For most people, photo art is a short game – they create new pieces of canvas art from their photos when the occasion demands, and often choose wall art in the moment when planning the design of a room, and once that’s done they don’t really think about it afterwards. That’s one of the powers of gorgeous canvas prints: They can be used to immediately mark an occasion and immediately raise the design level of any room, no waiting.
There is another approach that requires a bit more patience but has a lot more impact. Playing the Long Game with photo art means planning a feature wall in one room of your home, which isn’t an uncommon strategy, but instead of filling that feature wall with beloved images from your wedding or youthful adventures, it means starting with one or two foundation images – and leaving the rest of the space empty. Until you fill it with images over time.
The Photo Art Foundation
Step one for this strategy is to select your feature wall. Typically this would be in the living room or some other public area of the house, a place where you’ll entertain and where people will be able to admire your installation. Step two is to plan out the eventual installation: Decide on the dimensions of your feature and pencil in the basic shape of it. Step three is to decide on a first image – your Foundation Image.
Some obvious choices would be a wedding photo, a first date, or even baby picture of both of you. Everyone will bring their own perspective to this, and all that matters is that the Foundation Image should have emotional impact, visual interest, and represent a beginning. Take that image and choose how large a canvas print it should be, and then hang it in the upper left corner of where your installation will go.
Marking the Years
Now we play the Long Game. Whenever you have significant events, you create a new piece of photo art and make it part of the installation. You don’t have to make them all the same size – in fact, it’s better if you don’t. It’s best to build outward from the Foundation Image, going right and down, slowly filling your space with visual representations of your holidays, your achievements, your children – everything. Mark off your life as it happens.
Slowly, your installation grows into something significant and amazing: A visual representation of your life. It takes time, of course, but all good things do, and it will be a conversation piece for years. And as you approach the bottom right corner, whether it takes ten years or fifty, you’ll be able to look at it and see at a glance the impact you’ve had on the world. And then start a new one in another room!
Options
The one question that vexes people with the Long Game is how to deal with the blank space. For some, just leaving the blank wall is statement enough. Others might purchase cheap blank canvases from an art supply store and hang them to mark the empty space and define the installation until photo art can be added – a technique that quite nicely represents possibility.
In the end, the Long Game isn’t for everyone. But for those who are excited to see their lives advance from one adventure to the next, it’s a powerful way to decorate and mark the years. If you think you’ve got the long Game in you, pick your foundation and click here – we’ll get you started.
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