Sometimes when you can’t get the perfect photo, you can create one. Then sometimes your printer plots against you. I was considering a couple of pieces for the Imagination Art Exhibition slated for July 1 at The Exchange in Oil City. There was one piece I knew was a definite, but I wasn’t sure how to display it.
I was bored this spring and had created a collage of some of the early spring butterflies I had come across. There were many good opportunities to photograph these harbingers of spring during some of the warmer days of March and April. The orange butterflies are eastern commas, and the dark butterflies are mourning cloaks. These butterflies overwinter as adults.
I loved the texture of their wings and used it to create a new colorful pattern. It reminded me of a mosaic. I chose a frame that added some more interest. Earlier, I had found a mirror that I liked the frame at a local discount store. It all seemed like it would work out. Then I discovered that the opening was 9 inches by 9 inches. My printer only prints 8 inches wide. I turned to my Cricut to make a mat to fill up the void.
For my next piece for the Imagination art exhibition, I wished to showcase two of my favorite subjects, hummingbirds and sunflowers. I had on one occasion photographed a hummingbird near one of the sunflowers I had planted. However, the focus and color weren’t exactly to my liking. I decided for this exhibit I could manufacture something from my imagination. I took a decent photo of a hummingbird and combined it with a picture of a sunflower.
However, when just the sunflower and the hummingbird were printed on a white background something was missing. I added a background of some clouds that I had photographed. I additionally decided to affix a little texture with an oil paint filter from Photoshop. I was pleased with the outcome. Then I tried to print it. The image was in RGB (red, green and blue) and my printer prints in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black). I tried to let Photoshop manage the colors. Then I let the printer manage the colors. The results were not what I had seen on my screen. After many unkind words, I decided that the printed photo was OK.
Both pieces are for sale and on display at the Imagination exhibit which runs until Aug. 16 at The Exchange in Oil City. Many thanks to Rafi and Klee Studios for this opportunity.
Meanwhile, Louie was drug out of retirement for one last public showing. I entered him and a couple of other projects in the Oil Heritage “Artscape” Walking Tour. The tour began during Oil Heritage week but will remain up until BridgeFest on Aug. 16.
And in case you missed the story behind “The Louie Project,” here is a recap:
He was a decent buck, by newer standards. However, he didn’t get to be a trophy on anybody’s wall, despite his formidable rack. He didn’t get to be any hunter’s big buck story.
The fault behind his true demise remained a mystery. Trail camera photos revealed that he had a wound on his cheek that refused to heal properly. However, after his skull was cleaned, there weren’t any signs of deeper bone issues.
I, or rather, our dogs, located his remains near the neighbor’s pond in October 2024. There wasn’t much left of him other than the stench of decay. I decided that he was a trophy buck, my trophy buck. Determined, I called the Pennsylvania Game Commission to see what was involved in acquiring the horns. I was a little shocked when game wardens were dispatched to my case.
I was nervous. I didn’t know how to take the officers, and I don’t think they knew what to think of me either. Here I am leading them onto my neighbor’s property on a deer trail to take possession of a dead deer head.
I explained to them that I had seen this deer on my cameras and wanted a memento of it. I tried to play it cool by saying, “We didn’t name it or anything. We just knew he was around.” Then one of the officers quipped, “I would have named him Louie.” After an $80 check to the game commission, the Louie Project was born.
I am glad I got his skull and horns the legal way. This allowed me to take a very stinky Louie head to a taxidermist whose bugs cleared away the dead flesh.
The alternative was for me to boil the head and then pressure wash the brains out. That was a “hard, no” for me. I did attempt to pressure wash the maggots off of Louie before taking him to the taxidermist. It was something I cared not to repeat. The bugs and the taxidermist did an awesome cleanup job for under $60. Originally, I was just going to keep Louie’s horns.
However, I felt that the antlers by themselves wouldn’t give the full scope of the buck that he was.
Then I searched through months’ worth of trail camera photos for photos of “Louie.” I located enough to fill an old windowpane. Then the project was complete with his skull, photos and a poem to tell his story.
I have another piece on display at the walking tour. It is titled “Autumn Waves”. It is simply a photo of autumn trees reflecting in the ripples of the neighbor’s pond. I love fall reflections in the water. They so remind me of watercolor paintings.
The frame was acquired from a home decor item at Big Lots. It originally had a large, embossed tin design occupying the circle. It sat for a couple of years in the attic, until I decided that I could repurpose it. I planned on using the tin for a sunflower painting for the porch. The frame’s circular opening was 23 inches by 23 inches. I was pleased when Walmart offered a poster print of 24 inches by 36 inches. I could make this work.
In the meantime, I finally framed another picture that I had printed as a poster print. The photo was of two monarch butterflies on a Mexican sunflower. If one steps back far enough, the two butterflies could appear as one.
All three pieces are in the walking tour which runs until Aug. 16.
Meanwhile, I’m still playing with some more filters in Photoshop. I was trying to replicate some of the colorization of pictures that I used to do in college when everything was film and emulsion. In the olden days, the photos were developed black and white and one could use rubber cement and food coloring to colorize certain parts. Those were the days when I managed the color.
Applegate Slates and Prints 