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’.
In the art world, being able to determine the fakes from the genuine works is of course of paramount importance. After all, an original Andy Warhol could be worth Millions of pounds, whereas a fake would be worthless. It’s not something you want to make a mistake with.
It appears however, that someone may have done just that. A painting presumed to be an original Warhol, entitled ‘315 Johns’, which was authenticated by the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board and then sold to an un-named buyer may not be a Warhol at all.
The painting is of the artist John Chamberlain, and was sold by him the year 2000 for more than $3 million. Now, some eight years later, one of Warhol’s former assistants claims that he in fact painted the work, not Andy Warhol himself.
Warhol’s former assistant, Gerard Malanga, is currently in court in Brooklyn, claiming that Chamberlain shouldn’t have sold the work because it was not his to sell, and that it’s not a Warhol original. Furthermore, Malanga disputes that Warhol didn’t even know the work existed!
Malanga claims he painted the work with two of his friends, a year after he left Warhol’s tutorship as homage to the great Pop Art master. Malanga claims that Chamberlain bragged to him about how much he’d sold the work for when he met him:
You know that painting you made of me? I sold it for $5 million.
The trial continues with Chamberlain denying any knowledge of the work being fake, and insists that Warhol personally gave him the painting as part of an art swap between the two.
You may have never come across the notion of having a photograph printed on canvas. If not, you’ll probably want to know a little about the notion, such as what it’s all about and what you can expect from the process.
Photos on canvas are a great way to display your pictures, much better than simply framing them behind glass or storing them away in photo albums. By printing on canvas you can display your photographs in glorious, vibrant colours, making them look more like works of art that just pictures.
You can have your photo printed on a canvas from any source file, such as a jpeg, bmp or any format you have. The better quality the image of course, the better the picture will look when it’s printed onto canvas.
If your picture needs any work doing to it, such as scratches cleaning up and the colours adjusting that can be done before your canvas photo is printed. Your picture doesn’t need to be perfect.
Finally your treated, improved photograph can be printed onto quality, artist standard canvas. This will ensure that your photographs look like works of art that you’ll be proud to display on your wall.
James Bond may favour a vodka martini, but Martini & Rossi are having to resurrect some old averts from the fifties and sixties to revive interest in their product. The original adverts were from iconic Pop Art luminary, Andy Warhol, and originally ran from 1956 to 1963.
The new campaign entitled “Warhol’s take on taste” and will run later on this month in US based lifestyle magazines.
The idea of the adverts is to revive interest in the Vermouth based beverage, Martini, which was very popular in the 1960’s. The ad campaign consists of four separate Andy Warhol prints.
Next month, on August 6 (which would have marked Andy Warhol’s 80th birthday) Martini and Rossi are holding a special, invitation only, party at the Warhol Factory.
Michael Hermann of the Warhol Foundation said about the deal:
Martini & Rossi was ahead of the curve when they identified Warhol’s talents in 1956 and they are once again ahead of the curve with this campaign that redefines vermouth and the art of the aperitif.
Canvas pictures look great displayed on your wall as they ad a touch of class to a room and look far more impressive than standard glass framed pictures. However, you don’t need to purchase an expensive piece of artwork from a gallery to have a unique work displayed in your home.
For example, you could take one of your own photographs and have that turned into a canvas painting. Photos printed on canvas, whether done as actual photo realistic prints or in a modern, pop-art style; make great original pieces of artwork for your house.
Alternatively you could always try to create your own work. It doesn’t cost much to purchase a canvas and some paints and let your own vision take shape. You don’t need to have attended any art classes, or even have been any good at art at school. It’s your canvas; you make it what you want it to be. Then you’ll be sure it’s original and will be an excellent talking piece.
Of course, having your photographs printed on canvas is a much easier option.
