Picture This --
Turning Your Own
Photographs into Artwork
Real artwork is a luxury. Truly
fine art is also an investment that
can increase in value over time.
The problem with this kind of
artwork is the price is often out of
reach of the average homeowner.
And, if you’re like me, I’d rather
have bare walls than a
cheesy-looking print. However, if
you long for some truly beautiful
art and you have a camera and a discerning eye, you can create your own artwork that’s custom, original – and at a fraction of the cost of fine artwork.
Local photos
While staying at a hotel in Austin recently, I noticed the hotel had beautiful professional photographs displayed in the public areas rather than generic prints that match the colors of the hotel sofas. It made the hotel in sync with the local area, showed some of the beautiful area highlights to hotel guests, and capitalized on the local beauty. This simple idea can be easily translated to your own home.
Many homes feature artwork of subjects and areas that may have no relationship to where the occupants live or their lives. Putting your own photographs in your home as artwork is a wonderful way to display you or your family members’ photographic talents and use your own home as a canvas of your life. You can’t get more personally-relevant than that – and that makes this kind of artwork so much more meaningful than any off the rack framed print.
Go for size
When it comes to artwork, size says a lot. The problem is that you can’t usually get enlarged photographs from your local photo processing center larger than 8x10. This is the beauty of the Internet. There are many services available there that will take your photographs and enlarge them to poster-sized (24x36) prints or larger. So, if you want to make a statement with your photos, get them enlarged to art-work size, have them matted, and then framed. Once you have your photograph matted, go a step further and sign the bottom right-hand corner in pencil with your signature. These extra steps put a standard photo into a whole new category: the category of art.
From photo to painting
If you want to go the next step, consider using a service that transfers your photograph onto an artist’s canvas. This is another technique that takes your ordinary photographs to a whole new level. Another especially beautiful choice is the oil painting treatment. The cra-pro.com website will take your photograph and make it look like an original oil painting. It will even change the background to make it look like an old master painting if that’s what you like. Any photos can be used, from kids or wedding photos to antique photos of your relatives.
The cra-pro.com website features brides that look like they’ve been inserted into an old Italian master painting with cherubs and angels flying around the bride. What a beautiful treatment this could be for precious photos of babies and children. And if you have a photograph that you love but wish a certain someone weren’t in the picture, this service will remove the offending person from your photo.
Original art
If you’re ready for meaningful artwork that’s custom and original or you’re tired of seeing the same prints in your friend’s houses that you have in your own, get out your camera and make your own artwork. In a weekend, you can have your own fine art. Make your living space original with original art that you make with your own hands.
Internet Photo Resources
© 2007 Kathryn Weber, all rights reserved
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Kathryn Weber is the publisher of the Everydayclean.com Cleaning Calender, that calender that puts you in control of your home by ending the power struggle. For more information log on to http://tinyurl.com/d9rh5.
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©2001-2007 Kathryn Weber
All rights reserved.
