one image one inspiration

I purchased an old photograph so long ago, I don't remember where I got it. 

  It was the sweet face of the girl on the left that won my heart.    These two look like sisters about to go to the St. Louis World's Fair.      I came across the photo again recently and decided to use it.     

I started by scanning into computer and playing around with sizes and printing out some to try as transfers.     

This first transfer was done from an inkjet print on plain paper, laid down on the smoother side of a sheet of watercolor paper , then spritzing with water.   Nothing much was happening so I carefully lifted an edge and sprayed a little water directly on the print and also on the paper.   Then pressed down with fingers to make good contact. I had to respritz the back of paper several times and continued to press on the back of image.     I let it dry for several hours, and this is the result.   It is very pale.     Years ago when I used this method with a different printer, the image came through as purplish.   This time it was grey.

This image was done from an inkjet print with some charcoal outlining and enhancing.     Then I placed it face down on smooth watercolor paper with a coat of fresh still wet gesso on it, and pressed it down with fingers.  If you do this, lift the copy paper before it has a chance to stick to the drying gesso, otherwise it will be permanently adhered and you will not have anything to show for your efforts.  I can't tell you how long it takes, but be prepared to work pretty fast.   Better remove  it too soon than too late.

This spread was done with Golden Acrylic liquid paints scraped across watercolor paper with a credit cart, much like I do in some art journals.     I cut out the girls from an inkjet print to make stencils and masks.       I cut the girl on the left out of another piece and used her on the opposite page.      A little light coat of gesso here and there to bring them out better, and some outlining done with a Sharpie white paint pen makes them stand out.   
I used a stencil girl stencil for the path at bottom and did some ramdom marking with Sharpie Red paint pen. 

This is actually the last spread in the piece. 

This spread was done  over layers of collaged papers which were then gessoed and stamped with my hand cut tree and horse stamps, then gessoed again.     The family farm and image at left are from family archives.     Here is where I introduce  the inkjet print of the girls, full size.     Apparently dad is staying home on the farm while the girls go off on their adventure.    This is spread one.

At the moment I'm using Jo Sonja's Clear Glaze medium for an adhesive and also for a final coating.     Someone donated a couple jars of it to the senior center and I'm the only one that could use it, so they came home with me.   I really like it.  It's a little more liquid than the Liquitex Glazing medium I had been using.  It dried quickly and had good adhesive properties.      I don't know how old these jars are, I suspect maybe a decade or more.    I'm very glad to have them in my stock, as I go through a lot of glaze mediums here.

Here is a close up of the quote I selected for this page."A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there, which, seek through the world, is never met with elsewhere, Home, home, sweet, sweet, home. "   John howard Payne, 1791-1852.












Spread two was also done on a watercolor sheet, collaged with different scraps of paper, then gessoed and stamped with handcarved stamps.
Perhaps you can see the influence of Anne Bagby here?

She layers and layers, and gessos over and over again.   I stamped the trees several times with different tones of asphaltum  paint from Plaid's Folk Art acrylic craft paints.    I am trying to incorporate more images into the background with stamps.    I rather like the trees as it seems like an orchard, and appropriate to the farm theme.  The fence stamp is another hand carved stamp.    The girl was done with the transfer technique above, and then painted over and glazed with asphaltum.     A few little touches of colored pencil was added.  

 The ladies on the opposite page  from an injet print are supposed to represent her family, from mother and aunts to grandmother.  



The quote is a sweet thought by Jane Taylor, 1782-1827.
"Who ran to help me when I fell, and would some pretty story tell or kiss the place and make it well?     My Mother."

This was supposed to have a couple more spreads and be sewn into a patchwork crazy quilt cover I did awhile back, but I had some little glitches, like sewing the wrong pages together - LOL - so I had to adapt or tear out the stitches.    That's easier on fabric than paper, it leaves marks through the paints and paper, particularly when there are so many layers.         So, it is a stand alone piece which will be shown this month at the gallery, in hopes someone will think it is a good Mother's Day keepsake.      It's 7 inches tall, so it will show up in the window.