THIS GROUP IS PRIMARILY ABSTRACTED FLORAL IMAGES, stretched on 1 1/2" deep wood frames. The intention is to blur the lines between representation and abstraction. These are some of my most recent works.
They are all created digitally through scans of flowers and other actual objects on a flatbed scanner, collaged together on a computer, and initially printed as Giclee's at high quality and high resolution on superb CANVAS material, stretched on 1 1/2" deep stretcher bars, and ready to hang without a frame.
Giclee canvas prints with
image wrapped side edges.
Creative Process.
Most of the objects I include in my works are initially scanned on a large bed (11x17) flatbed scanner in order to get finer detail and to get a special quality of lighting. I usually scan at higher resolutions to get a 50 to100 Mb image, anticipating making large format Giclee prints. I rarely use digital camera images.
In Photoshop I create the background first, sometimes using images derived from a scan of materials, or of paint on glass, or an abstract background drawn in Photoshop, or occasionally a digital camera image. I then open multiple images from which I select out desired portions which I drag and drop onto the background creating new layers which can be moved, rotated, re-sized, or manipulated in the collage process. Frequently I have somewhere between 10 to 30 layers and the collage process may take several hours or sometimes days.
The construction of the shaped pieces start with the printing out geometric shaped backgrounds derived from scans of various textures or from digital still images collaged in Photoshop. This is stretched on a 1 1/2" deep wood frame just like a painting. On this is glued a second layer of canvas cut outs of flowers some of which extend beyond the picture/frame edge. Wood blocks 1 1/2" deep are attached to support these canvas edge extensions which are then glued down to the wood. After that the visible sides of the wood blocks are painted with acrylic to match the colors and textures of the printed flowers which wrap around the 1 1/2" sides of the piece.
The abstract square works are more simple in construction, being an 18"x18" image printed on canvas, and then stretched just like a painting. The edges are also 1 1/2" deep, and have a special image treatment to enhance their effect.
Display.
I prefer to make Giclee prints on canvas because I believe that in this way they gain more of a physical presence. I also am able to achieve more vivid coloration which is important to me. Also because the canvas prints are stretched on wood stretcher bars the image surface projects 1 1/2 inches out from the wall plane.
