Does your child love to draw, paint and create wonderful little pieces of art?  Of course they do.  Kids love to explore their creativity…at home and at school.  You probably have a stack of their creations lying around the house…thinking if you had the time you will figure out what to do with all that wonderful art from your talented little artist.  Here are 3 ideas that you can use to display your little ones art.  You will be surprised too…quite often when their art is displayed together it has a pretty cool abstract art installation feeling to it…plus some sparkles, macaroni, and plenty of elmer’s glue.

Idea #1 – Create a photo canvas collage.

If you have so many pieces of art you couldn’t possibly display them all…but you love them all…this might be your solution.  Scan or take photos of your child’s artwork.  Then lay them out in Photoshop save that file and upload it to us and we will take care of the rest.  If you don’t have a scanner or a camera to take photos of the artwork, no worries.  Just contact us at 888.784.5553 and we can make arrangements to get everything taken care of for you.  From the scanning to the layout we can help you create canvas photos of your child’s artistic creations.  The really cool thing (at least to me) about doing this type of display is that it really can go anywhere in the house.  Definitely a great conversation piece and looks like modern art.

Idea #2 – Frame a selection to create a wall collage.

Buy several of the same color and size frame.  Pop the artwork in the frame and start to hang them.  Hanging them in a symmetrical way will be challenging, but it gives the playfulness of the artwork a little bit of order and allows grown ups and kids alike a chance to enjoy them.

Idea #3 – The clothesline effect – Hang their artwork on a wire hanging system.

This is a fun idea if you want to rotate artwork in and out.  Also great to hang good report cards on as well.  I think you can buy this wire hanging system at Ikea.  Pretty simple just clip them up there.  But again, it makes for a fun visual and would be perfect in a playroom or in a high traffic area like the kitchen or mudroom.

We would love to see what you come up with.  Your little one will feel so special when you make their artwork into a permanent piece in your home.  If you need our help creating your canvas photo prints or even printing them on some of our fine art photo paper just give us a shout.  We can help you with this project or any you may have….I take that back, we can’t come over and fix your plumbing or build a deck for you…but when it comes to canvas prints you know where to come.

Valentine’s Day can get a little stressful.  Especially for those who love to procrastinate.  Guys, I’m looking at you.  Valentine’s Day is TOMORROW…just in case it slipped your mind.  As of now, it may be too late to give them a few canvas prints from Canvas Press for Valentine’s Day, so now what.  Well, it may also be a little too late to buy flowers and have them delivered (unless you want to pay a $20 guarantee delivery fee) and I wish you the best of luck of finding something good at the grocery store.  But there is still enough time to get them something good.  You may need to do a little more work than you are used to, but in the end I promise your sweetheart will love it.

Idea #1 – Frame a Poem, Quote, or Song Lyrics

- You will need computer, card stock, a printer, and a frame (size of your choice)

• Find a poem, or a quote either about love or maybe it encompasses the way you feel about your loved one.
• Pick out a good font (please avoid comic sans) and write that poem or quote on your word processor software (ie Word, Power Point, or even Photoshop)
• Align it however you like…be creative
• Print it out on the card stock you have…even resume paper would work in a pinch
• You may need to cut it down a little to fit in the frame size you chose…that’s not too tough.  Be sure to clean the inside and outside of the glass of the frame…it’s not cool to get a dusty dirty frame.
• That’s it you are done.

Now you have a one of a kind gift that she or he will love forever.  See an example of what I’m talking about below

Idea #2 – The Love Coupon Book

-You will need your computer, card stock, printer, hole punch and ribbon (or something to keep it all together)

• Write out about 10 different coupons that your Valentine would appreciate on about a 4×4 space on Word, Power Point or Photoshop.
• This could be a back rub, a foot massage, breakfast in bed, or even emptying the trash for a month…whatever.  You know what they would really appreciate.
• Print out the coupons on your card stock.  Don’t be afraid to use some color graphics on these…hearts, expiration dates, try to make them look like coupons.
• Trim the card stock to the appropriate size and use your hole punch to punch holes in the same place.
• Bind them together with ribbon or a ring clip.

That’s it.  It makes for a nice little surprise on Valentine’s Day.  They will love it.

Idea #3 – Just Frame a Photo

-You will need to get a photo printed (either at a photo lab or on your own printer) and a photo frame.  I suggest Hobby Lobby or Aaron Brothers.

• This is a no brainer.  Pick one of your favorite photos of the two of you.  Get it printed…write something really nice on the back of the photo.  Pop it in the frame and you are good.
• The advanced version of this would be to add some writing or quote on the front of the photo using Photoshop or Photoshop express.  This is a combo of Idea #1.
• You could frame several photos and give them to your special person as a collection (maybe from your last vacation or just the 2 of you goofing around).  Makes for a great wall collage.

That was easy enough.

Idea #4 – Instagram / iPhone photo book – My favorite idea

-You will need your computer, your iPhone camera roll (possibly Instagram), photo paper (card stock may work for this again), a printer, hole punch, and some ring clip binders…If you can’t give photo canvas prints as your Valentine’s gift this may be just as good

• Go through your iPhone and/or your Instagram camera roll and choose some photos of the two of you together or maybe a few photos from a trip together.
• OR you can do a quick photo essay about your loved one and photograph things they would love…again, be creative but be quick too.
• Size the photos to print about 5″ x 5″.  Or 5×7 if you include regular iPhone photos (Instagram photos are square).
• Print the photos on your photo paper or on the card stock
• Be sure to make a title or front cover to your mini photo album and personalize it.
• Line all the photos up and punch holes in the same spot on each photo to keep them lined up.
• Bind them with the ring clips, or even better, with a little ribbon.

Now you have a gift that you both will love to look at.

Be sure to remember next year…and maybe you can order some canvas photo prints for your one true Valentine…or maybe you have several special Valentines in your life that you need to get some for.  That’s what we are here for.  We hope everyone has a great Valentine’s Day tomorrow.

Smart phones have made it so easy for us to communicate and share what we see every moment of every day. The advancement in the technology in just the iPhone’s camera alone is amazing. This little camera is about to replace the need to carry around a point and shoot camera. The optics and capabilities of this little gem is only going to get better over time. This has spawned a movement called “iPhoneography“. Basically people showing off photos from their everyday life with their iPhone…but doing it in artistic ways with the help of camera apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic (just to name a few). There are even art galleries opening their doors to artists who use the iPhone as their tool of choice. With the iPhoneography craze building there have been several pieces of “equipment” that you can purchase to make the most of that camera on your iPhone. This equipment can range from kitschy to pretty cool. But who am I to be the judge. I am a photographer and I can get a little geeked out over pretty much any photo toy.

The biggest takeaway I would like you to get from this is that you should know that the photos you take with your iPhone or other smart phone are good enough to print on canvas or large photo prints.  It’s pretty amazing how large of a canvas print we can make from a regular iPhone photo…no matter what little gadget you purchase. So if you want to do a little artistic experimentation…or just have some fun…check some of these tools out, go out and take some photos and maybe create a few canvas photo prints with what you captured. We would love to hear the process you used.

Here are a few different iPhone camera accessories to check out.

First off from Photojojo is a trio of lenses and a special case to hold them.  The lenses are a Macro/Wide lens $20, a Telephoto $20, and a Fisheye $25.  Buy all three for $50 as a package deal

These next two are from iPro lens system.  You can get the case, the wide angle, and the fisheye lens for $199

This one is from cOnice zoom lens for the iPhone, Samsung Galaxy S, and Sony Xperia X10.  You will make a statement with this lens.  Retails for just under $50

These next two shots are showing off Photojojo‘s iPhone lens dial.  Take those three lenses that I showed you at the top and insert them in this handy case and you can film movies and take photos without the trouble of changing those pesky lenses out.  Just rotate them.  Seems a little bit clunky but oddly desirable.  The case with the 3 lenses sells for $249

And the grand daddy of all the iPhone lens mounts…People thought this was a hoax when it first came out, but it isn’t.  You can now mount your SLR lenses onto your iPhone.  Thank you Photojojo (again).  This unique gadget will let you mount any of your regular SLR (or DSLR) lenses to your iPhone to get a little more creative and control over your image.  The SLR mount runs $249 (the big lens is not included).  Pretty crazy.

So there you go.  If you are looking for a way to expand your iPhone photography skills and have a little fun doing it these are just a few of the gadgets and tools out there you can use.  We can’t wait to see what you come up with…using your iPhone, your point and shoot, or your SLR…we love seeing the amazing artwork that people order each and every day.  As always, if you want to print a photo on canvas you know where to come…that’s right CanvasPress.com

First off, let me explain what I mean when I say “Replaceable Art”.  This is a term I just created out of thin air that means any art that is changed out monthly, seasonally or every couple of years.  I ask this question because I have personally seen many friends and people in my social network talk about how they like changing up their house decoration every so often…including the artwork or personal photos that hang on their walls.  My wife and I are guilty of the same act of recycling and changing our home decor.  We find ourselves constantly changing what is hanging on on our walls based on the season.  We go all out for pretty much every season and then we take it all down and start again.  It is kind of nice to have a stockpile of photos and art that are stored when you don’t need them but we can always break them out when the season…or our taste requires.  That is what brought up this question that I posed in the title.  Is replaceable art just a fad?  Well, I have some thoughts on the matter.  I also have a few ideas for folks who don’t think it’s a fad and think of it more as a lifestyle choice.

I think there are a couple of factors at play for people who like to change things up in their abode rather than investing in one or two expensive pieces of art to hang on their walls.  I think the economy over the past couple of years have gotten people thinking about thrifty ways to decorate their walls which has lead to this huge surge in a DIY (Do It Yourself) movement.  Another reason is personal taste.  Some folks would rather have family photos adorn their walls than expensive art.  But photos can go out of date rather quickly so new ones will pop up each year.  And at last you have folks (like my wife and I) who just simply get bored at looking at the same stuff on our walls for more than a couple of months.  I am sure there are a bunch of other factors too like the difference between the Baby Boomer generation and Generation X…and Y but I don’t want to get too cerebral here.  This is just an opinion but I think that people will continue to gravitate toward having art that is easily replaceable on their walls than invest in something that will stay on their walls for 10 or 20 years.  Arguments are welcome.

This opens the door to all kinds of fantastic ideas that you can use to keep the art or photos on your wall fresh and exciting.  I have some ideas about using a mixture of photos on canvas, photo paper, and art canvas prints that can be used throughout the year and is a relatively smaller investment than a one of a kind piece of art…And who is to say that the stuff you create isn’t one of a kind…of course it is.  And that is what makes it even better.  I am going to use the example of decorating by season.  Here are a few ideas that you can use to decorate your walls throughout the year (and please add your own in the comments).

Spring

• Go grab some photos of some wildflowers or go to a field and take photos of your kids flying a kite.  Those could make beautiful canvas prints or go smaller and just print them as photos to put in smaller frames…You don’t always have to go big.
• Photos of your family in your Easter Sunday clothes.  I can see great wall collage of the photos from the Easter Egg hunt.  Be sure to photograph the details…that is what makes a great photo canvas collage work.
• Spring is a time of fresh greens.  Have your kids do an art project of all different shades of green.  Now this is something you can have forever and display each Spring.

Summer

• Take some photos of your kids at the pool or at the beach and display some on photo frames that you can rotate the photo in and out of and print one as a photo canvas to be the centerpiece
• Think about 4th of July and doing a few pieces of word art as a wall collage – great sayings like “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and maybe include a line from the Star Spangled Banner.  Use different tones of Red, White, and Blue in your art.
• Think about what color Summer makes you think of.  Go to a local hobby shop, grab a canvas and that color and paint something…anything.  Use a stencil or paint by numbers or trace it on the canvas first then paint it.  Just try it…it’s fun.

Fall

• Of course you can have a ton of fun with Halloween.  You can even do a few online searches for creepy images and get those printed as canvas prints or have them sprinkled around your house in photo frames.
• Take pics of your kids in their Halloween costumes and display those as desktop photos to add the the fright fest.
• Thanksgiving conjures up images of fall leaves and cooler days.  Go out and find those changing leaves and take some close up photos of them.  A single orange or red leaf or collection of leaves can have a bold but playful impact as photos on canvas.  You could even just dry out the leaves and frame them for a unique piece of natural art.
• There are a ton of craft activities that you and your kids can do together…One of the best is the painted hand print turned into a turkey…classic.  You can do that on a nice cardstock or water color paper that you can buy at a hobby store then frame it and have it for Thanksgivings to come.

Winter

• Of course there is the big obvious Christmas.  Christmas photos, Christmas crafts, and even lyrics to Christmas carols are things you can print on canvas and enjoy around your house for the season.
• Or you could go with the less obvious and decorate in the icy blues or new funky colors you see for the Christmas holiday.  Take a cue from department store ornament colors to help you create your color palette.  Bright fun colors are great to decorate with…especially if you have young kids.
• Start a tradition each year by taking a family photo in front of the tree or on your vacation and display it somewhere in the house during Christmas.
• Don’t forget about Valentine’s Day (That is still in the Winter season…right).  Remember when you were in grade school and your art project was to make paper hearts.  Do it again.  Make big ones and small ones and have your kids make them too.  Make paper heart garland and frame a few of your favorites.  You could also Modpodge a heart onto a blank canvas (or embellish a canvas print you already have).

These are just a few ideas that are floating around in this noggin’ of mine.  I would love to hear more ideas on transitional and replaceable art that you have going on in your house.

Inspiration can come from almost anywhere.  Rather than choosing one particular photographer’s work to inspire you this week I want to show you hundreds of photographers’ work.  You all have heard of Flickr.  It is the dominating photo sharing site on the net.  But lately I have been drawn to 500px.com.  I have been continually amazed by the images I am seeing on there.  I keep hitting the next page just to see more.  Fair warning, there are nude photos on there, so probably not a site you want to look at with the kids (although most of them are tastefully and artistically done).  I have been a photographer for over a decade and I have always said that I would rarely hang other people’s art photography on the wall…but I have been having serious second thoughts about that after seeing some of the amazing work I have seen on 500px.  I wouldn’t mind having several of the photos on canvas.

It’s a cool website too.  The images really pop off the background and you can rate photos as well with a like or dislike.  And I think one of the most beneficial things on there…especially to photographers eager to learn…is the photographer who took the photo will often list the camera settings used to capture the image.  There is something for everyone on this site: landscapes, portraits, wildlife, abstracts you name it.  Many of the photographers who post photos to 500px are pros, but many of them aren’t…they just have a good eye and aren’t afraid of snapping a few photos.  Now that is great inspiration.

Here is what the homepage looks like.  Immediately you are struck with some beautiful images.

Here are a few sample images that caught my eye.

Again, I want to reiterate that this site is probably rated ‘M’ for Mature audiences.

Andreas Gurskey recently made big news in the fine art photography world for selling a photo for 4.3 million dollars.  Pretty insane right.  Well the photo has been object of a lot of criticism and acclaim over the last few weeks, but the one thing you can not take away from Andreas Gurskey’s work is his ability to see the whole picture.  Gurskey has a knack for seeing patterns in the environment, in crowds, and in places you wouldn’t expect (like the 99 cent store).  His work proves that you and should inspire you to look for art EVERYWHERE.  Sometimes you just to take a step back…maybe even way back to get a different perspective at what you are looking at.  Always ask yourself, “I wonder what this photo would look like if I took it from over there?” or at this angle.  The other thing Gurskey is known for is that when he displays a photo, he doesn’t hold back.  He normally prints his work to ginormous sizes.  The print that sold for 4.3 million was around 12′ wide by 7′ high and had impeccable detail and texture.  All of his work does.  Here is a look at some of his work.

The 99 cent store

Kuwait Stock Exchange II

And here is the photo that sold for 4.3 million dollars to a private collector.  Let us know what you think about that.

Smith was a photographer for Life magazine and perfected the photo essay while working for them.  He could tell a complete story without any words whatsoever.  He is well known for being a bit on the bristly side and was a well known perfectionist.  When you look at his photographs and photo essays the stories he was telling through his camera still rings true today.  Do a google search for him and you will be amazed by how he is able to capture the human emotion, in war time and in peace.  Smith actually was on the Pacific front lines during WWII and was wounded by enemy fire.  His war images are some the most honest and thought provoking of that genre.

In this image think of the story he is telling.  What does the photo say to you.  Where is this man going?  Where is he coming from?  And notice the foreboding clouds in the background…lots of symbolism there.

I’m telling you, the guy was a genius at telling a complete story with one photo.  Think about Eugene Smith when you are taking photos.  What story are you trying to tell with your pictures?

Galen Rowell’s images of landscapes are different.  They are different in the fact that before Galen, wilderness photos were much more of the observer with a camera.  Galen transcended wilderness photography by becoming an active participant in the image and landscape he was photographing.  Rowell often hiked, climbed mountains, and camped for days on end before getting the photo he wanted.  In 1972 he became a full time photographer and one of his first major assignments was a cover story for National Geographic.

When I think about the dedication, the persistence, and the patience it took Rowell to capture some of the images he did it is absolutely inspiring.  It reminds me it is ok to go off the beaten path…even if it’s just a few yards off the path…to grab a shot of a beautiful sunset or a field of wildflowers.  After seeing these images I there may be a spike in travel to Yosemite and Yellowstone.

Walter Ioss was one of the big reasons I got into photography.  I saw his book “Diamond Dreams” one day while at a local bookstore and my jaw hit the floor.  I had no idea sports photography could look like this.  Iooss probably one of the most famous Sports Illustrated photographer…ever.  You have no doubt seen his images on their pages.  He is known for his iconic portraits of Michael Jordan and for SI swimsuit covers.  But what I love about Walter Iooss’ photos is his point of view.  When you look through his body of work you typically see photos that are shot from a perspective that no one else thought of.  I remember seeing one of his photos of a World Series celebration and his photo so clearly illustrated the “agony of defeat” as it showed the dejected losing team ballplayers heading to the dugout with the celebration of the winning team happening in the background just out of focus.  I thought that was brilliant and I was even more hooked with his work.  Take a look at just a sampling of his work by googling is odd greek name to see more what I am talking about.

Here is another of my favorite shots of his that he took while he was doing a story of Cuban baseball in Havana.  Really take a look at the photo.  You will notice that he took this shot at the absolute critical moment and every single eye in the photo is focused on that ball.  Iooss says, “even the dog is looking at the ball”.  Awesome!  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I am an animal lover, but I was never into wildlife photography.  Nothing against wildlife photographers because I know how difficult it is to get a great shot of a wild animal…but it never really resonated with me.  That is until I saw Nick Brandt’s photos from Africa.  These are some of the most stunningly beautiful portraits of the animals that roam the African plains.  Nick didn’t use super long zoom lenses to photograph these animals, most of them were taken within a few yards of the animals (don’t ask me how he accomplished that…I would be shaking so hard I wouldn’t be able to focus the camera).  There is so much drama and personality in each of the photos he shows and having them all done in a sepia tone gives them a unified body of work.  I am constantly inspired when I look at Nick’s work and I hope you are too.  To see more of his work go to www.nickbrandt.com

This is one of my all time favorite photographs.