A3 (c. 16"x12") print on:
Permajet Gold Silk (£26)
Innova Soft-textured matt (£24)
Walking along the bank of the Gloucester Canal, I took a picture of the canal itself whilst
waiting for Buster to finish his watering-every- bush routine. I say 'a' picture, rather than 'this'
picture, as the original was one of the most boring shots I've ever taken and normally I would
have discarded it.. Having just come from the graveyard of the old boats known as the
Purton Hulks, which is just round the corner from here (see B&W gallery), I was in more of a
hurry than Buster was at that moment to get back and fire up the PC. But something must've
triggered an unconscious recognition that here on the canal was a picture ripe for tweaking
with all sorts of creative add-ons. And so it proved. A new sky, very similar to Constable's
'Haywain', with an extra bit of cobalt blue in it, a heavy dose of templates to give it a 19th
century oil painting look, a degraded colour palette and a mild vignette; all combine to enhance
what wasn't there in the first place into what I jokingly refer to as 'Constable's Canal'. There is
little in the picture to give the game away now! But this little episode reminded me of a
valuable but forgotten principle: never chuck a picture away, however dull it is - you are never
going to know when it might be useful.
Walking along the bank of the Gloucester Canal, I took a picture of the canal itself whilst waiting
for Buster to finish his watering-every- bush routine. I say 'a' picture, rather than 'this' picture, as
the original was one of the most boring shots I've ever taken and normally I would have
discarded it.. Having just come from the graveyard of the old boats known as the Purton Hulks,
which is just round the corner from here (see B&W gallery), I was in more of a hurry than
Buster was at that moment to get back and fire up the PC. But something must've triggered an
unconscious recognition that here on the canal was a picture ripe for tweaking with all sorts of
creative add-ons. And so it proved. A new sky, very similar to Constable's 'Haywain', with an
extra bit of cobalt blue in it, a heavy dose of templates to give it a 19th century oil painting look,
a degraded colour palette and a mild vignette; all combine to enhance what wasn't there in the
first place into what I jokingly refer to as 'Constable's Canal'. There is little in the picture to give
the game away now! But this little episode reminded me of a valuable but forgotten principle:
never chuck a picture away, however dull it is - you are never going to know when it might be
useful.
A3 (c. 16"x12") print on:
Permajet Gold Silk (£26)
Innova Soft-textured matt (£24)