I'll Leave the Window Open For You- Digital Art by Tracey Grumbach

I'll Leave the Window Open For You- Digital Art by Tracey Grumbach

About this image:  Maine- It holds such great memories for me. It was a family trip back in 2009, I believe. One afternoon, we were walking through a small town (the name escapes me now) and we came across this house with the window open and two pair of shoes sitting tidily side by side on the porch roof. The curtains were blowing outside the frame and the whole scene captured my imagination. Who was in the house? Why were their shoes on the roof? What was the history of the house (it was a bit beat up)? So many questions and no true answers. I took a photograph and moved on but the memory of this house with the shoes on the roof never left me.

When I received an email inviting me to enter window themed artwork in a Pennsylvania gallery, I immediately thought of that photo I took all those years ago. However, with thousands and thousands and thousands of images archived and a short time to get the work to the gallery, I wasn't sure if I could find the photo and if I would still be as intrigued by it as I was when I took it. Luckily, I was able to find the original photograph, but as I suspected, I was less than impressed with the quality. The light was low that evening and my camera back then didn't handle grain very well, so it wasn't gallery usable in its original form. But, I was still very much intrigued by the image, so I decided to digitally paint it. Using my painting apps and my computer, I transformed the original photograph into the above digital painting and had it printed. It has shipped from the art printer and I am expecting it to arrive today or tomorrow. I am excited to see how it looks in print.

All of my window themed prints, including this one, should be arriving today or tomorrow and then I will make the final decision as to which ones I will submit to the gallery. I love getting prints in the mail and opening the box...it reminds me of the first time I developed my own film in the darkroom...waiting for the image to come up on the paper. The anticipation, excitement, and a bit of nervousness that it won't appear the same way as how I had developed it in my own head.

Hope you have a wonderful day...looks like the weather might be a bit drier today, thank goodness. I'm still waiting for some snow. I am missing the white stuff.

xo