Swing Time

Sooner or later, I do get my projects done! :-)

This one actually started nearly a year ago. I was thumbing through my latest issue of Somerset (and sorry, no, can't remember which issue it was now), and was inspired by a background layering technique. So I pulled out some odds and ends of papers and paints and inks and glazes, and a 9x12 canvas board, and went to it!

I knew from the start that I wanted to showcase this (ten-year-old) photo of me and my daughter, so I played around with my Paint Shop Pro using various colorized versions. I settled on a black and white with just our tops colorized, which I then had made into a 5x7 print.

However, when I placed the plain ol' black-and-white colorized photo on the background, it looked...blah! So it sat. And sat, and sat, and sat...

I came across this unfinished piece last week and decided to give it another go. I took a printer copy and watercolored the background, which I actually liked! But the photo itself had better clarity, so I cut us out of the photo, and layered us over the watercolor. Getting closer!

It still lacked something, so I grabbed my roll of metal duct tape, rolled it up, flattened it, and used alcohol inks on it in coordinating colors, and voila'! MUCH better!

The metal "frame" of the duct tape was hard to photograph because of the shinier surface, so the colors don't ring as true in this online version.