Melted Ice

I'm including these photographs in case anyone was curious after reading my artist's statement what it is, exactly, that I'm doing. I documented my very first attempt at an ice painting a few months ago. These are the photos. At the bottom of this post you will see the end results.

I used two different techniques when the ice idea first came to me. The night before heading to the studio, I created colored ice cubes using a traditional ice tray. Within this first method, I used two different methods. A: Suspending a bead of paint inside the ice cube by gently filling a single rectangle cube half way with water, adding the paint, and gently filling the rest before freezing. B: Mixing the paint and water to make a colored solution before freezing. This is how it appeared at first:

And here, they begin to melt:

The second technique I explored for the initial ice paintings is the method I typically use now. I lay some paint on paper (I had been using heavyweight rives but now I prepare my canvas as noted in my statement) and add regular ice cubes to the top. As it begins the melt, this is how it appears:

The final results looked something like this, respectively. I do not have a proper picture for what became of the first technique (the one involving the ice trays). But here the works in progress are together (you can see my tendency for a vertical format):

And here is the result of the second method:

And that was the start of it. The image above actually no longer exists, sadly. Because of the stain at the top just left of the center, I decided to cut the shapes out and use then as chin colle elements in my prints.

To my surprise, several people have already ripped off this photography (both the exact images and the concept to take their own images). This is something I frown upon. Greatly. I do consider this my intellectual property and wish not to discuss or distress over it further. This is not to say that I'm the first person to ever have this idea (I can't be sure of that) or that it is the greatest thing in the world, just, please, leave the photos on this site and give credit where it is due. Thanks for looking!