About six months ago, I decided to begin printing my artwork on canvas. This transition was not the smoothest process. I frequently scoured the internet for information and visited forums to ask the many questions I had. However, most of my answers were found through trial and error, so I thought to share what I learned in a series of blog posts about this process.

For about six years now, I have been framing my work under glass and selling it to my customers. There are several disadvantages to presenting your work in a frame. First, the art is under glass or plexiglass. This can dull the colors and cast distracting reflections if you don't use anti-glare material. Second, even with the best selections of frame and mat colors, your chances of coordinating with the colors in a customer's home are slim. Lastly, framing materials continue to increase in cost and become a difficult expense to control. There are a number of other cons to framing under glass, but this covers the basics.

As an art show veteran, the choice to move to canvas quickly proved to be the right one. The gallery-wrapped pieces gave a whole new dimension to my work. The vibrant colors jumped off the canvas and captured the attention of many more buyers than I ever had before. Because I do all the printing and stretching myself, I can offer my work affordably while making increased profits over framing. It was the right thing to do.

In this series, I plan to share the process I use to create my final products. In the next installment, I plan to share my printing process and paper choices used.