altering photographs is a loose and unpredictable process

requiring few complicated or special supplies.  for this reason 

i find it freeing and a good warm up exercise 

before i begin painting or drawing.

i use two small plastic containers that will hold 4 x 6 photo.

one holds water and the other a mixture of water and bleach.

other supplies are photos of course, you can use up those photos 

that you can't throw away but pile up and never seem to have a place,

steel wool, an awl or nail or pen without ink, anything to scratch into 

the surface once it has been softened by water, stencils, lace, doily,

styrofoam container or any other type of texture you can think of.

lots of rags, newspaper and paper towels to sop up the mess.

maybe gloves too. 

the first step is to dip the photo into water.  you can dip a portion of the 

photo or the whole thing.  wait a few seconds for the emulsion to soften.

then use one of the tools, for example the steel wool

and start scraping.  there are no rules for how to proceed.  

work on the photo until you feel finished.  you can always 

go back in and do more later.  set it aside to dry.

another process is to dip a portion of the photo or the whole

photo into the water/bleach mixture.  you need to experiment 

with the amount of time to let it sit in the bleach.  try a few 

seconds first.  

from here you can experiment more with 

scratching and altering the photo or you can let it change colors on 

its own.  oil pastels, watercolor, acrylic can also be used,

you can dip it immediately into the water bath  to stop the bleaching process, 

blot the liquid or  let the colors drip into each other.  you will do well to 

change the water mixture frequently.  the bleach 

mixture will hold out through many photos. 

once the photo has dried, you can use it as a part of collage 

or even it frame it.  

wishing you a lovely weekend.  i will be participating 

in a journaling workshop with orly avineri and am 

looking forward to a reunion with my journaling buddies. 

posting with the artists at paint party friday.  

we all have photo bloopers laying around,  i'm sure.  

the ones that didn't turn out but still sit in drawers.

before photo

  jacki long learned what to do with them from 

karen michel and shared that information. 

 besides photos, the supplies are basic- container of water, 

steel wool,  bleach, awl or sharp object for scraping,

paper towels, newspaper, gloves.  in case you are interested 

in experimenting,   the bleach is diluted approximately 

50% bleach to 50% water.   i tried a gently bleach when i got home 

but it did not result in the different colors, just bleached out the photo 

to a sepia tone.   i would suggest experimenting.

dipped in water, textured with steel wool over punchenella

i flipped it around in all directions when vertically

i saw a face starting to emerge.

three colors of pastels were used to define 

the details.  and here is the  result.

there is more on altered photos in these two books,

the complete guide to altered imagery, by karen michel

and mixed emulsions, altered art techniques 

for photographic imagery by angela cartwright.

while this technique is not totally new to me,  

it have been wanting to revisit it and the books again.

i have a mental list of processes i want to try but until 

i actually write it down, get the supplies out or have a workshop,

they often stay on the list for a while.  i am wondering if this is 

my procrastinating spirit or if you also don't get around to

doing all that you would like to in this rich and full life?

waiting at a stop sign i saw this today, 7am

hello to all my paint party friday visitors 

and

have a lovely weekend.