by guest blogger Jennifer Simpson
My name is Jennifer Simpson and I’m the artist behind Jennifer Simpson Art Photography. I have painted with oils for most of my life and dabbled in acrylics and watercolor. I became serious about photography about 3 years ago with the purchase of a Nikon D-80 which I still use. My current work involves combining my first love – painting – with photography. I came across the process I currently use rather by accident. I was getting some artwork ready for an exhibit and decided I would print my photographs onto canvas rather than my usual framing, I never liked framing anyway, it’s a tedious process for me. Once I stretched my photographs onto a wooden frame, I realized that painting the photograph would be a unique, challenging, and meaningful way to present my artwork and express myself.
To explain my process in detail would be nearly impossible as each piece I do calls for a different technique to get across what I’m trying to say. I believe what they all have in common is a certain dreamy, vintage quality though – that and the fact that I only do them in a square format. Each photograph I do is first printed onto canvas, sometimes in color and sometimes in black and white. I then create what is basically a shallow wooden box to mount the canvas on. I line the canvas up onto the wood and gallery wrap it, using a staple gun to attach the canvas to the back edges of the ‘box’. I then flip the canvas over, put it on my easel and start painting. Sometimes I begin with an opaque wash of thinned out yellow paint over the entire photograph to give it a yellowed, vintage appearance. Then I paint the edges with black or brown paint bringing the color down onto the photograph, adding layers and wiping them off until the right amount of color vs. opacity is achieved.
There’s really no specific science to this, I just kind of go by look and feel. Depending on the photograph I will sometimes create an entirely new background for the subject, painting a sky with clouds behind it or perhaps an ocean view or just completely changing the color, giving it a solid orange background where there once was forest or a wash of subtle blues and greens where there once was a building. At this point, I usually take sandpaper and start taking off the color in places, deconstructing the artwork so to speak. It is this distressing that gives it texture and further interest. I take off the paint in some places, I even remove bits and pieces of the photograph itself from the canvas.
I create my canvases in all different sizes ranging from 10”x10” to 40”x40”. I photograph my painted canvases and make prints from them as well. I recently ventured into doing note cards after it was requested by several of my customers. To see more examples of my work, you can visit my website at www.JenniferSimpsonArt.com.