Let's Get this Artist Started

Canvas is the thing now. A pretty photograph of a Tuscan vineyard becomes Art when printed on canvas. So the Artist in our house was thinking canvas as he took his first baby steps toward developing a salable portfolio, reviewing his massive catalog of travel photos long into the night.

He considered lights and darks (will canvas illuminate or flatten?), frame-dependence vs. stand-alone (most canvas-printed photos we saw at the Art Show That Started It All were unframed). Open landscapes? Shimmering seascapes? Tapestried studies?

More than once he shuffled to bed in the wee hours, shoulders hunched, forehead scrunched, muttering things like “what was I THINKING?” Apparently nothing causes one to reassess one’s talent like the prospect of hanging a sizable price tag on it.

Finally, he chose two sunsets: a blue and yellow pastel Waikiki scene that hangs in our beach house, and a stunning Amman cityscape that draws raves in his office--both safe bets since we already know they work.


At least, on paper.








Eventually, he’ll need to handle the production process himself. Most of the better Arts Festivals have lots of rules around what constitutes art, and photographers are expected to execute their work--shooting, printing, matting, framing--from beginning to end. But for now, he sends them off to two different production houses: Mpix, and the one that handles his website orders, SmugMug.

One week and $200 later, the UPS guy drops two large packages at our door, and I resist the urge to rip them open. Could this be it? The first entries in our traveling menagerie? Could it be this easy?