Yesterday I shared a teaser…Here is the Before & After that I posted.  

And now you will get…the rest of the story…I think I am showing my age…(and my affinity for ellipses)…who out there remembers Paul Harvey on the radio?

Anyway, my friend Esther is an AMAZING artist!  On her website, she recently posted a step by step account of her process for turning a photograph into a beautiful piece of art. I loved this post and shamelessly asked her to share it in its entirety here…she said yes!  

Esther knows that I am making a study of Before & Afters this lenten season—I am fascinated with the idea that God gives us amazing Before & Afters in ordinary life to remind us that He is always at work.  In this world, God is an artist too. And He is at work, in the process.

Esther’s Creative Process,
in her own words (she’s pretty funny):

Below is a step by step instruction on how to create artworks like the recently posted “Ghirardelli“, in pen, ink and watercolor. Look out – here comes the next Bob Ross!

Step 1. Find a mediocre old personal photo, preferably from at least a decade ago. You don’t want to make this too easy on yourself.

Step 2. Crop picture as desired. Be sure to crop out any particularly difficult parts. It’s important to know your strong suits.

Step 3. Gather your tools. Everyone knows the more tools you use the better it’s going to turn out, right?

Step 4. Turn your iPod on to your current audiobook of choice while you tape down, measure, align, overanalyze, hem, haw and start marking up the paper to correspond to the cropped photo referenced through Photoshop or other software of choice.

Warning: This part can take a very very very long time. Did I say “long time”? I actually meant, looooooooooooonnnnnnnnngggggg tiiiiiimmmmmmmmee!

Step 5. Get impatient with the drawing part and start inking before you have it all drawn out, hoping against hope you won’t regret this decision.

Step 6. Review your artwork. At this stage it’s normal to doubt all prior efforts and question your validity as an artist at all. Reevaluate how different this is from the initial photo and decide you better step up your game. Draw and ink in the remaining details.

Step 7. …and, you are done!

Not so fast! After all that hard work you’ll be tempted to stop here. It might not be a bad decision, but then you’d never know how it would have turned out in color. Time to get out the watercolors. Don’t worry, since you’ve inked in all the dark spots, this should be easy, right?! Well, it’s all relative, isn’t it.

NOW you are done.
Breathe.
If you’re anything like me, you probably held your breath through the entire artwork.
Seriously.

Take a look at your finished product. Did it turn out as you’d hoped? If so, hurray!
They won’t all. If not, put it away and look at it a few days later. You’d be surprised how some time and perspective can change your view.

Speaking of perspective . . .

Happy painting!

Esther

I meticulously measure, align and mark to put together works in an autobiography of times and places past. My analytical side wants to face each challenge of recreating what I see. I begin each work with fear and trepidation, my inner perfectionist straining to accept each imperfection.

In 2011, a cancer diagnosis – thankfully treatable – shook my world. This was the defining moment that put everything into perspective. Now I spend part of each week sitting down with some paper, some memories and something to mark the page. God has given me a talent and desire for art that no matter how crazy life can get I cannot conscionably give up. So I keep going.

I am a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, though primarily self-taught in watercolor. I’ve been blessed with 4 beautiful children who sometimes surface in my art but each of whom are the greatest of artworks.

Visit Esther’s Website/Online Gallery
Esther’s Facebook Page You know you should “like” her! She is pretty amazing, right?