little art BIG CAUSE progress

Paper and Ink Roses by Mike Brown

I've narrowed my subjects down to roses in honor of the Portland Rose Festival.  Over the years I've accumulated hundreds of rose photos and went back through my collections looking for interesting shapes and designs within these images.  I've cropped my favorites and used an artistic filter which converts each image with paper crinkles and ink splatters.  

To me this speaks volumes about our town, literacy, books, and creativity.  I'm hopeful the image transfer process to the primed boards will be a success.

See http://mikepdx.com/artwork/node/73 for the main post about the First Thursday event.

Update:  The process went well and I've updated the thumbnails above with the final versions after much tinkering.  The quality of the photos was not up to my standards, but they turned out well.  The process first involved printing each archival inkjet image to waterslide decal paper.  I've never worked with this paper before, so took some time to experiment with different applications and treatments. 

In the end I opted to use a mixture of archival craft glue and water on each 8" x 8" gesso prepared plywood board.  The printed and dried images had been cut to size, then soaked for 30 seconds each.  The image slipped off the backing and onto the board.  Some required a bit more fussing and worry than others, but in the end they found a final position and were left to dry.  About an hour later the glue on the sides was still just tacky enough to push down any minor overages and secure them in place.

I'm debating whether I should varnish with a protective coat as I have done in the past with all my canvas pieces.  They'll need to dry overnight and there may not be time, but we'll see how they look in the morning.