jprat jpret wow: hand painted photographs

Sunday, April 11, 2010

ALINE SMITHSON: Photographing Family

To create the series Arrangement in Green and Black: Portrait of the Photographer's Mother, Aline Smithson took photographs of her 85-year-old mother combining traditional photography techniques with hand painted color. The inspiration for the series began when she found a small print of Whistler's painting Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother, at a neighborhood garage sale. The same weekend she found a leopard coat and hat, a 1950s cat painting, and what looked like the exact chair from the Whistler painting. "That started me thinking about the idea of portraiture, the strong compositional relationships going on within Whistler's painting, and the evocative nature of unassuming details," says Smithson. More about Aline here

The Griffin Museum of Photography April 7 - May 16, 2010
Arrangement In Green And Black:
PORTRAIT OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S MOTHER
The Atelier Gallery, 395 Main Street, Stoneham, MA

Friday, January 1, 2010

ALINE SMITHSON: Lenscratch Favorites

Shadows and Stains series
Hand painted silver gelatin print (c) Aline Smithson /All Rights Reserved

from "My favorites from the yearly vacation at the lake..."
Lenscratch (c) Aline Smithson /All Rights Reserved

Henry from "My favorites from the yearly vacation at the lake..."
Lenscratch (c) Aline Smithson /All Rights Reserved

SHADOWS AND STAINS series: "Shot with a toy camera (Diana), I set out to deconstruct images, overlap or cut my negatives, add thoughts that never get said out loud, add text and texture through traditional methods in the darkroom, add washes of oil paint to the surface, and discard the idea of making the perfect print. I want the shadows and stains of my photographic fingerprints as evidence that I was there, in a dark room." –Aline Smithson

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In December, Photographer Aline Smithson posted the following message on her blog LENSCRATCH: "Send me your favorite photograph of 2009 (that you have taken) and I will post it on New Year's Day." Readers sent images from as far away as India, Burma, Ireland, and Hungary, as well as many from here at home. The following are only a few of the almost 100 images posted:

LENSCRATCH 1.1.10