This week’s Documented Life Project challenge was to use a photo transfer technique. That is not something I have ever attempted before so it was interesting to be embarking on an experiment with something entirely new, to get completely out of my comfort zone. There are various methods of photo transfer available but I don’t possess all of the necessary materials for all of them so I decided to try a packing tape method. I watched a YouTube tutorial and it looked straightforward enough so I felt pretty confident about the method. I do not, however, own a laser printer so I could not use my own image – either photographic or artistic – so I had to make do with images from magazines. I decided to try one in colour and one in monochrome to see how they turned out. The problem with using the magazine images was that I then suffered a creative block: I had no idea what to then do with the image. I had to adhere them to the page before the stickiness of the tape disappeared, however, so I just stuck them down onto a page and then went away to think about it for a bit. Nothing. I had nothing. Completely and utterly uninspired. In the end, I did some watercolour doodles of plants to frame the rhino image. I had deliberately stuck the monochrome image onto a page that had a rainbow splatter of watercolour on it in order to see how the colours would show through the black and white image. The colours did show through though it would have worked better had they been much more bold and vibrant. But then what? I did what I always do and added some splatter over the page using black ink and then I added some words. Meh! Such sub-mediocre pages.
So my pages sucked. I think ultimately I find it hard to be inspired by images created by others. I can use them as a jumping off point for my own creative process but I struggle to make the original image a focal point and then create something out of it. I much prefer using my own imagery. I, therefore, definitely learned that. I also learned that the packing tape method is super easy to use but is not necessarily my thing. Specifically, I am not keen on the gloss finish it provides. I may experiment with one of the other transfer methods at some point or perhaps I will use the packing tape method for smaller images that are not the focus of a page. So my pages are entirely blah but it was a learning opportunity so it’s all good.
A Pict in PA 
As you say at the bottom of your post Laura, even though you’re not happy with your final results, you’ve learnt a new process, and confirmed to yourself that you prefer working with your own art, not using other peoples work. Like almost everything in life, it’s all part of our life learning process, which hopefully in the end makes us all better people.
Precisely. If we don’t try things after all then we will never know. I’m sure you find that true of your photography too: you have to risk failure in order to discover success.
Exactly so!!
I’m lad that the Art to the 5th ladies are helping us explore other mixed media techniques. Some we will definitely like and explore more, some we wont and that’s the beauty in experimenting. I have not done the project yet but I think by the looks of it I will not enjoy it too. But, lets see…
I look forward to seeing what you do for this prompt. I agree with you entirely. Both DLP and Life Book are leading me to try new things and some work for me and others don’t but that is all part of the learning process. It’s also part of the fun really. That’s why I’m happy to share each DLP page I do on the blog whether I like the result or not. It’s still given me a dose of art time and I’ve learned something.
I agree with you. Posting our works (liked or not) is already a brave thing to do and I admire people like you who do so. As artists, we are all in this together though in varying degrees. The journey of learning art is never ending.