Silhouettes

With the sun out in full bloom in the summer, something that always catches my attention are shadows. They are so simple and ordinary yet can be so fascinating at times. Then the other day I noticed someones shadowed profile and i immediately began to think about Silhouettes and how something in its simplicity can be so dramatic.

Silhouettes have been used as an art form for centuries, originating in the 18th century and applied to portraits or other pictorial representations cut from thin black card. Jane Austen's Silhouette to the right. Silhouettes are still being used by modern day artists as a way for them to express themselves.


Sherrie Levine took mass-produced images, such as fashion models from magazines, and from them cut out silhouettes of the past presidents of the United States in order to challenge established ideas about originality and authorship. (image below on the left )

Kara Walker is another modern day artists who uses the original silhouette style of cutting the image out of black card to explore gender, race, sexuality and violence. Her cut-outs, which she attaches straight to the gallery walls at her exhibition, are so dramatic and powerful. She puts her audience in front of a black and whie wold displaying the harshness of racism. (image below on the right)


























With modern technology anyone can make a silhouette by taking a digital profile image and working with it a bit on photoshop:


You could create your own silhouettes in photoshop, get them printed up on canvas and have your own 18th century artwork decorating your home. To check out prices and some of our canvas options or simply to enquire about getting us to create a silhouette for you go to:
http://www.usaoncanvas.com/

Printmaking and It's Advances and Advantages

Printmaking is a process that allows an artist to easily produce and distribute their original work to the masses. It has changed and advanced greatly throughout the years. The processes have gotten easier to learn, faster to produce and far more accessible to the public.

In the beginning there were woodcuts and etchings created by the Old Masters such as Durer (woodcut on the right "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse") and Goya (Etching to the left "Los Caprichos").











This form of printing is a long process of preparation, in the case of the woodcut the process is loosely: designing your image, cutting into the wood, proofing the woodcut and lastly printing once you are satisfied with the finished product. You could spend days completing a compilcated print however once it is complete you can reproduce the work of art over and over. This reproduction of Art is an aspect that was not possible in the painting and sculpture world.







Throughout the years printing processes expanded and became easier and faster. Once the camera came into existence there was no stopping the growth and popularity of print. Now in the digital era the masses can become photographer/artists and there are almost no boundaries. Image can be distorted, blown -up, scaled down, merged with others and all within minutes! Not to mention how fast printers have become. You can even reproduce paintings by scanning and printing the image directly onto to canvas making it, in some cases, hard to tell which the original is.

Above is a reproduction of a painting achieved through Giclee on Canvas.

In my opinion Printmaking has introduced Art as a past-time to anyone who's interested as opposed to the elite.

Quick links:
Check out how you can create your own art, turning photographs into images on canvas, at http://www.canadaoncanvas.com/
Want to reproduce your own paintings or enlarge some old photograph's that require scanning? Visit http://www.canadaoncanvas.com/include/artwork_scanning.php

Wedding Photographers: Capturing Your Clients' Special Day on Canvas

A canvas print is a unique way to preserve the memories from a very special day in a couple's life.

When wedding photographers sell prints to their clients, it's now quite easy to offer them prints in a medium other than the usual photographic fine art print: Giclees on Canvas.

A stretched canvas print has a different kind of presence than a framed image. It creates an image that stands out from the wall and demands to be observed. With no need to frame and the Canvas's produced ready-to-hang, giclee on canvas is a easy way to turn images into works of Art.

Many of the orders we receive here at www.CanadaOnCanvas.com are of Wedding photographs. The orders differ immensely from large scale prints of the bride and groom, collages of moments throughout the day, group photographs of the bridal party to symbolic images celebrating their joyous day.

We also provide free shipping for orders over $99 to all of Canada and USA. To get an idea of our prices please follow the link to our canvas price calculator: http://www.canadaoncanvas.com/include/prices.php

Taking old treasured photograph's and turning them into works of Art

The new trend of printing photo's onto canvas is a great way to turn your favorite images into works of art, whether it is a digital image that never made it out of your hard-drive or an old photograph you would like reproduced. We offer a scanning service that would allow us to scan and enlarge an old image, giving it a new lease of life.

Our finished products are gallery wrapped and ready to hang—that is, the canvas is wrapped around the sides and back of a wooden frame, then stapled to the back where it's hidden from view when the artwork is hung on a wall for display. A wire is also affixed to the back, and we package the hooks and nails for you to use for wall hanging.

Need a gift idea for paternal figure in you life? We are offering a 10% Fathers Day discount. Since we accept orders online, and offer free standard shipping across Canada and the US for orders over $99, that makes things a little more convenient for those of you outside our locale (we're located in Vancouver BC).

Check out our other facilities offers on http://canadaoncanvas.com/.