Afterthoughts 11/10/06: This piece almost didn't happen. The original idea called for my hand to be in a clenched fist and entwined with the thorn vine. I worked with this idea a few times before deciding that the way the image was unfolding did not push the statement I wanted to convey. So, with my arm freshly adorned with tiny wounds, I put the vine back with all my other props and abandoned the piece. A week later the area I live in was swarmed with these tiny butterflies. Due to the fact that my air conditioner decided to give out, I had been leaving all the windows open and the damn things got in. I suppose old knick-knacks and rusty metal are considered prime real estate for insects because the butterflies congregated all over my props. When I saw them sitting on the vine I immediately knew where I wanted to go with the image. Instead of a fist it was to have a hand, held back by the vines, releasing the butterflies.

On the technical side, there are a few things worth noting. The hand and vines is a straight photograph taken in front of a sunlit window with a beige sheet between for color. The butterflies where scanned in individually and placed. After I had this set to my liking in photoshop, the entire image was printed out, cut up, taped together, and scanned back into the computer. I added a gaussian blur in a few choice places and applied the rusty overlay. Also, this was the first image that I used the extracted border.



I give permission to *Manipulators to post this in their club gallery.