Canvas to the Imagination

When I came up with the idea to do a portrait with goldfish swimming around my friend Kay, I realized the only way I could pull it off was to get real fish. I needed to be able to photograph them under the same lighting conditions I would be shooting Kay in order to make the fish shots and person shot match. So I went out and bought a pair of goldfish with the long term plan they’d be a permanent fixture in my home. Luckily Boris was okay with the acquisition of more pets and took it upon himself to name the orange fish “Buri“, while I named the speckled brown fish “Astrid“. (Not that either of them get called anything other than fish or fishes most of the time…)

The above image is the result of many hours of work in photoshop, cutting out multiple shots of individual fish to bring together and playing around with colour. I asked Kay during the shoot to pretend the fish were swimming around her and this was one of the expressions she came up with. It was very cute and perfectly suited to holding her breath under an imaginary sea.

This shot of Kay with the goldfish and bowl was early on in the shoot as we were just getting warmed up. It’s cute but I definitely don’t love it as much as the top shot.

When Kay came over to be photographed for the series a few weeks ago she brought a selection of Betsey Johnson dresses and crinolines with her to wear. They were all pretty specular but I loved this one the best because of the bright mix of colours. I usually ask my portrait subjects to bring a few different items to choose from and wear during the shoot. Part of the fun of inviting women friends over for these photo shoots has been getting to see their clothes.

The funny thing about the shoot with Kay, that I didn’t really think about beforehand, was that it didn’t really matter what she was wearing. I was shooting with a specific idea in mind and her clothing was mostly hidden from view. Towards the end of the shoot I decided the fantastic outfit just couldn’t go to waste and did these shots with Kay seated on the floor to showcase the dress. I love how this gave me the opportunity to try a different perspective from my usual style of portraiture.

Things have been busy the last few weeks so I was starting to worry I wouldn’t be able to meet my goal of completing ten altered books by the end of the year. I’ve made eight and this is number nine.

The altered books always take me a large amount of uninterrupted time and quiet space to create. I have to sit and play with lots of different materials and objects in order to figure out the composition, and that kind of time and opportunity has been hard to come by.

After the butterfly book I knew I had to make one with birds, and now this book will eventually lead me to an altered book with fish. It makes sense if you start looking through my art supplies, as going through my materials is often the source for further ideas. The birds are glued onto the same resistors I used in the centre of the butterfly book, and all three of them are different types of Swallows. The title is inspired by information I found when I googled, “symbolism of swallows“. Apparently swallow tattoos are rich in symbolism if you’re a sailor…

Materials used in this book: book, metallic paper flowers, resistors, paper birds, rubber stamp and ink, and glue dots.