Manhattan Skyline

 

Sky. That was the theme in my new ATC exchange group, heARTist trading cards. http://heartisttradingcards.blogspot.com/ I struggled with the concept for weeks, debating whether to use sky as a color—and if so what color? Blue of a sunny day? Gray of rain? Night sky? Day sky? Sunset? Or things that are in the sky, like airplanes and hang gliders or snow and hail? Should I use a country sky or a city sky? And then there was the question of whether to use an actual sky image or whether to use the word sky as a graphic element. I worked on it on my lunch hour, on my small window of art time on Sunday afternoons, and a little in the evening after work. I counted 13 different ideas in my digital folder, and a couple more ideas that I did with paint, fabric and paper that didn’t quite work out.

I collected photos of skies that inspired me, artwork with a sky theme by current and past artists. I decided to do what I know best, what is dear to my heart, and settled on the New York City skyline. I began with a photo I took of an antique boat that was cruising up the East River one afternoon. It was such a strangely delightful sight to see on my lunch hour—the modern Manhattan skyline contrasted with the old ship going under the century-old 59^th Street Bridge.

 

I manipulated my photo in Photoshop®, and added layers of several unrelated photos. Some layers were artfully added with soft brush strokes and semi-opaque color, others were added with rectangular shapes and sharp edges. The end design that I printed from my color laser printer was a combination of Monet softness, Mondrian shapes, and Sheeler industrial paintings.

I edged the ATCs with Tim Holtz sepia distress ink, and also added accents of the ink to each piece, along with a bit of yellow ink for subtle highlights. The last touch was enhancing the ATC with chalk pastels—white on the ship and pale aqua and white to the sky and water.