As I picked up some of the polished gemstones in the rock store I began to think about what the stones looked like before they were polished. The store had several rocks on display showing the before and after and I realized that unless you knew what you were looking for, you could easily pass by a valuable gemstone. I also thought about how many times we pass by someone because they look “ordinary” and what we might be missing because we don’t get to know their “inner person”. Thus this poem.

Stones

Like stones in a polisher
We are tossed to and fro,
bouncing off each other
while wearing off our rough edges.
Sometimes the sharpness may hurt others,
sometimes we are the ones being hurt,
but as our edges become smoother,
our surface becomes shinier.
What was once hidden
in plain grey rock begins to show
its true colours.
We may have paused to look
at our fellow tumblers
and dismissed some of them
because of the drabness of their coats.
But now they are the stones
that shine the brightest.

Think of the diamond.
It is just a simple crystal
until it is broken, cut and shaped
to reveal its inner brilliance.
We too are being tossed and turned
cut and shaped,
in order to reveal our brilliance.
God the master stone cutter
sees within our drab outer covering
to the hidden beauty within.
Thanks be to God.

Copyright February 2005

Fran Watson,

http://www.franwatson.ca,
http://www.diet-basics.org,
http://www.moremoney4u.org

Canvas art has grown to be the latest phenomena during the last few years, largely thanks to the availability of canvas printers, inexpensive stretcher bars and canvas and an enduring need for people to decorate their living space in a very personised way.

Now it’s possible to go to a shop that sells canvas prints with your digital camera, and one hour later amble out in possession of a big canvas print of one of your photos. There are infinite possibilities of what you can embellish your living space with : holiday photos, family photos, your own artwork represented as a canvas print, other artist’s works, street scenes, graffiti prints, nature scenes, famous landmarks etc. Basically, you can select what you want on the canvas itself these days, and not just be forced to pick from a restricted selection.

So is this a DIY art movement? That’s not really the case, not if you want a quality canvas print gracing your walls. You’re better off going to a professional canvas shop – they will have sourced the best canvas, the best stretcher bars, ought to be practiced in clipping and stretching canvas, and have top-grade software and printers to make it happen. In addition, they possess the know-how to tweak your own photos to produce the best resulting print.

Many print shops are selling their canvases online. Merely type in some keywords into Google such as banksy prints and you will locate many vendors where it’s possible to purchase these sorts of canvas prints.