A customer of Canvas Press, John from Florida had a great idea for custom art in his home and sent us his story along with before and after photos of his canvas project.

It has been a pleasure working with you this first time, and I expect to continue.  The outcome is substantially better than I expected. A little background: Last year, we remodeled our family room, leaving a space above the fireplace for a painting up to 32 x 42 inches, with a plan to find the “right” painting either here in Florida or in Europe on one of our trips.

In June we stayed in Paris with family, visited Monet’s gardens in Giverny, France one rainy Sunday afternoon.  The home is famous for the gardens and water lily ponds, subjects of many of his paintings.  We took several point-and-shoot photos of the grandchildren and gardens, one of which I sent to you for printing on canvas.

The results are spectacular!

John took the original image with a Canon A530 Powershot and modified it with Photoshop to remove some people in the shot and add more details and plants in bloom. He then used a painting software to add brush strokes to the image, creating a true ‘Monet’ feel to his shot of Monet’s garden. We printed it as a canvas gallery wrap with mirror border so that we didn’t have to crop any of the artwork. John added acrylic gel and varnish to the finished canvas once it arrived to enhance the look of a painting and hung it in the spotlight!

Just like the saying goes, if you want something done right you’ve got to do it yourself! John’s search for the perfect painting led him to create his own. If you have a vision of art and just can’t seem to find it, try going out and taking some shots for yourself! It’s okay if you aren’t tech-savvy or don’t have the equipment to do all the enhancements John did on his own. You can let Canvas Press take care of it with our major retouching and OilWorks enhancements.

Canvas Press worked with a marketing firm in Maine to prepare artwork for a new McDonald’s restaurant in Bangor, Maine. The canvases were rushed in time for the grand opening and put just the right finishing touches on the restaurant. The sepia toned photos on canvas showed families, the Ronald McDonald House and historical photos of the restaurant chain. A hint of teal accent divided the collages and was used to create a color border for the sides.

I am not a decorator. By that, I mean that my walls are bare because I’m generally too focused on other, more practical endeavors, like road tripping. Its a curse, actually. My family and I moved into a house about 2.5 years ago that has a lot of wall space, and aside from fingerprints and various chocolate smudges, my walls are just as they were when we moved in. (I really hope that’s chocolate.)

When I was approached by Canvas Press to do a review, I was excited, simply because I’m really beginning to think I may want to have something to stare at besides a computer when I sit on my couch. Since my cries for original vulvtacular artwork have been ignored, Canvas Press became very important to me and I am absolutely delighted with the product I received.

My art was easy to order; I just uploaded a photo and selected a few simple details and within a week, I had art. True art. Art that featured my wonderful marauding troop of children. It is an absolutely beautiful rendition of the four of them proving that they are just evil enough to be cute, or is that cute enough to be evil? Bottom line, I am totally impressed and I absolutely recommend Canvas Press to anyone who wants to make a photo even more special, or send a gift to an obscure relative who already has everything.

Canvas Press has made my wall just a bit more homey (yo), and I am so happy to be able to bring you this endorsement in which I was compensated only by the product I reviewed.

The following was published in the Fort Hood Sentinel by Dave Larsen on March 18, 2010…

Sixty art canvases that went up on the walls of the Fort Hood Resiliency Campus Friday were donated by the Round Rock-based company Canvas Press.

Canvas Press chief executive officer Doak Walker said he made the donation after hearing about the campus and taking a tour of the facilities in late 2009.

“I think it is an honor to be a part of this campus, to stand proud with Fort Hood Soldiers,” Walker said.

The canvases were created from digital photographs depicting a wide variety of events and activities at the Resiliency Campus and elsewhere on Fort Hood.

“I like the aesthetics; it’s beautiful,” 1st Lt. David Ochs, assistant operations officer for the Resiliency Campus, said. “I also think it adds to the excitement of the campus. You see a lot of smiles in the pictures.”

Ochs helped select the photographs to be made into the canvassed art. He said he looked for images reflecting the services offered at the campus.

“Based on the services we provide, it’s almost like a warm blanket for the post,” Ochs said of the Resiliency Campus. “From fitness counseling to how to do your job better … even cooking classes, we offer so much in so many facets of life.”

The process of creating the canvases, called “Giclee” or art prints, helps create artwork from digital sources, like a digital photo, or can preserve old photographs and paintings.

Walker called the Canvas Press donation, estimated in value at $7,000, as simply one neighbor helping another.

“Having the largest U.S. base in our own backyard is a great honor,” Walker said. “The community of Round Rock is very proud to reach out and help.”

Text and photo by Dave Larsen of the Fort Hood Sentinel… http://www.forthoodsentinel.com/story.php?id=3374

iJango, an internet startup with a downtown Austin office had Canvas Press make a collection of canvas prints to decorate the walls. Using art from their own company in the form of logos and website screenshots, we were able to help them make a very personalized workspace.

Christmas and Halloween seem to get the lion’s share of everyone’s holiday decoration budget, but there’s no reason to leave out Thanksgiving, especially when photo to canvas prints make such unique and beautiful decorations.

While the images of Christmas – Santa, reindeer, angels, stars, and evergreen trees – and those of Halloween – jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, witches, and black cats – are quite particular, those associated with Thanksgiving are somewhat less so.  Halloween shares its pumpkins with Thanksgiving – though they have generally become pies by then – and Christmas shares its turkey and lavish family dinners.  Crisp days, autumn leaves changing color, and football – either participating in friendly family games, or watching the pros on TV – are things we associate with both Thanksgiving and the fall season.  The only things that Thanksgiving doesn’t seem to share with the rest of the season are the images of our pilgrim forefathers.

With so many possibilities, Thanksgiving really should get more decorative attention.  Thanksgiving reminds us of family, friends, and food, and the memories that combination can make also serve as great ideas.  A few examples:

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  Norman Rockwell’s ‘Thanksgiving’ painting of the family seated at the table in the foreground as the grandmother presents the golden turkey and the grandfather prepares to lead grace is a true American icon.  Why not re-enact the painting with your own family?  A white table cloth, an oven-roasted turkey, and enough people are all you need.  A photograph like that would be not only a one of a kind Thanksgiving decoration but a treasured family photograph.

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  Another family picture idea: dress up as pilgrims.  Costumes are available or easy to make if you’re a bit crafty with a sewing machine and a glue gun.  It’s something that will make a great memory year after year.

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  Football season – and football weather – is another great idea to explore.  Some families play touch football before Thanksgiving dinner – to work up an appetite – or afterward – to work off the pumpkin pie.  A photo of your family scrambling around in the fall leaves would make a beautiful printed canvas; even better if you have family team jerseys.  If your clan is more the ‘weekend warrior’ and ‘armchair quarterback’ type, snap of shot of everyone on the couch in the living room watching the game.

Once you have the digital photos you want to transfer to canvas, send them to Canvas Press and we’ll take care of it from there.  Your holiday printed canvases will be not only beautiful, but durable and easy to care for.  Gallery wrapped canvases need no frame, so there is no glass that might break while hanging or storing.  While the quality of your printed canvas will be such that you may want to display it all year, if you do want to use it just for seasonal decoration, just keep it in a cool, dry place where it’s safe from moisture.  When you bring it out for the holidays, your stretched canvas will need only a light dusting – if that – and it’s ready to hang.

If you want to know more or get some guidance on a project, visit www.canvaspress.com and let us show you how Canvas Press can make your holidays brighter.  Email us at the website or call (888) 784-5553 and we’ll be glad to help.

-Karen from Canvas Press

Through the LifeWorks Home Improvement Challenge (HIC), corporate and community teams partner with a decorator to design the space of a LifeWorks client. LifeWorks clients live in Supportive Housing – a program offering subsidized housing to kids who need a “getting on your feet period.” LifeWorks clients are former foster care children, former homeless youth and teen parents who may have never before received the help they need for a fresh start.

November Design Group of Austin, Texas contacted us about working with them to create a special canvas artwork piece to be featured in the living room of the makeover apartment. The girl living there was not able to bring her cat there with her, so we made a beautiful sepia-toned 30×30 gallery wrap canvas of her cat so she would always be there with her.

For more information on LifeWorks and how you can get involved visit www.lifeworksweb.org

Some of you may have heard about the new products we’re offering at Canvas Press. We’re very excited to be offering digital printing on glass, aluminum, and FRP. Here’s a sneak peek of our booth at MetroCon 2009, an interior design and architecture convention in Dallas, TX.

We are really enjoying our Canvas Press photos on canvas in our new dental office.  Everyone comments on them and we have referred many to your website.  Here are a few photos to show how beautiful the canvases look. 

- Rosemary & Terry

After contacting Canvas Press, your Commercial Art Project Manager (CAPM) will help you plan your project as well as meet your budget and deadline.  There are several healthcare wall décor solutions available from Canvas Press.  Canvas Press’s main product, the gallery wrapped canvas, can be used in a variety of ways to ensure your healthcare environment is individualized and inviting. 

Employee Walls

Patients are often eager to return home while staying in a healthcare facility.  A wall of employee photos printed on canvas is a way to create a connection between patients and hospital staff.  Retiring employees as well as distinguished employees can be recognized with large specialty canvases.  These prints may include text with the employees name, position and years of service on the bottom.

Vision Statements

Displaying the healthcare facility’s mission statement on canvas in a very visible spot within the facility can serve as a reminder for employees of their greater purpose on a daily basis.  This makes your wall décor solution serve a dual purpose of art and relationship builder.

Logos

The hospital may want to display its logo in the main entrance. Healthcare funding donors may also be highlighted with canvas art.  Oftentimes, donors come from very different industries and individuals.  By using custom printed canvas art to display donors, it is ensured the logos will be formatted in a cohesive manner with similar sizing and texture.

Expansion Highlights

It can often take as long as a decade to complete healthcare renovations.  It is important to keep healthcare visitors and donors excited and informed about the transformation.  For under $200, a 30” by 40” canvas can be updated each quarter to keep everyone updated on the progress.

Inspirational Stories

Hospitals can often be places of stress.  Having cancer survivors’ stories and photos, for instance, lining the walls can serve to calm visitors.  This moves beyond art as a wall décor solution and into art as a reflective story of those who inhabit a space.

Calming Colors

Colors have meaning in all cultures.  White for purity, red for love, and yellow for happiness – all colors have understood cultural meanings.  Abstract patterns of a certain color can be hung on healthcare walls to create a desired mood.  Check out the Abstract section of the Canvas Press sister site www.ReallyBigCanvas.com.

Photography

Photographs are particularly nice wall décor solutions in healthcare facilities as they evoke an immediate human-to-human relation.  Smiling faces within a photo deepen this relationship even further.   

Signage

Canvas prints may also be used as signage to direct traffic flow within a healthcare facility as well as indicate reception locations, restroom entrances and waiting areas.

Art Interaction

Not all wall décor solutions have to be DO NOT TOUCH items.  Photos may be printed in the center of a large white canvas.  The white border areas may be signed with thin black Sharpie markers by patients and visitors.

Easy cleaning is a major benefit of using canvas as a healthcare wall décor solution.  Simply wiping the dust away with a gentle stroke completes the cleaning.    Additionally canvases are extremely safe because of their light weight and lack of glass.  Canvas Press products arrive with special hardware included to minimize the possibility of art falling if bumped by a patient.  Specialty safety hangers are available upon request.

If you would like to speak to a Commercial Art Project Manager about your healthcare wall décor solution, please call 512-828-5553.

For more information on healthcare wall solutions, please visit http://www.healthcarefineart.com/.