Photography

Withinsights
Photo-emulsion, acrylic on canvas
By Karen Lipsett-Kidd

Withinsights are planned but not calculated double and triple exposures. I use a Nikon 35 mm camera and run the film through up to three times, letting my intuition guide me. Subtle changes in light play through the emulsion create textures, shadows and highlights. The outcome is always a surprise. Of each selected image, I produce only one photo emulsion, acrylic on canvas artwork. I also print a limited edition of 100,  8.5 x 11 signed photographs.

After I have selected the image and cropped it to my specifications, a photograph is printed to size and laminated with special filters to prevent deterioration. The emulsion is then stripped away from the paper. This is a painstaking process and several prints are often destroyed in the process. After the delicate emulsion is removed, it is glued and heat set onto the canvas, which is then stretched onto birch plywood and backed. I paint the entire surface of the canvas with a clear acrylic medium and highlight areas with acrylic light interference paints. This way the images shift and change according to the available light.

My goal is to create images that are contemplative and uplifting yet somewhat mysterious. I received a high compliment form a stranger when he first viewed the photographic prints: he asked me where this magical place was because he wanted to visit it.

The Mayor of Surrey, the Honorable Diane Watts personally purchased my photograph entitled Compassion, an image of a Quan Yin in a waterfall to hang in her office in city hall when she was first elected. It is a very great honor to know that in some small way I am contributing the well being of a mayor!

Crystalworks Designs Ltd., 1760 West 3rd Avenue, Vancouver BC V6J 1K4  l  604.732.3870  l  email