For the last ten months I have been shooting, painting, getting messy and getting injured and my house is a total disaster. Every surface is covered with canvases, sheet metal, paint, gold and silver leaf, pots of this and that, sandpaper, corrosives and power tools. But it has been wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I have loved every minute of the experimenting with various techniques and seeing my photographs in an entirely new way.
Each piece is an original as the canvases and the metal are treated prior to the image being printed. Then they are all covered with a UV protective coating.
There are about 30 pieces in the show ranging from 8x8 to 30x40. here are a few photos of the preparation process and some of the small finished pieces...
Lost and Found 10x10
I am not fond of the uniform texture of canvas. Above is the first layer with random detail on the surface. And below, the second layer - they are painted to add some colour and a bit of sparkle.
Once the base layers have completely dried, an adhesive is applied which is left to dry for 30 minutes.
Then the silver or gold leaf is applied. This is a trying task as the 5"x5" sheets are so thin and incredibly fragile. They weigh almost nothing so they are extremely difficult to control.
Fortunately, it is the wrinkles and gaps that appeal to me. I want the surface to be raw and varied.
The canvas before printing. They are all different; the one above is pretty rough with considerable spaces to reveal the paint. The canvas below is a little smoother.
With this 24x36 canvas, I left about six inches at one end and applied the leaf very roughly.
Above and below: I asked Petals to bring in some poppy pods for me. I shot about 800 photos of them. A crazy amount I know, but, one, I was having a terrific time shooting, and two, as they would only last for a few days, I needed to be sure I captured what I needed.
Many of the pieces are multi dimensional in that I am using the metal in multiple stages of the process. Some plates are treated with corrosives which I then use as a background for a photograph. It is later printed either on a canvas, or another sheet of metal. With the piece below, I used brass sheets both as a background and as a reflector to light up the pod's stem.
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