HIGHLANDS HAMMOCK | Niki Butcher

Highlands Hammock State Park © 2020

Photographic Story During the 2020 shutdown, we had a strong need to be in nature. Fortunately, we were among the few who felt that way so we had Highlands Hammock State Park to ourselves. It was great! This image was taken early in the morning with just a bit of swamp fog drifting through the forest. The joy of getting out of the house and into nature is hard to express. We’re so thankful there are so many State Parks near where we live. The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Photographed with a Sony digital camera and instead of oil painting with Q-tips and cotton balls, Niki was able to paint using Photoshop. Changing from the old-fashioned way of doing her art, to the new ‘fashion’ of using technology was challenging, but she’s enjoying getting back to her own personal expression. 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.