Day: February 24, 2005

Art, Collage, Ladybusiness, Paintings

Vessels: 3 x 9

Shelly

3 by 9

3 by 9 (detail)
Vessels: 3 by 9 (with detail)
mixed media on paper

This is the latest installment in the Vessels series. It’s a combination of Pitt pen, Koh-I-Noor watercolor pencils, Neocolors II water-souluble wax crayons, and collage on yummy Cartiere Magnani paper. I’m much happier with this piece than #17–not so much because I think the final image is all that much better, but because the process of getting to the end result was more satisfying.

I’m especially happy with the leaves. I usually don’t enjoy the process of cross-hatching. It’s a bloody pain in my behindermost parts to get the sort of result I want. It’s a little difficult to tell, even from the detail, but there there are layers upon layers upon layers of cross hatching, which gives a velvety depth to the drawing. The paper held up very well to this sort of abuse.

Altered Photos, Art

Altered Photos

Shelly

001

Altered Photo 02

Altered Photo 03 Altered Photo 07

Altered Photo 06

Altered Photo 05

Altered Photo 08

I’ve been meaning to scan these for awhile. These were all altered with just bleach. I used Q-tips, a syringe, and my fingers to apply the bleach. I used both diluted and undiluted bleach. Caveat: if using undiluted bleach, I recommend having a tub of water handy or do your altering in the kitchen sink with the water running. You’ll need to act quickly or the bleach will completely eat away the emulsion. I found that using a syringe filled with a 50/50 bleach/water solution, pre-wetting the photo with running water, and running the photo through the water as soon as the bleach was applied worked best.

I really like the way the squarish photo of the snake turned out. That effect was gotten by filling the bottom of a lunch plate with a 50/50 bleach/water solution, dipping the center of the photo in the liquid, then immediately running it under water.