IF- Subtract

Polaroid Emulsion Transfer of original sketch

Digging into the archives again to satisfy Illustration Friday's prompt, Subtract. The email came with a wonderful quote by Leon Batista Alberti: Beauty: the adjustment of all parts proportionately so that one cannot add or subtract or change without impairing the harmony of the whole

Back in the early 90's I lived down the street from the Carnegie Museum of Art where I spent hours just wandering and absorbing all I could. Managed to squeeze a bit of sketching in too. The original drawing is a charcoal/pastel sketch of Antoine-Louis Bayre's bronze sculpture Tiger Attacking An Antelope

I love playing with Polaroid transfers, especially the emulsion transfers. Once the image has been heated & lifted from the substrate, it floats in the warm water bath like some kind of funky jellyfish. You can then stretch & fold it (carefully though as it easily tears) before removing & sticking to your choice of surface. In this case, I used canvas paper. While the emulsion was still wet I had fun tearing into the edges. I think the subtracted bits finish out the whole predator feel