Tried Altering Photographs with Bleach

Two nights ago I squeezed in a bit of art making. I experimented by altering photographs with bleach. I did this for about 20 minutes then laid the wet photos to dry overnight. I had a lot of fun doing this. My husband thought I was nuts. My friend arrived while I was doing this, and when I explained what I was doing this is her response, "And WHY are you doing this??". I replied, "for fun". I think she also thinks I am nuts.

I was busy all day yesterday and unable to play at making art until just before bed. I decided to make some ATCs. I intended to use the bleached photos. My older son joined me and made one very detailed ATC using collaged pieces of his favorite movie's toy product labels.

I experimented with adding color to the bleached photos using colored pencil and watercolor. I didn't love any of the results.

I then decided to bleach more photos. I looked through a stack of old photos and chose some to alter. This time I was altering someone else's photos that I got from Freecycle. That is a story for another day.

I worked at fixing up my Photoshop program. I have not had time, though, to test it to see if it is working or not. Once it is, I will upload some scans of my ATCs and the bleached photos.

Later when I have more time I will blog about the bleach method that I used. I used my own process but the inspiration and idea to do it came from a book that I am reading called "The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery" by Karen Michel. I have been reading a few pages a day before bed and skimming through the photographs for inspiration. This book is full of inspiration and ideas!