Negative painting - fish in space

One of my first blog posts was about negative painting - November 2021 - which seems SO long ago!!

In that post, I used a magazine page. Essentially, you “paint out” the background of an image, keeping only the parts you want. Then you can add anything you like back in - glue images, paint in features, and use colored pencil, paint pens or anything else you can imagine to create a new world.

It’s both easier and harder than it sounds, with decisions to make every step of the way. What I find easiest is painting out the background first, not thinking too hard about it, then coming up with a “theme” to re-create the page.

Fish. I love using them. I feel like they add instant dimension. I use images from thrifted books on aquarium fish and free nature calendars. My favorite (although harder to find) are the books that don’t use glossy paper. But there are plenty of other themes you can use, depending on what’s available. Books focusing on cooking, flowers, animals (dinosaurs are another favorite of mine), the circus, travel, space, etc., can all be used to create a whole new world out of an old one.

In this case, I started with a hardcover book on space.

Here you can see the texture of the text through the paint. I left a “planet” as part of my original concept.

First, paint out the text and any other parts of the images you want. Where there are pictures of textured landscapes or other feature photos, I often leave a circle so that it looks like a moon or planet.

Next, I start “trialing” images to see where I want them to go. In this case, I decided I’d have an Aquarium In Space. These particular fish came from a nature calendar and I flipped through images of aquariums for inspiration and ideas. I also have a thrifted book on watches. I like to use the frames around the faces to create “gates” or portals in many altered art scenes. You can get these kind of images from any fashion magazine.

I wound up not liking the “planet” so covered it up and added some mountains to create a middle ground.

Once I had the layout I wanted, I glued down the fish, watch frame, pagoda, space rocks and mountains. Then I painted in the plants and added more bubbles.

Described like that, it seems pretty easy. And sometimes it is - when I can see the finished product in my head early in the process. Other times, it takes a lot of moving images around, digging through my piles of magazines and other sources of pictures, etc.

There are an endless number of small details that can make the image look “finished.” Highlights and shadows, for example, add depth to an image and can be added with many different kinds of art supplies.

What’s nice is that if you change your mind, you can usually paint over any mistakes or images you decide you don’t want.

TBH, I would say I like the final product about 85% of the time…there have been a few duds. Like, real bad ones. But usually it comes out better than you think it will!