Another Art Project- This time Repurposing Old Photographs from work
I am leading this year's charity fundraising drive at work. One of the activities we typically do is a silent auction, and over the last five years I've watched with curiosity as people have brought in gently used items or items they are donating for auction. I am hoping that this year we can include some original artwork and crafts and generate more money for charities.
Hence today's blog. Several years ago, our space planner was going to throw out two photographs that has been hanging for many years in the office of the manager. When a chap with 40 years of service retired, and these were slated for the recycle bin- the space planner told me "if you want these frames you can have them."
I put them on the wall in my office knowing I would figure out what to do with them. I respect artwork- so in spite of the face I didn't know who took the photos, I didn't have the heart to throw them out- so I decided to try and resurrect them- not by recoloring them as photos but by integrating them into artwork.
So what to do, what to do? The first one was easy- as it was a complex view of tree branches- and I sensed I could work with it. But the composition of the second photo seemed incomplete somehow- the river looked stagnant and with the fading it looked dull. I began hunting for creatures I could integrate into the photo and taped them in place for weeks at a time so I could mull it over.
I picked animals or creatures I thought I might want to integrate into the artwork. These were harvested from google searches and I thank whoever holds the copyright- I just borrowed them to ensure I would be accurate in my depiction. :-) In the end, the racoons were eliminated as they were too dominant and cute- and the turtles were just not a fit with the composition... so this became an exercise in finding the right animals for the environment.
Since i did the first painting last weekend and worked on it feverishly, I didn't capture the process... so this time I have chronicled my art-student-process as it's kind of interesting. It was an exercise in perseverance as it looked really bad early on, and as a young artist I would have abandoned it. But somehow at this age, I realized that the journey taken is where the learning occurs- and that it is just as important as the outcome. So you can chuckle with me, that it went from looking dreadful to being ok!
Here is the original photo I repurposed.
Step one was to remove it from the frame. I then went to Michaels in search of paints I could use- that would work with the photo's palette.
I found some curious Martha Stewart paints intended to be used on glass, and thought "may as well give them a try..."
I then began my (at times alarming) trial and error!
Fingerpainting
I found the Martha Stewart paint I bought to be much thinner than the previous paint I had used... so first I blocked in color using my finger to spread the paint...
I started to worry when I saw the result... the iridescent pain took over and the brown was dull. I was concerned about whether this was going to work... or just look like paint smears on a photograph!
Next I started stippling and blocking in more color... and went through numerous rounds of stippling...I remembered what I learned long ago about how the impressionists worked with color so abandoned the idea of being true to the photo's colors and decided to try and breathe life back into the scene.
Persistance
The lesson here is it had to get really bad and I had to stick with it before it came together.
The bottom line was persistence and not judging my work- accepting "it will be what it will be" and if it is great and I think it will raise money in the auction I will be pleased- and if it's just quirky student work I might keep it. But it was an honest effort. :-)
It ended up taking me about 10 hours... layers and layers of dots since i decided to do stippling and continue my homage to Georges Seurat.
At this point this is the nearly finished painting. What used to be flat brown is alive with color, and I am
I may do a bit more work on this, but it will be after I see it in better light. I notice I change the perspective as I laid in the color and I may correct it to the original like, and then again- I may leave it alone! I will add a final picture once I pop it back in the frame (which I will be spraying with black enamel.)
Now I have a set! Here is the first photo I repurposed... sorry I didn't take a BEFORE picture. I have signed both paintings "Mother Nature" since the photos were taken by someone else, and the painting was inspired by the current fall colors... and the painting; well Creator allows me to do it and it's fun!
