Below are some long overdue posts of student acrylic transfer work from my workshop at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology last summer. I had a great group for those two days who all brought very unique interests and artistic backgrounds with them to this process (as evidenced below). Most everyone seemed a bit startled at just how labor-intensive the process happened to be, but there is no questioning that the results can be absolutely beautiful in their unpredictability. Each of the images below was transferred onto 12" square birch plywood panels using acrylic gel medium. Some of these panels were leafed with metal leaf (see examples 1 and 2), some were left raw (as in examples 3 and 4) and some painted. As always, the panels were provided by the one-stop shop for artistic substrates in PDX: art-substrates.
As is often the case, so much of the workshop's time was devoted to demystifying the transfer process that there wasn't much time for students to start incorporating other mediums on top of the image. I hope that some day I'll be afforded a week-long workshop so that students can move beyond the basics and really start to explore how to further incorporate drawing and painting onto the transferred images.
The above transfer on "gold" leafed panel is enhanced by a bit of powdered graphite rubbed into the corners to create something akin to a vignette technique. As is evidenced here, it's hard to go wrong when you're working with a great image, but the transfer process and the liveliness of the light across the metal leaf under the image provide an extra level of mystery that is difficult to fully appreciate in the above reproduction.
The above transfer on "gold" leafed panel is enhanced by a bit of powdered graphite rubbed into the corners to create something akin to a vignette technique. As is evidenced here, it's hard to go wrong when you're working with a great image, but the transfer process and the liveliness of the light across the metal leaf under the image provide an extra level of mystery that is difficult to fully appreciate in the above reproduction.
If memory serves, this photo was taken as a reflection in a door and much of the texture you're seeing here exists in the actual photo. This transfer onto "silver" leaf helps reinforce the sheen and texture of the surface that captured the image in the first place.
This image is a transfer of a copy of original artwork for a children's story. The grain of the plywood panel beneath adds another layer of texture and a soft warm tone to the image.
As a collector of vintage photographs it is impossible for me to not get excited about their application in this process. This picture harkens back to an Oregon Coast of long ago. You can see that there are just a few areas left on this image that still need to have some of the paper pulp removed (any area of fuzzy white) but it promises to be a very clean transfer.
After sharing with the class that I periodically use shellac as a finish, which is oil-based and therefore literally renders stray bits of paper pulp all but transparent and invisible this student brought in a can of Watco to run a few tests. It's effects were similar, although the nutty brown of the Watco will become a tone in the image to the degree that it is applied. Part of the benefit of instructing workshops is getting to learn a few things myself. . .
While I won't be at Sitka this summer there is no shortage of amazing workshops on offer and registration is now open for 2015. If you've got a few days, you'd be hard pressed to find a place more beautiful, with a staff more friendly than Sitka Center for Art and Ecology.
While I won't be at Sitka this summer there is no shortage of amazing workshops on offer and registration is now open for 2015. If you've got a few days, you'd be hard pressed to find a place more beautiful, with a staff more friendly than Sitka Center for Art and Ecology.
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