Watercolored Photo

Victoria and Albert Museum Courtyard, mixed media, 12x12

I found this idea in the July/August 2010 issue of Sommerset Studio magazine. The article was by Angela Cartwright. She explained how she printed black and white photos on watercolor paper, painted them with watercolors and then mounted them on canvas boards or wrapped canvas. I thought they looked interesting to do, so I set about trying it. I found a picture I had taken on a trip to London. It's from the courtyard of the Victoria and Albert Museum. I didn't have the watercolor paper that is manufactured for printing in a home printer but I did have some Aquarius II, 80#, by Strathmore. I cut it the size of printer paper and printed out my black and white photo. Painting it was a dream because the Aquarius paper doesn't buckle or pucker from water, the photo already had the dark and light areas. Once painted it reminded me of old postcards before color film. The canvas was prepared by painting it lightly with green/gold acrylic and then wiping on a cream white after it was dry. When that was dry I attached the picture to the canvas with matte medium, coating under and on top of the picture being sure that all the edges were secure. The next day I decided a little gold paint rubbed in a random way around the painting would be fun to try. I will probably coat the whole thing again with a UV protective varnish.
I've tried to add a link to Angela's web site. I hope it works. www.acartwrightstudio.com/alteredparadox.htm.