joybrealey's blog

Art is and will continue to be, subjective. What one person views as evocative, imaginative, dramatic, or creative, another person could see the same thing and call it blatant vandalism.

Digital art is accessible and affordable. You can buy art online, have it delivered as a media file to your inbox, and print it out to frame in a matter of minutes.

There is no shortage of places to a buy a picture frame. Making a quality purchase that holds its value is another matter. Moreover, when you have items of sentimental or monetary value that needs framing for preservation, you absolutely need to be certain that the frame is up to the job intended.

Historically, the tradition for Mother’s Day gifts has long been a bouquet of flowers. The symbol started way back in the 1900s when children would pick wild flowers on their way to church. Over the years, traditions have faded, the traditional fruit cake (simnel cake) has fallen out of favour being replaced with more modern practices of breakfast in bed, or special Mother’s Day meals and recipes.

Caricatures are like the cartoon version of a photo. A rise in photo personalisation services is giving way to a fun and creative way to display ordinary photos in much more vivid detail. Caricature prints, similar to portraits, are only imitations of them with exaggerated aspects incorporated into the drawing. The end result can be funny with a striking resemblance. Much like ‘Spitting Image’, only in stills.

Ever wondered how motion can be captured in still photography? Or how sunset and sunrise photos always seem to come out over or underexposed?

Funerals and cremations are taboo topics. The problem with them is that nobody really has to research into what can be done with ashes until you have to. When you find yourself going through the grieving process of losing a loved one, then having the ashes but unsure what best to do with them, moving on can be tougher for longer.

Enter the world of journaling or scrapbooking and you may be surprised by the sheer number of embellishments available. The styles, the decor, and the imagination behind some of the creativity that goes into these nifty pieces of decor.

One thing we all have in common is a past. You can use that to get your head into a better space when you need to, just by framing the appropriate prints and displaying them somewhere prominent enough that you can see them when life deals you a swift blow.

Gift-giving can at times be a difficult chore. There are so many options and rarely something that can make you feel like it is the absolute best option. Truth is, you can exhaust yourself with ideas and still not come up with anything unique that would make any type of gift stand out.