Creating my own wall art.

I am still working on my living and dining room, but I am almost finished with the painting.   I want those rooms to look finished (unlike most of my rooms in this house), so I need some art on the walls.

As I am a photographer, you would suppose I would have images all over my house, right? Well, you would be wrong. I always plan on making some, but life gets in the way and other than a few printouts on my fridge you wouldn't know I even had a camera. 

We went to Hobby Lobby over the weekend, coupon in hand, to pick out some wall art. Unfortunately it did not work out. I have this thing about hanging mass-produced art on my walls, but I can't afford original art.  Thus most of my walls are blank.

My husband put it best while looking at everything Hobby Lobby had to offer; "I see a lot of things that look nice, but they really don't mean anything to me". Well said. 

What to do? Get out my camera and take some photos and make my own original art.  Something that will make me happy to see hanging on my freshly painted walls.  And here is my first try.

Every photo in this frame means something to me.  The top coffeecup
was purchased in a street fair in Bremen, Germany.  My husband and I went there in the early 90's to visit my family, the only time we have been there together.  This trip was a huge deal to me.  We backpacked around Germany, visited with my family, and learned to love both wine AND coffee.

The middle image is the silver baby spoon that my sisters and I used, and was also used by my two boys.

The bottom image is a photo of a piece of china, part of a set given to me by my German grandmother.  This china made it through a few wars and means so much to me.

I was able to create this in about 45 minutes.  I put a large white foam board on the floor facing a window.  I photographed each item from slightly above to make sure the background was white and the shadows fell behind them.  I used my beloved lens, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens (it is under $100 right now) and processed the image in Photoshop.

I added a texture for the scratches and also a levels adjustment layer (I moved the middle gamma slider up until the image was lightened). Then I printed them out on Canon glossy paper on my Canon printer and taped them in the frame.

I hope I can encourage all of you to go out and make your own art.  You don't always need gallery wraps or huge images, just start with something simple.  And photos of beloved items, such as toys, books, china, etc. are just as nice to hang on your wall as family photos.  Your art might not impress the neighbors, but it will make you happy.