Today's image (below) is constructed from four images: 2 ice, 1 tree trunk with lichen, and 1 dandelion that had gone to seed (I don't consider this a flower...). One of the things I learned from my first attempt was that I want the colors to stay relatively true to the original, as on that first one I really turned the color on it's ear, just to see what happened, and maybe to get me out of my comfort zone.
What I'm already leaning about this process is my need for self-adopted rules (all of which are to be questioned and potentially broken of course), but the rules help provide focus and a rationale/purpose for what I'm doing. The process is also creating questions that will undoubtedly help in the development of my rules. So.....
Rule number one: the image will always be made up of photograph(s) of nature.
Rule number two: the color should be true to the natural image.
Rule number three: to employ only "traditional" digital imaging techniques (color, tonal controls, and masking. If I'm trying to free the photograph from itself, from the painters mindset, I don't want to create a "mixed media" piece, or "paint over" the image, or at this stage use any digital "special effects.")
As I played with this image I was excited how one image of ice simulated the texture of a brush stroke (most notable in the upper left corner). I thought that was cool, but then became immediately aware, that I'm still going to be printing a flat image on flat paper, and the "simulation" of a brush stroke is going to look just like that. So it posed the question of a third rule, that I've yet to decide on.
Query for rule number four: should I try to simulate the texture of paint on canvas, or should I investigate formally "flattening" the image layers so they build up more like gouache paint? Or watercolor (which is has a more "flat" finish like a photograph.) Or is it neither, and I need to find something completely separate and unique from paintings and photographs? This may only apply to these "layered" studies...
Other considerations that are quickly coming up are that of subject matter/combinations of subject matter. In these layering exercises how do I (pre) determine what images to use for a specific desired outcome? The images need to have a "soul" and not just be constructs of color and form, how is that obtained with layered images? Is it purely through composition and color control, or is the subject matter (that has now become unrecognizable under all the layers) critical for that "presence" to be felt?
So much more to investigate. It's all very exciting....
(p.s. if you click on the images posted, they will open up in a larger view so you can see more detail.)
1 comment:
No attempt is ever "Lame!"
It looks like you're having fun and I personally enjoy looking at both images. It's like a nature walk in one frame and I find myself enjoying the whole image at firs and then hunting through it to identify its parts.
Thank you for sharing!
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