Experiments

I spent a large part of the snow day experimenting with ways to reproduce a photograph. I am working with the critical Photo 51 which was the image that Watson and Crick used to deduce the structure of DNA. I would like to use a direct copy of the picture but it is not in the public domain and has not even been released for non-commercial use. So I need to replicate it in a pleasing way and one which keeps the important elements intact.

I started with some fake dupioni silk from my stash and overpainted several pieces with different combinations of paint and medium to see how the texture was affected. I pinned them all under the dog hair dryer and was able to proceed with the next steps fairly quickly. I wanted to apply a haze of darker specks over the surface. I tried pouncing with Painsticks, flicking with a paintbrush and dabbing with pigment laden medium. Nothing worked to my satisfaction.

I retreated to the computer and read more about the photo. I now have a completely different plan which will require careful applique but won't be subject to the vagaries of 'radnom' paint distribution. It is also a better idea and will convey more meaning in the end. And it lets me justify my weirdly large collection of semi-sheer polyester fabric.


Time = 2 hr, 51 min