Your Photos On Canvas

Leonardo da Vinci wrote, "I maintain that the blue of the air is not its own color but that this is caused by a warm, hazy moisture composed of excessively fine and invisible particles; this moisture captures the rays of the sun." This was the observation of a genius who found expression as an artist, a scientist, as engineer and inventor, and who was far ahead of his time in all these fields.

The vaporous, hazy, misty space between objects on a painted surface Leonardo called "sfumato", and he was particularly adept at achieving this magical effect in his work.

In his own notes Leonardo wrote that light and shade should merge into each other without any visible transition, as if a fine veil of mist was shrouding the objects. He perhaps came closest to reaching his own ideal in one of his last works, Virgin and Child and St. Anne, 1506-1513, which now hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Sfumato is also what gives his best known portrait masterpiece, La Gioconda, 1503-1506. commonly known as the Mona Lisa.the world's more famous and mysterious smile.

You will never find sunshine or cloudless skies in painting by Leonardo da Vinci. His paintings were all about using the subtle shades of light and shadow to obscure lines. There are no hard edges, no abrupt transitions, and no stark contrasts. Soft shadows float over the faces of his subjects creating an exceptionally delicate quality.

To achieve sfumato Leonardo worked with the finest, thin oil glazes which he applied over a dark priming coat. He perfected the technique of blending colors so that not even the slightest brushstroke is visible in the finished work. His subjects give a vague impression of movement, and the faces and limbs appear to glow out of the darker surroundings and extend out of the surface.

Leonardo da Vinci's sfumato was a revolutionary innovation in Renaissance art, where previously, especially in Florentine art, line was considered a more important pictorial element than color. Portraits tended to be stiff and formal, with distinct contrasts in color and tone separating the subject from the background. Leonardo's backgrounds were an integral part of his portraits with a blending of tones and colors so that shapes were evident without clear delineation.

Sfumato in Modern Pictures on Canvas

Applying our modern day knowledge of optics and using digital technology, an amateur photographer can today create photo portraits that achieve the magical effects of sfumato.

They can even go one step further and print their photos to canvas to create long lasting and very effective works of art. Photo to canvas printing helps enhance the softness of a photograph that has been shot using subtle blending of light and shadow.

With the right backdrop, a few props and some careful lighting, anyone with a little imagination and a simple digital camera can create a unique portrait of their own modern day Mona Lisa.