Years ago, I acquired a number of beautiful hand tinted photographs of

my mother and grandparents which had been created in the early

1920's.  I was fascinated by their artistry - the subtle beautiful colors

and the incredible luminosity . I wanted to do this, so I learned the "old

fashioned" techniques and began practicing and experimenting with

my own portraits. I have done hundreds of hand tinted portraits since

then, as well as created greeting cards, calendars,and  posters for

Portal Publishing Co.

The process is somewhat arduous, a bit arcane, but totally rewarding

and wonderful ! First I make a black and white portrait or scene and

print it on a special Kodak fine art paper . I eliminate the hardener in

the fixative, so that the paper will be more receptive and absorbent to

the pastels I apply.  When I print the picture, I generally make a slightly

lighter, less contrasty image than I would in a regular black and white

print. Next, I bleach the print entirely, wash it and tone it with sepia.

When the sepia print is dry, I brush it lightly with a mixture of linseed oil

and turpentine so that the paper will accept the oil pastels to be applied

to the image.Then the fun begins. I have an amazing palette of fine

french oil pastels (Sennelier) which I mix and apply to the sepia toned

print.

I love getting commissions to do hand tints. It's much more time

consuming than a silver gelatin print, but so rewarding and lots of fun.