Just Sold: Grandparents Light

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

Grandparents tower lampYay! I have sold this art light to a good friend & neighbor. The key was finding the right LED string. I needed plug in lights (not battery) that were not too bright, and not a 30′ long string for this small piece.

I found a 16′ string of LEDs on a dimmer that is a bit fussy to use, but works. The lights can be plugged in to a timer, and will retain the last setting used. This lets us ignore the many flashing modes, and determine the preferred brightness once and leave it alone!

I added a top cover, mounted the acrylic to a glass tile base, touched up and sealed the image, and it is delicate but stable enough to be functional (as well as fabulous of course :-).

The image is based on two overlaid images:  a drawing inspired by a photograph of my maternal grandparents Bob & Belle, and a sketch of my granddaughter Fionna. The other two sides of this piece are displayed in previous posts.

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Variations on lighting the Grandparents

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

Grandparents lit tower 2b Grandparents lit tower 2aThis is a new variation on a small light featuring my digital collage of drawings in mixed media using Inkpress backlight film. If I can find or make a working string of plug-in LED lights that is not too long & too bright, I can mount this piece onto the glass tile in a way that will be somewhat secure, though still quite fragile.

I found I had to add a color diffuser layer inside, around the LEDs, and touch up the color on the printed film for the saturation I want. I printed to the matte side of the film, which takes the ink beautifully, but is very matte/dull. For this light, I wanted a brighter more saturated look, so added watercolor and finished with gloss clear spray. It is now almost a satin finish …

The film I used is very stiff, and cannot be readily folded to wrap the corners of this 3-sided acrylic piece, although it could be wrapped around a cylindrical tube. It is not stiff enough to work without a support however. I have been experimenting with various transfer methods, all of which are problematic in one way or another (of course!). All require considerable additional remediation/enhancements to be satisfactory. Working with the lights is not easy: I cannot predict the clarity & saturation that will satisfy me and much trial & error with rework is needed.

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Water soluble media sketches

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

Wolf form I



At left I printed a scan of my water soluble graphite “drawing” (The Ghost Children) on watercolor paper, then added water color (pencil & paint). At right, I worked directly with color and Water soluble graphite together in one step.

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More with Lighting: another variant

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

Grandparents lit box

 

This is another variant of a digital drawing collage. The two adult figures are my maternal grandparents: a drawing derived from a very lovely photograph of them together.

The child is a transfer of a poor likeness of a a portrait of my granddaughter (by marriage). The whole is 11″ x 14″, in an acrylic box frame backed by LED lights.

Sounds simple enough, but it took a LOT of work & rework to get this right. There is just enough color and light diffusion so the piece looks good lit and unlit, I think.

The plug in LED lights are very bright, and come in long strings. I have not experimented with shortening them for a bit less light, but I do want that option, especially for smaller pieces.

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Ways of arranging…

P.T. Artist Sandra Stowell Posted on by

Whirlwind half 1 Whirlwind sketch full Whirlwind half 2
Bowl of eggs on wood
This last piece is a toner transfer of a recent drawing, originally Aquarelle graphite on water color paper. I lost some of the tones & delicacy of the original drawing, but the transfer came out fairly well. I used Golden GAC 500 over a very smooth board. I lightly sanded the very old dry unknown finish on this scrap board, before applying medium. The sidebars are strips of a delicate pre-printed fine art paper applied with the same medium, then touched up with smudges of fine copper pigment.

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