Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Metallic Lushness


I tried a new way to print some of my images - using mpix.com and Kodak metallic paper. One of the images was this lumen print of poppies. Lumen prints are one of a kind, since they are essentially photograms made on expired black and white paper by exposing for hours in direct sunlight. The colours result from the long exposure, the expired paper and chemicals in the plant material that interact with the chemicals in the paper. They are always intriguing, and often have a wonderful glow. I scanned the original print and then sent the digital file to mpix.com for printing. Just received the print (and some others) today, and am blown away by the way the metallic paper enhances the glow in this image. Part of the motivation for trying this is to find ways to produce prints for sale at a reasonable price, but high quality.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

New Ways of Seeing the World


It's been a crazy few months at work combined with some family health issues that have partly derailed my efforts at creating a healthier and more purposeful life. But here and there I've still managed to add new life to my art endeavours. Most recently, I've been working on a new darkroom technique called lith printing. This is a way to transform black and white images into some stunning colours. I find myself walking around town pre-visualizing images that will work well with this printing method.