Kris Hardy Canvas Art

Based in Yorkshire, Kris Hardy is an art graduate who has exhibited work in various exhibitions, show homes, bars and salons around the UK and abroad, working with a number of interior designers to supply art work to them.

This year has been very exciting for Kris Hardy as he exhibited at Grand Design Live at London Excel 3rd to the 11th of May 2008. In its 4th year, Grand Designs Live boasts over 40000 visitors and Kris will be amongst a staggering 450 exhibitors. Kris showcased his latest work and he demonstrated his canvas art live on the stand. It was a very successful week for him.

Kris graduated from the University of Huddersfield in June 2000 but he is no stranger to London after completing a 2 year MA at the Royal College of Art between 2000 and 2002. He has been producing contemporary canvas art since graduating and have exhibited work in various exhibitions, show homes, bars and salons around the UK and abroad, working with a number of interior designers to supply art work to them. Since 2003 he has exhibited his work in over 20 John Lewis departments stores, primarily in London. Through exhibiting at Grand Designs Live, he is hoping to showcase his artwork to a wider audience, different to those of John Lewis and his home town of Hull.

The launch of his website in 2006, http://www.krishardy.com, has meant he has a travelling portfolio of his past, latest, bespoke and John Lewis work. Incorporating an eccommerce system has enabled his work to be purchased online delivered to anywhere in the world.

His very contemporary approach to his artwork style and attiitude to artist – client relations is refreshing. The approach he takes with his work is to produce high quality, original acrylic-on-canvas paintings that complement the client’s interior. All artwork is painted to order by himself and comes in standard sizes depending on the painting format. The refreshing approach is highlighted greatly by his comment “I more than happy to do bespoke sizes and colours, as I believe if you want a piece of art for a specific space then you should not have to compromise”.

What You Need To Know About Canvas Printing

Canvas printing is the printing of a digital, still, turn slides, negatives or even children’s drawings onto a canvas to get a canvas picture. With this, canvas, which was mostly used by artists to make paintings, has found a brand new use. The canvas is attracting people to eternalize memories in them because they are very long lasting if taken care of well, going for thousands of years. Other reasons is that you can get a canvas picture from any picture such as digital and still pictures among others, the quality of the final product is very impressive and can sometimes be better than the original due to editing, there is an advantage in size because the size is only limited by your pockets and preferences, they are relatively cheap – at least cheaper than canvas paintings by artists, the short time it takes to do canvas printing, and the fact that you have a say as to how the final product will look like because the designer sends you e-mails on previews for your approval.    Some of the things you need to know when going for a canvas picture include the fact that you can get all the information you need on the subject online. There are many websites where you can get such information as price and delivery and it is wise to compare different websites for cost and quality before you make a decision. These companies include canvas print UK, among many others. You can also get a company through other means such as word of mouth and the yellow pages. Whichever company you choose, you should look at the testimonials offered by our satisfied customers before you make a decision. Once you have settled on a company, the next step is to send the image. You can do this online or you can deliver it to the company premises. The company, such as canvas print UK, will ask you for information such as the size required, if the picture should be horizontal or vertical, the color scheme of the picture, the quality you want, etc. You will probably be asked the amount of money you have to spend so that they can advice you and you will also be required to provide information on how the picture should be delivered to your house.Another thing to know is that the designer has the duty to produce the final product only after consultations with you. He/she should send you e-mails of the preview for approval and if you don’t like it, you are supposed to say so and offer suggestions. It is your money and you should not settle for less!Another thing to know is that you have the right to refuse a piece of work if it does not meet the specifications you asked for. You need to know that you are not obliged to pay for canvas printing until you are completely satisfied and you should know that the company should not stay with your picture for more than four days on average.

How to create a harbour town canvas painting

I would like to share with all painting enthusiasts the secrets into painting a piece of stunning original canvas art with a harbour theme, using acrylic paints. Living in Cornwall, England has its fair share of harbour towns; a particular one which I will use as my subject of matter is the art capital of England, St Ives which I’m sure most of you are pretty familiar with.

Ok I’ve decided I want to use a fairly large canvas so I’m working with a 20 x 30 inch stretched canvas over wooden frame supports. However if this is your first attempt choose a smaller canvas to start with. First of all, if you’re working from a photograph; to get an idea of the background colour in your painting, paint the sky from the top of the canvas working your way to the centre of the canvas, which will become your horizon. I’m adding sand tones in my picture as if the tide has gone out, so start with a buff white colour working across again and blend it with a touch of titanium white before using neat pthalo blue for the bottom part of your canvas. So your base colour will be starting from the top with powder blue mixed with titanium white working to a lighter horizon, buff white mixed with a touch of titanium white and then blend with neat pthalo blue all the way down to the bottom of the canvas. Allow to dry.

The second part of the painting can be quiet time consuming so get a cup of coffee and a biscuit, put on you’re your favourite music and begin.

Base Colour & Drawing

Start with a lighter pencil and make sure you have a good piece of rubber nearside. I work to a scale that’s about 95% accurate and find that using a ruler helps to. Draw out the main parts of the harbour working from the harbour wall, towards the town and upwards. If you’re painting your harbour from a straight angle this should be relatively easy. Back to the scale issue, you need to make sure that your buildings and background scale to the rest of your painting and the size of your canvas. It doesn’t need to be 100% accurate at the end of the day it’s your creation. Outline all the angles of the roofs, chimney pots, arches, rocks, trees as much as you can see in your subject as this will make painting relatively easier later on.

Painting

Ok now we have all the outlines sorted lets get cracking with adding some basic colour. Harbour towns have a lot of white boat style houses with small round windows and white washed wood exteriors. So start highlighting all the lighter parts of your harbour town. Decide where your light source is coming from and work from there. You can use neat titanium white for this part. Add a little black paint, just a touch to the white and begin shading in the darker sides of the buildings where some of the walls are not in direct contact with your light source. The roofs of houses can be shaded in raw umber with a touch of yellow ochre and titanium white. Again start with the roof sides facing the light source with a lighter shade, and then darken for the opposite facing roofs. Not all your buildings are going to be white with dark shadows. There might be building in a shade of terracotta or flesh tint even. These can be done using exactly the same principal as described above.

Detail

Once you’re completely satisfied with the shading and the lighting of your harbour canvas art you can then start adding the details such as small arches, windows, doorways, waterlines, people and perhaps a few boats.

Tips

Always start with medium strength colours when shading in your buildings. When adding details such as windows and doors use a small flat brush with square cut bristles. Acrylic paints are fast drying so where possible use an acrylic retardant gel which slows the drying process of acrylic paintings allowing for further, smoother blending capabilities. For rapid drying time on parts of your canvas painting make use of a hair dryer. Once you feel confident enough, you can try creating a variety of canvas paintings using different angles or even subjects.

How can canvas paintings and modern art transform your living space?

Over the last few years there has been a considerable amount of interest in people buying canvas paintings for either their living space or wall space at work. To see a piece of canvas art on a wall either in a restaurant or on someone’s wall signifies a modern contemporary feel or tranquil and creativity. Canvas paintings can either be seen as a piece of wall candy or an essential piece of your modern interior designs.

Many buyers looking to purchase any style of canvas paintings will find either something to match the existing surroundings such as soft furnishing or something that they simply like the look of regardless of colour or size.

A piece of canvas painting can breath new life into a newly decorated room, or even an existing room that is lacking in any real feature. If it’s a working space, a piece of canvas art can really do justice on an office wall space. It can help create a calm working environment or a focal point in which to get yourself lost in during your lunch breaks.

Canvas paintings create such an ambience in itself that even in the corner of your eye, you know that in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, you can take five minutes to gaze out and escape into an imaginary window of vivid colours, contours and brush strokes.

There is an ever-growing selection of modern art, canvas art, original canvas paintings and canvas prints available to one, so your choice in investing in a piece of canvas art is limitless. Who says you should only have one? Why not create and abundance of colours in your living space and place a canvas painting in each room to either match your surroundings or your mood. Create a focal point for you and your guests to admire and tell the world that canvas paintings are an essential piece of interior wall candy.