Many of you may have walked into an art store and admired beautiful paintings being displayed. You think that the artwork is original, and it even feels original as you run your fingers through the canvas. But instead of costing tens of thousands of dollars, the painting costs only a few hundred dollars. How this could be possible, you wonder. The answer is simple. The painting you see before you is a canvas transfer. This means that it's not the original, but a copy of the original transferred onto a canvas material.
Many artists prefer to sell canvas transfers instead of the original artwork. This way, they get to keep their original labor of love and only sell copies of it. This also enables them to earn an extra income each time a copy is sold.
There are many advantages to owning a canvas transfer of an original art work. The main benefit of course is the cost. You can save hundreds of dollars as canvas transfers are definitely cheaper than the original. Canvas transfers have the look and feel of the original painting. On close inspection of the canvas, the texture is almost identical to the original work. It definitely looks better and more authentic than a regular poster print. Canvas transfers are possibly even more durable than the original painting. This is because the canvas transferring process includes a final coat of protective varnish to help prevent fading and water damage. This ensures that the canvas transfer will last a lifetime.
How is a canvas transfer made? It starts off with a paper poster print that is coated with a special film that lifts the image from the paper. The film, with the embedded image, is then heat sealed to the canvas surface. The image is now part of the canvas, taking on the texture of the canvas surface. Finally, the piece is given a protective coating and stretched over a wooden framework to look just like the original.
So now you know the secret. Just because an art piece looks real doesn't mean it has to be. Canvas transfers can make your home look like a professional art gallery without burning a hole in your pocket.
By:Edwin Mah
