Diaphanous Dunk

Hues of pale rosé, cobalt and ultramarine swirl around this composition. It is simultaneously cold and hot, like an effervescent eruption. A dark calmness dominates the upper left corner, slowly giving way to turbulence and light. The skinny-dipper’s body fades into the ripples and she seems to be changing direction.

I love working with water and other liquids. The ungovernable nature of liquid provides a balance between order and chaos; I can predict the general nature of the image, but the exact details are left to chance. A constantly moving mirror and lens, the liquid provides intricate visual surprises. Ripples, reflections, splashes and drop all participate in a concert of light and shadow to create intricate textures. The patterns of liquid seem to be independent of scale and are fascinating no matter how close or far.

This is a limited edition print, which I created with a combination of photography and software manipulation.

I call this technique a false-color image, restrained to a particular subset of colors. The method is inspired by oil painting, where the artist chooses a palette and also pays homage to the classic technique of hand-colored photography. Although the colors are conceivable, they deviate from reality. The process shares other aspects with painting, being applied selectively to areas on the image. Painters will often tint shadows and highlights differently in order to give a greater illusion of depth as well as evoking an emotional response. Additionally a warm-toned subject appears to protrude from cool-toned surroundings.

Diaphanous Dunk, 20×30 inches/51×76 cm

Detail