CARIBBEAN SOUL | Niki Butcher

Key West © 1989

Photographic Story When I saw the absolute joy on this musician’s face I couldn’t resist taking a photo. It’s always a beautiful thing to watch an artist who is honestly in love with what they are doing. It’s as though they have entered into a different dimension. I had a great time hand-painting the image using heavy oil paint, but what made it so much fun to paint was the fact that the musician obviously loved what he was doing and it filled me with joy because I was doing what I loved to do too. The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Niki prints her images on fiber-base black and white mat surface paper in the darkroom, then using Q-tips and cotton balls, she applies a thin coat of oil paint over the surface allowing the image to gently be seen through the oil paint. Archival Print Making Niki’s open edition gicleé artwork is printed on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag matte finish paper using eight archival inks. A state-of-the-art Epson Stylus Pro printer creates deep, rich dark values that hold subtle detail in the shadows as well as bright vivid colors that are truly tropical.