sport, movies and music. The stars on show in the photography exhibition include Amy Winehouse, Alex Higgins and actor Sir Ian McKellen.

The winner of the show however was a photo by Jonathan Torgovnikm where he pictured Joseline Ingabire and her Daughter Leah Batamuliza. The photo shows the harrowing image of a mother and daughter from Rwanda. Her husband was murdered by the militia and she was repeatedly raped by them while she was pregnant with his daughter.

The artist says about the picture:

When you look at this portrait, the first thing that strikes you is how beautiful they are.

You can see this photo, and the rest of the finalists at the Lowry now, until 21st September. Admission is free.

The art world has long been the subject for thieves and robbers due to the extremely high levels of profit on offer for selling stolen artwork. There is also a certain romance to stealing art that gives the thieves notoriety if they are successful, or even if they aren’t and are caught.

The robbery of artwork also lends itself to a painting’s back-story, becoming part of the legend, and every famous painting as a rich history behind it. It’s no wonder then that many thieves are drawn the world of art, and Bernard Jean Ternus is one such man.

Bernard Jean Ternus is currently in court pleading guilty to attempting to sell four works of art that were stolen from a museum in France last year. The paintings were stolen in a brazen act of robbery from armed thieves.

The paintings were being touted by Bernard Jean Ternus for a staggering $4.7 million, but sadly for Bernard Jean Ternus he was trying to sell them to FBI agents and French police.

Patricia Seitz, the District Judge asked Ternus why he was pleading guilty, Ternus responded:

Because I am guilty.

The four paintings had been stolen from the Musee des Beaux-Arts, in Nice, in 2007. One of the paintings was a Monet, the ‘Cliffs Near Dieppe’.