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Photo Retouching for Giclee Reproduction on Paper or Canvas

Filed Under: Photography & Photoshop by Scott Menaul
Jan.08, 2010

I run a combined art gallery, photography studio and printing shop in Clearwater, FL. One of the services we offer is restoring and retouching photographs and printing them as giclées (high quality reproductions) on paper or canvas. This is great if you have photos you want to showcase or if you have old photos you want to save before age gets to them. Here’s an example where a woman brought us photos of her mother and grandmother that she wanted put on canvas.

In the original photo, you can see that the tops of their hats are cut off. Using Photoshop, I expanded the picture by extending the wall in the background and recreating their hats (that’s a pretty neat trick.) I also adjusted the colors to make up for fading. Before and after:

The hats were cut off in the original so I had to recreate them with Photoshop.

Here’s another great group shot of the women with their friends. She asked that I remove the background (chain link fence, people walking by) so the image in the giclée on canvas would focus on them. Here is the before and after:

The original photo of the women.

Ready for printing on canvas. Removed the background, cleaned off dust/scratches and fixed the colors.

The photo had scratches on it that I was able to fix. You can see the corrections below:

I removed the spots and scratches from the original and improved the color.

If you have a box of old photos or even newspaper clippings or your kids’ childhood drawings, you should dust them off and have me restore and reproduce your favorites. You’re welcome to bring your stuff to my Clearwater, FL studio and we can go through it and figure out what you want to do. Call me at 727-726-7411 or message me online.

Just today I had a woman and her mother come pick up a reproduction of a family photo collage. The collage was made over 30 years ago, pieced together from more than 100 family photos from over the past century. The daughter was in town for a couple days and she wanted to get copies made since they weren’t sure how much longer the photos and the glue holding them together would last.

They had tried going to Kinkos to make copies but they were told the collage would have to be taken out of its glass frame and run through a rolling scanner, which would have wrecked the fragile photos. They came to me to see if I could reproduce it without taking it out from behind the glass that was helping hold it together.

As a photographer with my own studio and equipment, I had no problem shooting it through the glass and making digital copies. As a Photoshop expert, I was able to clean up the photos and get it ready for printing. And as a giclée printer I was able to handle the reproduction in-house and have the entire job done within 3 days. I also gave her it on CD.

I’ll be posting more before and after photos of other projects soon. Subscribe to the RSS feed or follow me on Facebook or Twitter to get updates.

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Photo Restoration of Family Heirloom

Filed Under: Photography & Photoshop by Scott Menaul
Jan.05, 2010

In addition to my Clearwater, FL art gallery, I also run a giclee printing service and do digital capture and photo restoration. A client came to me with an old family photograph that had some pretty serious damage and they wanted to know if I could restore it and print reproductions for them. I thought you might be interested in seeing what I did. Here is the before and after:

Before and after. Notice the significant fading and the big tear in the original.

The photo was almost falling apart when I got it. A piece of tape on the back was all that was keeping the rip from making it fall apart. You can also see how faded and worn the photo had become with age. Here is a close-up of the tear and how I handled it.

Digitally restored by removing the tear, fixing the damage and color correcting.

Once the photo was fixed up, I printed a bunch of giclee reproductions on archival paper and the client gave them out as Christmas presents at a family reunion.

If you have any old photos you want restored and reproduced, let me know by contacting me online or calling 727-726-7411. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to my blog’s RSS feed.

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Misconceptions about Abstract Art in a Traditional Decor

Filed Under: Abstract Art, Artist's Thoughts by Scott Menaul
Dec.29, 2009

I often run into the problem of interior designers and home owners thinking that abstract art can’t work anywhere except a space age “stainless-steel-and-glass” condo. This is frustrating because I know from experience that traditional and classical decors can be the most stunning settings for abstract art. It is simply a matter of pairing the two properly.

Modern abstract art has a reputation for being off-putting and visually “harsh”—jagged shapes, hard lines, violent colors—and it’s not difficult to see why people would have trouble putting it on the wall in their cozy den. It is simpler to grab a safe (but dull) painting of a lighthouse or a flower or a snowy cottage. Sure, they’re a dime a dozen, but they’re not some piece of abstract artwork that leaves you going “I don’t get it…”

If you are able to forget preconceptions about what abstract art is “supposed” to be, you will see that there are artists like myself who have a unique style that can be softer and more natural that suits traditional settings. If the issue is simply that you don’t think bright colors work next to wooden furniture and a softer color palette, then you need to see pieces with natural, warm color palettes like Triptych in Brown or Autumn Musings. These pieces look beautiful in traditional homes, and in fact that is what they were created for (learn how I create custom abstract art.)

That isn’t to say you can’t do something exciting with abstract art in a traditional setting. I challenge you to get rid of your fixed ideas about what art can work in a space, and I have a story that might help. The Designer Showhouse of Sarasota is an annual event held to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs where interior designers from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) are given rooms in a large home to design and decorate. Several designers working on the 2009 showhouse collaborated with me to created art for their rooms.

What surprised (and impressed) me most was the plan an ASID designer came up with for using my art in a way I’d never thought of. They were charged with decorating the fireplace and their idea was to take one of my pieces and turn it into the “fire.” This involved drastically resizing “Four Tori” down to 8″ by 48″ and altering the color then printing it on archival paper and mounting it on a piece of plywood. Then this was inlaid into the wooden mantle place.

I have to admit that at first even I was skeptical but as I worked on it with the interior designer and finally saw it in the finished room I knew it was a perfect match. The life and energy in the artwork creates a focal point and helps bring the room together. Take a look:

Custom artwork in the mantle place (click to expand)

For more examples of abstract art being used to create “transitional” decors (transitioning between classic and contemporary) check out what I wrote up on Menaul News.

Call me at 727-726-7411 if you have any custom art ideas of your own. You can also become a fan on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

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What It Means to Make Custom Art

Filed Under: Abstract Art, Artist's Thoughts by Scott Menaul
Dec.23, 2009

When I tell people I make “custom art,” it isn’t always clear to them what that means. I have been doing it for so long that I forget that it is an unusual concept to a lot of people. So how can art be customized?

It helps to understand my creative process. My abstract art is created using digital 3D rendering techniques that let me sculpt “glass” and control their lighting and composition. Then I produce the art on canvas (or paper or almost any material I want) using the giclee process. I run my own giclee printer and handle all of the prints myself so I can make the piece at nearly any size—from a small 8″ by 10″ to large 40″ by 60″ (and even bigger if we start using special printing methods.) Most of my work is gallery wrapped, which means that I stretch the canvas around wooden stretcher bars instead of framing it. The stretcher bars (what the canvas is mounted on) are handmade by a local craftsman that can make custom sizes. I stretch the canvas on to the frame by hand and even go as far as to constructing my own shipping boxes if needed.

Here is a breakdown of how I can customize my art:

Custom Sizes — Since I control the creative, printing and framing processes, my art can be produced at almost any size. This doesn’t just mean I can make it bigger or smaller; I can also make the art taller or wider or even expand it across multiple canvases. For example, you might like one of my pieces but it wouldn’t work above the wide couch where you want to put it. I can turn it into a horizontal piece or triptych that fills the space. Read The Evolution of Atlantis to see how custom sizes worked for clients with different demands on their space.

Custom Colors — The properties of the glass and lighting in my art determines the colors in the piece. By changing these I can drastically transform the artwork to suit different decors and environments. The original art may be cool blue tones but if you have a rustic country house you need warmer colors, and I can do that. For the clearest illustration of this, look at original Musings and its variations Autumn Musings, Musings Natural, and Romance. Each was created as clients came to me and said “I like this piece but my place is these colors…”

Custom Composition — My artwork often contains geometric elements such as rings, spheres, cubes and pyramids. A client saw Aqua Rings and asked us to add spheres inside of the glass rings (as well as change the colors), and so I made Glass Rings and Spheres.

Custom Materials — Most of my art is on fine art canvas but I can also produce it on paper and watercolor paper or even unusual materials like vinyl, aluminum, ceramics, semi-transparent film that goes over windows, and more. This opens up creative possibilities such as mounting the art on wood, wrapping the piece around a column or cutting it to custom sizes and shapes and mounting in clear plastic objects (we’ve done all of that and more!)

Totally New Artwork — You can always come to me with an idea even if you don’t see anything in my art galleries that matches what you’re looking for. When I created art for the high rise condo Signature Place in St. Petersburg, FL, the interior designer asked for original artwork for the main lobby (in addition to the 60+ custom pieces that went in all 30 elevator lobbies). Knowing their size requirements and color palette, I created Dancer in the Breeze and Daisy.

That should give you a good idea of what it means to make custom art. Let me know if you have any questions or ideas. I love hear them! You can call me at 727-726-7411 or leave a comment below.

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Evolution of Atlantis

Filed Under: Abstract Art, Artist's Thoughts by Scott Menaul
Dec.21, 2009

Check out the latest update to my main site (www.menaul-art.com):

The most common question an artist is asked is “Where do you get your ideas?” This story shows how a concept in the artist’s head can become a work of art and where it can go from there…

The Creation of Atlantis

Scott Menaul has been a photographer for over 26 years. He has also lived in New England and Clearwater, FL and traveled to the Bahamas and Caribbean. During his photography career he’s had a continued fascination with the sea that you see reflected in much of his abstract artwork. (See Scott’s Clearwater Beach and New England coastline photo galleries here.)

Scott drew from these experiences when he created the abstract artwork “Atlantis” (seen below). The colors evoke thoughts of blue skies, white clouds, sandy beaches and shimmering waves. The shapes suggest a bow of a ship and its billowing sails…

Read more: The Evolution of Atlantis: A Story of Custom Abstract Art

As soon as I get OK from the client, I’ll share the latest new art that I am developing using Atlantis. It’s really exciting to see a single piece of artwork give life to so many more ideas!

Subscribe to my RSS feed or add me on Facebook!

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The Beauty of Space

Filed Under: Artist's Thoughts by Scott Menaul
Nov.25, 2009

For the last few months I have been printing giclées of Hubble and NASA images and gallery wrapping them on canvas. This lead to me working with a local astronomer on a very fun project. Here’s the story (original posted on Menaul Decor’s blog):

Astronomer Sees Saturn in a Whole New Light

A Florida astronomer recently came to our studio after seeing on our site that we produce Hubble and NASA photos on canvas. He wanted to check things out in person before buying because he wasn’t sure how good they would look. We understand his skepticism. An astronomer wants something that captures the same excitement they feel when looking through their telescope at the night sky. Unfortunately, when it comes to astronomy art, that’s not always easy.

Astronomers are usually stuck getting overpriced prints or flimsy fold-out posters from magazines. They’re not that good, but it’s usually the best you can get. You can try dressing them up by having them matted and framed but that gets expensive fast (and probably costs more than the poster in the first place.) Getting a roll of paper out of a tube and slapping it on the wall with some sticky tack doesn’t quite instill the sense of awe and wonder that these heavenly bodies should inspire.

In our studio, the skeptical astronomer’s concerns evaporated the moment he saw Bode’s Galaxy and Sombrero Galaxy on canvas (we’d prepared them at his request.) He was blown away. Seeing it on a computer screen is one thing, but it’s an entirely different experience to see it on fine art canvas, hanging on a wall. Light acts with it differently and the canvas’ texture adds a special quality to it. He bought the two canvases on the spot and placed an order for more to give out as gifts.

The very next day he called us with an exciting idea. He had recently moved out into a rural area that has less light pollution and a clearer night sky for his star gazing. He was still remodeling and decorating his house, which is why he check us out in the first place. He wanted to know if we could print an extremely high resolution photo of Saturn taken by the Cassini satellite that orbits the planet.

This is the image he chose:

He wanted to know if we could make it as big as possible (in fact, bigger than almost anything we’ve ever done.)

Our answer: “No problem.” Custom orders are our specialty.

What we decided on was a 32″ by 60″ gallery wrapped canvas. We had custom stretcher bars built (that’s the wooden frame the canvas is mounted on). After sending him digital proofs for approval, we printed the piece on museum-quality fine art canvas, sprayed it with a clear UV protective coating and hand-stretched it. We had it done for him within a week.

Here’s what the astronomer wrote after receiving his stunning artwork:

“Where no artist has gone before…”

“Scott Menaul has produced something amazing. If it is not a brand new art form, it’s close, and it promises a revolution in modern art—one that returns beauty, skill and optimism to the canvas, in a most post-post-modern way, and may it be a harbinger of the future in more than just the art world.

“Taking public domain images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Cassini mission to Saturn, he has produced artwork that transfixes the eye and mind. There is a qualitative difference between canvas and paper, and the images of galaxies and star clusters fairly leap from the canvas, the paint-like inks seeming to glow as if lit by the subjects themselves. There is a depth and texture to canvas and paint which makes them richer, more organic, more subtly ‘alive’ than any paper and ink I’ve seen.

“Scott Menaul has made the most spectacular use yet of the greatest public art of our time, the public-domain imagery from the Hubble and Cassini space missions. With an abstract artist’s eye for interest and contrast, and an engineer’s mind for subject and composition, and produced with cutting-edge technologies, modern art has at last come of age.

“If art serves to instruct and illuminate a people and their time, to use and celebrate the latest achievements of man, then here have the planets aligned at last, with technique, technology, and the ineffable wonders and joys of the human spirit taking wing together.”

See our Hubble and NASA space photos gallery or call 877-257-9199 and tell us what ones you want added. Astrophotographers, we’re happy to print your artwork too! Our studio in Clearwater, FL is open and walk-ins are weclome. And you can become a fan on Facebook.

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Symbolism

Filed Under: Artist's Thoughts by Scott Menaul
Sep.02, 2009

This past year or so I’ve been interested in symbolism. Symbols can be powerful things, things that represent deep-seated beliefs, allegiances; political, spiritual or religious orientations. 

To date, I have created an abstract American Flag (“New Glory”), the “Star of David,” and a Christian cross (“The Lord’s Prayer”). I am now working on some Indian (from India) symbolism: the Aum and the Ganesha.

Aum (or “om”) is a sacred or mystical syllable in the Indian religions, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism.

The symbol I’m using is the Devanāgarī Aum. Devanāgarī is the main script used to write Hindi, Marathi, and Nepali.

Here is the Aum symbol by itself. I’ll post my Aum symbol artwork soon. Then I’ll talk about Ganesha. Stay tuned.

Aum symbol

Aum symbol

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Evolving as an Artist

Filed Under: Abstract Art by Scott Menaul
Dec.16, 2008

I wanted to share a conversation I had with an other artist earlier this week. Here's her message and my reply:


My name is Jennifer and I think your art work is exquisite! I am an artist myself and I saw your work in Florida and I was in awe. I wanted to know more. I really liked this one work of art that looked like it was glowing. There were black, red and yellow colors. The yellow lines were the one that looked like they were glowing and it was just amazing! Can you tell me a little bit about the piece and how you came about it? And maybe some tips to help myself evolve further in my work? Thank you very much!

Jennifer,

Thank you for your appreciation of my artwork. It's great to hear from you.

The piece you mentioned is actually called, "Improvisation in Red." I studied jazz and think of this piece as being like a musical improvisation, where the musician takes off from the melody and makes up a new one as he goes along.  The prominent shape (more apparent in the single piece rather than the triptych: see here) in the upper part looks a bit like a saxophone, as if the player was leaning backward and you see the "bell" of the saxophone with a yellow swirl around it.

I create my artwork very differently than most artists. I create it on the computer using four different applications, combining the effects from each. I then print them on canvas as limited edition giclées.

My advice to you is to find a medium and technique that you love, become an expert at it and do something that is different, yet communicates to your audience. Study the results you achieve and do more of the things you like about it and less of the things you don't like about it. Get opinions from others, but you be the judge as to what is valuable opinion and what is not. This is how to evolve your artwork to higher levels.

I take the viewpoint that I am doing my artwork for others. I am communicating to viewers and want to enrich their lives with beauty and the energy of life. The idea of helping others through artwork gives the whole process a higher purpose which motivates me; and results in an enthusiastic response from viewers. People need art, although they may not realize it. It is a spiritual thing which is very much needed at this time.

All the best to you!

Best Regards,

Scott Menaul

Menaul Fine Art
1750 N. Hercules Ave.
Clearwater, FL 33759

Tel: 727-726-7411
Cell: 727-744-1602
Email: smenaul@aol.com
web: www.menaul-art.com

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85@85 miArte Gallery

Filed Under: Art Shows by Scott Menaul
Dec.05, 2008

For the second year in a row, I will be participating in 85@85 at the miArte Gallery in Coral Gables, FL. The event showcases 85 contemporary artists with works ranging from abstract to realism, photography to sculpture and everything in between. The gallery owners invited me back to show two of my new pieces, "Atlantis" and "Cylinder City". (Last year, it was "New Glory" and "Turmoil", the latter of which sold on the spot.)

The diversity of art in 85@85 is astounding and I'm inspired by the new ideas artists come up with. Their artwork reflects so many different personalities and ethnic and cultural backgrounds. My style of abstract art is unique among them, which makes it interesting to see my pieces surrounded by oil paintings, drawings, watercolors and photographs. I must admit they all look good together.

Meeting the other artists on opening night, it seems to me that despite their varied backgrounds and artistic styles, they share some traits in common: they are caring and compassionate people with a strong desire to express themselves and reach out to others. Seeing all of these people united in one place is quite an experience.

If you're in the area, I invite you to come by 85@85 on Friday, December 5th from 7:00-10:00 PM. The miArte Gallery is located at 85 Merrick Way, Coral Gables, FL. Admission is free.

Scott J. Menaul
• scott@menaul-art.com
• www.menaul-art.com

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New Glory

Filed Under: Abstract Art by Scott Menaul
Nov.21, 2008
New Glory
“New Glory” by Scott Menaul

With New Glory, I wanted to express how I felt about the country during the beginning of 2008.

I'm seeing America being very fractured, with the wars in the Middle East, greed and irresponsibility crashing the economy, and elections that divide one nation into red states and blue states. I find the media painting a distorted picture of the world and the citizens I talk to are disillusioned. Everywhere I look it seems as though rights and freedoms are being taken away. I love this country, but America doesn’t seem to represent what it used to. This is what I've tried to symbolize in the refraction of the red and white stripes of the flag.

Despite its problems, I know America holds enormous potential for renewal and growth. The foundation this nation was built on still provides a base from which we can rebuild. The diversity of the American people and their opinions has also been one of its greatest strengths. To show this, I've preserved the stars, standing as strong as ever.

Scott J. Menaul
• scott@menaul-art.com
• www.menaul-art.com

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