Staff Pick

This amazing photo was submitted by Steve Penny and was taken down in Christchurch at Orana Wildlife Park during the daily tiger feed. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to share this one with you all, it looks fiercely intimidating and impressive on one of our massive A0 canvases, almost as if we were standing face to face with the real thing!

Here is what Steve had to say about this shot:

The photo was taken locally here in Christchurch at Orana Wildlife
Park during the daily tiger feed. I have taken loads of photos at the park
and have been trying to get a good photo of the tiger when it leaps to get its food. The day this photo was taken the keeper decided to put the food into the water instead of on the high pole which requires the leap I wanted to catch. I was disappointed that there wasn't going to be a leap that particular day but I still just fired off a raft of photos anyway without too much thought to the composition. When reviewing the photos later I had several lovely shots of the tiger in the water which washed away any previous disappointment.

Summer Snapshot Competition!

We hope you has a fantastic Christmas and managed to take loads of embarrassing yet magical photos. What did you get up to this summer? Overseas trip? Holiday at the beach? Maybe you stayed home the entire time and ate your weight in chocolate coated pretzels? Whatever you did we want to see the evidence! Show us what you've been up to this summer and you could win a free canvas.

Send your favourite summer snapshots in to us at hello@pixelpaint.co.nz  before the end of February 2013 and if your entry is chosen you'll get a free A3 canvas plus exposure on our blog  and Facebook  page.

Creating a Photo Montage Wall in 4 Steps

A photo montage wall is an epic way to create a stand out feature wall in any space. They look super impressive if correctly executed and even though covering almost an entire wall in canvas can seem a bit intimidating, we promise it's not! We've broken it down into 5 easy steps for you.

 Photo credit: http://www.housetohome.co.uk

Step 1: Plan your space. Start by deciding how much of your wall you want to use, don't be shy - go big or go home! Next mark out the centre point in very light pencil, this should sit at eye level. You also want to lightly draw two horizontal (or vertical) lines running parallel on either side of the centre point, about 3-4 cm apart.

Step 2: Plan your layout: You'll need to choose what kind of look you're going for, how many pictures you want to use and how they are going to fit into the space. Make sure you chose a few varying sizes. Keep in mind all of our canvas dimensions can be found here.  We reccomend drawing up a quick sketch. This simple guide will give you a few layout ideas to get started:

Image credit: http://www.sasinteriors.net

Step 3: Chose a focal point and start from there. Pick the canvas for the centre of your wall and hang it right in the middle, making sure it's edge sits flush with one of the guides you drew earlier. Hang the next four or so canvases with either their bottom edge against the bottom line, or their top edge against the top line.

Step 4: Work your way out from the focal point by adding different sized pieces and deviating away from the guide lines, do your best to leave the same amount of space between each piece, about 2-3 cm is ideal.

Things to remember:

• You don't want the outer edges of the montage to be even! Just a few in the centre.  

• Before hanging things of the wall, practise the layout on your floor to get an idea of how it will look, you might need to try a few different combinations before you get things looking right.

• Mix it up and be creative! You can add signs or memorabilia to your montage wall to add a different dimensions to it. 

We'd love to see your montage wall in action, if you've made one featuring some of our canvas send us a photo!