Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Snapdragons on the Champs-Elysées

Title: "Snapdragons on the Champs-Elysées"
digital art/mixed media 8"x8"
(please click on image to enlarge)
© 2009 Christine Pierce

I have been spending a lot of time these past couple of weeks trying to find a way to combine digital photography, digital art, and traditional painting. I enjoy the infinite possibilities of digital media, but there is something about actual paint pigment on actual watercolor paper that I simply love.

After much research and experimentation, I created the digital art/watercolor painting, above. Using a photograph I took while strolling down the Champs-Elysées last month (the snapdragons were spectacular! So tall!!!), I started by making a digital underpainting in Photoshop.

I printed the image on Hahnemühle Fine Art InkJet Paper (William Turner 310gsm) using my Epson R1900 inkjet printer. This particular printer uses UltraChrome Hi-Gloss 2 pigment ink, which happily proved to be very water-resistant.

After letting the print dry (less than 10 minutes), I got out my watercolors and began painting. I focused on highlights and shadows and tried to make the colors of the flowers really "pop."

I learned a lot in the process and was pleased enough with the results to frame the piece:

Title: "Snapdragons on the Champs-Elysées"
digital art/mixed media 16"x20", framed
(please click on image to enlarge)
© 2009 Christine Pierce

I welcome your comments on this process and would love to hear about other techniques of combining digital art and traditional media.

3 comments:

justme August 5, 2009 at 4:09 PM  

Great job :)

Love the way you framed it.

I'll follow your adventures with mixed media, I want to get into it myself soon.

christine August 5, 2009 at 5:24 PM  

Thank you, justme! Welcome to the fun world of mixed media. I encourage you to jump in and play! :)

Gary Keimig August 6, 2009 at 5:45 AM  

this came out very colorful. good concept too on the Ferris Wheel

 

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