From Van Gogh to Monet, many of the greatest works of art ever to grace the halls of the great museums, or the walls of the fabulously wealthy, have been produced on canvas. In terms of doing this oneself, there is just one slight drawback – it takes a great deal of talent, training and time to paint on canvas with oils, and for most of us the results are not pretty.

Technology has stepped up to the rescue, with new methods allowing the transfer of pictures taken on your camera to canvas, all printed in high quality colour, effortlessly achieving the look that only a canvas base can provide without any of the effort or mess. And, in common with the classic canvas works of art produced by the old masters, your photographs too can become treasured family heirlooms, or just something fun to put on your wall.

In fact, almost any photograph printed on canvas will result in a work of art, ready to hang on the wall, and a talking point for visitors to your house. The look of canvas, its texture and its association with expensive and exclusive artworks gives your prints an instant appeal, and the fact that you can tell a story about where you took the picture and how you created the print adds a further talking point.

Once you start creating your own prints, if you have a computer with software for image manipulation, you can really become creative with your photographs, creating prints that are anything from wacky avante garde images to classic black and white stills. You might even be able to convince your friends that your print is a real Salvador Dali – although unless you have the bank balance to substantiate this claim they may remain somewhat sceptical.

Moving away from printing your own photographs for display, this technique also represents the best way of printing the work of the great artists and appreciating it in a form as close to the original as you can get without breaking the bank or stealing an original – those sunflowers will look a lot better on a textured canvas base than on a flat piece of cardboard or paper which fades with age. However you look at it, printing on canvas is a versatile and interesting way to personalise the walls of your home.

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