For any business wishing to produce the highest quality photographic prints, fine art reproductions or proofings for client approval, Epson have developed the 9800, which they believe will provide the very best quality image or reproduction on the current market.

What makes it special? Well, in collaboration with the professional printing industry Epson have produced their unique Ultrachrome K3 ink, an 8 colour ink set which includes 3 black inks with interchangeable photo and matte black cartridges. This almost completely replaces the previous Epson Ultrachrome technology with the only ink the same being the matte black. K3 is based on the newest generation of pigment ink, which produces such a stable and vivid colour precisely because it is pigment based and not dye.

The Epson 9800 has 3 paper paths supporting a wide range of roll and cut paper up to 1.5mm thick and up to 44 inches wide. It also has a resolution of 2880 x 1440 dpi which delivers a level of image quality that exceeds the previous best.

Retailing at between £4106 and £5276 the Epson 9800 is not at the bargain basement end of the market, but the resultant reproductions are undoubtedly stunning and of uncompromising quality. So is the Epson 9800 the future of printing? In a fast changing technological world it would be very hard to make such an exalted claim, but there is no doubt it represents one of the best printers currently available.

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Artists love to paint. They love to paint whatever comes to mind, whatever inspires them and whatever muse sparks their interest. However there is one problem with an artist’s work when they have finished it; it’s a one off. This means if they want to sell it, or give it away as a gift to a friend or family member, they’ll lose the work entirely, never to own it again.

There is a way round this, and is to make prints of the work. Making prints of artwork is fairly common, but when you create prints of a beautiful work of art, the prints can lose some of the passion, some of the flair of the original work. Prints are quite flat and uninspiring. Canvas on the other hand is a very tactile and impressive medium, one which adds character to a painting or photo. This means that you can take a copy of your painting, or drawing, and digitally print it on canvas, creating as many works of art as you need, cheaply and easily.

As an artist, by printing your work onto canvas you’re able to literally have your cake and eat it, by keeping your original artwork to enjoy forever, and by selling and giving away canvas prints of your art to other people.

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There is a growing trend within the United Kingdom – a genuine spirit of individuality is becoming apparent. Where once people were satisfied with mass produced works of art from chain stores, now there is a growing spirit of independence. People want their own works of art on their own walls. They want to know that the canvas on their wall does not exist anywhere else. Individuality is the new chic in the UK today.

Thanks to groundbreaking new techniques, it is now possible to have your own photos and digital picture files printed onto canvas. Families can now take quirky, sweet or abstract photographs and transfer them onto canvas at low prices and create their own unique works of art for their homes.

Printing digital files onto canvas is not restricted to photographs. Using readily available software, the new individual can either adapt morph or create from scratch truly unique pictures. At the click of a mouse, photos can be shaded, darkened, turned into a negative or virtually anything else. People today are only limited by their own imagination.

Unique works of art were once prohibitively expensive, now they can hang on the walls of people up and down the country. These works of art express a sense of individuality. They demonstrate a freedom of expression that has been lost to the population for so long. Thanks to new technologies like printing on canvas, this sense of freedom and individuality is back.

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Canvas material is most commonly associated with artists painting beautiful masterpieces to display in galleries or in stately homes, work that sells for millions and always attracts the best attention.

However you don’t need to be a trained artist to produce a brilliant masterpiece on canvas. In fact you don’t even need to be able to paint, draw or even have any artistic ability at all. You can create your own canvas art simply by using your own photos. By printing your photos to canvas you can create your own canvas art, which looks just like real artwork, printed on canvas and ready to display in your home.

Any photo can be printed on canvas, it doesn’t matter about the source or even the quality, as the canvas material lends a special magic to any picture, making it look like artwork.

Indeed you don’t even need to be an expert photographer, as when you take a photo it can be cropped and resized to make sure that the composition is perfect for the artwork.

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As the credit crunch takes hold many people are finding it difficult to make ends meet with Christmas approaching. Indeed the high street has just reported it’s worth month for years as consumers are wary of spending before Christmas.

However Christmas doesn’t have to be expensive, nor does it have to be impersonal to the extent that the usual presents have to be sent. Rather than buying DVDs, CDs and Video Games for Christmas, why not buy something much more personal, that will last much longer, and is fairly cheap in comparison to most electrical items found on the high street?

Why not give a canvas print of a favourite photograph as a gift this Christmas? Pictures of your family or your children make for excellent, highly personalised gifts that grand parents are sure to enjoy. When you have a photo printed on canvas you’re creating original artwork out of your memories that will last much longer than photos printed on paper and framed. Canvas is a durable material that lasts for years, and looks like genuine art.

When you give a photo printed on canvas you’re giving something that will be treasured for a lifetime.

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Technology these days potentially provides the consumer with an even wider range of artworks with which to decorate the home. Instead of having a flat and obvious fake of the Mona Lisa hanging on the sitting room wall, consumers are now able to digitally transfer old masters onto canvas. They can thus create the illusion of a gallery of work which visitors can stroll past admiringly en route from the kitchen to the front door.

Other rooms can be festooned with less formal pictures according to taste. Lavish watercolours presenting windows to another world; still life studies of tables weighted down with gloriously coloured fruits and foods; children building sandcastles at the beach; and wispy young women, can create a theme within a dining room, a bedroom, or even a bathroom or loo.

Canvas printing is also becoming very popular with artists. Many do not wish to continually place original artworks in exhibitions because of high insurance costs and fear of theft. A canvas print also means that a popular study can be sold many times. And for those aficionados who like to patronise local artists, where canvas prints are available, there no longer lies the fear of embarrassment where a simple ‘how much’ will result in red faced disappointment. A canvas print of an original artwork can often be purchased for a few hundred pounds where the original may cost many thousands.

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Generally canvas is regarded as a medium for paintings, such as oil paintings or acrylic paintings. They’d be of beautiful scenes or portraits, but now with printing technology as advanced as it has become, canvas can be used to print photos. The question is, what sort of photos can you print on canvas?

The answer is pretty much any photo can be printed on canvas. It doesn’t have to be a portrait photo or a picture of a scenic landscape. You can print all sorts of photos on canvas. For example, some types of pictures to print on canvas are:

Holiday photos
Pictures you’ve taken on your holiday make great canvas prints. They can be of you and your spouse on the beach, in a restaurant or relaxing by the swimming pool.

Photos of children
Your children always make great subjects for photos, and turning the photos into canvas prints is the best way of showing them off. You can display them on the wall and make a great piece of art out of them.

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What better gift to give than that of a treasured memory? And what better way to keep memories alive than by photographs?

The digital camera is undoubtedly one of the best inventions of the 21st century. For most people it’s near impossible to go anywhere without one. Whether it’s the ecstatic look on a child’s face when he shoots and scores in his first football match or the breathtaking view of the sun setting over Lake Windermere. How amazing, that at a click of a button, a moment in time can be captured and treasured forever.

These memories could be stored on a PC, in a photo album or in a traditional photo frame. But then they could be printed on canvas and turned into an original work of art.

It seems no modern home is complete these days without a canvas or two, usually of a pretty flower or woodland scene to match the curtains. A personal image printed on canvas, adds a more personal, unique touch to the home, sparking memories whenever it is viewed. The first kiss on a wedding day, a small child blowing out the candles at his third birthday party maybe the family dog swimming in the lake.

Another option is to go black and white and recreate the nostalgia of a bygone era.

An image of the hustle and bustle in a favourite city or the peaceful landscape of a beautiful beach. The possibilities are endless.

Whatever the choice, a photo on canvas will be one of a kind and will add a sentimental feeling to which ever room it’s displayed in.

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No longer the singular domain of the artists’ brushstroke, stretched canvas now provides a strong statement in photographic display. The vibrancy of colour on a canvas print, and texture of the medium itself, can really enhance an image.

Whether as the finale to a room makeover, or simply adding new detail to an existing decor, hanging canvas prints can add a touch of luxury as a feature in any room or office in which they are showcased – becoming a real talking point, especially if it is a personally taken image.

Deciding on where to locate the canvas print is the first step to display. Larger prints often look at their best centred on a primary wall so that they catch the attention of visitors as they enter the room. Smaller prints work best in clusters of two or three traced in diagonals or lines. The strongest display height is at eye-level (otherwise known as Museum Hanging), which engages its audience and allows them to take in the art without working too hard.

To achieve a perfect hanging ultimately depends on where and how you would like your canvas print to be displayed.

When you get ready to place your picture hooks, it is important that you remember there will be a drop on the picture-wire once tension is applied – and this could significantly drop the canvas if not taken into account. Some people prefer to tighten the picture wire rather than measuring the distance of the tension drop, but this should not be a preferred method as the tighter the wire tension; the more likely the picture may be knocked off the wall, or become difficult in trying to hang straight. It is worth taking a little extra time to measure accurately and have someone to assist you while you test and measure the drop.

If you are placing your canvas print over furniture (i.e. a sofa), it would be advisable to keep the base of the picture at least 6inches above the furniture – even if this means taking the picture just above eye-level. Another good reason to measure the drop!

For panoramic images, cityscapes or landscape pictures it is fashionable to break these images into panels, Diptych (2 panel), Triptych (3 panel) and Quadtych (4 panel), can really add an alternative style to the display. When considering how to hang panelled images it is considered that a 4inch distance between each panel shows them off perfectly – but it is entirely dependent on personal tastes and space availability. With panelled canvas prints it is also crucial that the hanging drop is measured accurately to ensure level is maintained across the whole display.

Whatever your print, however big the canvas, you can make a real feature in your space by just considering these few tips.

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When it comes to displaying your wedding photos, most people opt for the traditional wedding album. They’re usually well presented, nicely bound and come in a stylish box for you to treasure for the rest of your life. However, the one problem with wedding albums such as this is that you have to store it away out of site. You never see the photos held within, and these are supposed to be pictures of the happiest day of your life!

Far better than hiding your wedding photos away in a wedding album, only looking at them when friends and relatives come to call, is to have them on display for everyone to see, at all times when they are at your home. For this you should have your best wedding photos displayed on your wall.

You could of course have framed pictures from your special day, but a much better option is to have the photos printed on canvas and hung on your wall like works of art. Canvas prints bring the best out of your wedding pictures, and make the images of the best day in your life come alive, as only a canvas print can.

So much better than to hide your pictures away, display them on the wall, printed on canvas.

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