new life

2014

is shaping up to be a memorable year.

Sometime in mid June

the world will welcome Baby McFadden.

I made this little assemblage for Kelly and Aaron for Christmas. Kelly had texted me her first ultrasound image in late November; not long afterward I was thinking of it as baby's first portrait and decided to make something to that effect.

I knew the jpeg file would be quite small, so I edited it and printed it out to about 2" square. Then I dug up a small primed wooden cradle board and went to work. The front was already a pristine gesso white on the outside, so I gessoed the back of it since I wanted to use it as a shadowbox. I sanded and scraped it, then added some text fragments and comfy, nest-like cheese cloth, plus a paper flower + freshwater pearl center, for a soft, organic feel. I suspended an old eyeglass lens with wire over the focal area (since I initially had great difficulty 'reading' the image - LOL).

 original image

(sticking out his/her tongue: already some attitude?)

edited image

I played around a bit in Lightroom and then in Photoshop, where I added a layer of kk_isobel (Soft Light 100%). I added a Levels Adjustment layer to lighten it up for printing (necessary because the monitor image is so bright that when it translates it to printed, you have to adjust).

***

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together

in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:13

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Linking up with

Texture Tuesday