Displaying your Art

I have been thinking back to my first post here at Focusing on Life about sharing your images with others (you can read that here).  That and Susan's post last week about creating artwork from your images got me thinking about finding ways to display my images around my home for my family and me to enjoy.  Wow!  I never would have believed there was so much inspiration out there!  Just Google "photography displays" and you will find so many wonderful ideas.  I want to share some ideas and inspirations with you because often people love their photographs and have a lot of them but have no idea how to display them in their home. 

First thing!!!  Never underestimate the power of one large single image displayed in your home.  The most common problem people have with single images is that they don't get them printed big enough to add drama to the room.  I suggest getting images printed on canvases.  It's a great investment and ready to hang art (no frame required).  For a room that's large, I wouldn't print anything smaller than 20x30.  That's a perfect size for displaying images over fireplaces, above a bed, and behind a couch.  Here's a canvas wrap of our family Christmas card photo printed at 20x30 that is hanging in our entry hall:

It never ceases to elicit comments from all who enter our home and, even more than that, we get to enjoy it every time we pass by.

I know many of you know Barbara Carroll and have been inspired by her work.  She is someone who really knows how to display her images.  I loved this old window that she used as a frame for a photo of her children that she has hanging in her entry hall of her home.  She told me that she printed out her photo in six different pieces, one for each section of the window.  That way she was able to print this out on her home printer.  I think finding a wonderful window like this would be the hard part!

This is a canvas that she has above her mantel.  She converted her image to black and white, added a texture and word art and uploaded it to have it printed on a 20x30 canvas.  It is simply stunning!

I found another canvas idea on Erin Cobb's website.  She created a 36x36 document on her computer, filled it with nine 12x12 images and  then  uploaded it to be printed on canvas.  There are two canvases hanging side by side.  You can imagine the impact of something this big hanging on your wall.

A couple of years ago, I was inspired by this photo grouping by Tara Whitney that she posted on her blog:

She printed out individual 12x12 images and framed them with frames from Ikea.  You can read her post about them here.

And I just LOVE this idea shared the wonderful Ali Edwards on her blog for using a type drawer to display small photos in a big way:

Of course, there are other ways to display your photos besides hanging them on your walls.  I loved this idea  from Marie Claire magazine:

 

I plan on copying this idea, using plain cardboard magazine holders from the office supply store, printing out one large photo and dividing it into fourths and then attaching it to the ends of the magazine holders.  Such a fun idea for your home office!

So there's no excuse for keeping your wonderful images hidden away on your computer.  Print them, frame them, display them any way you want to but get them out of hiding so they can be enjoyed by not only your friends and family but by you as well.  Please share some of your display ideas in our Flickr pool.


And don't forget to keep shooting your images of spring to share in Claudia's Linky party tomorrow.  You just might want to frame some of them for your walls!