h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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Do post your comments here.
Thanks!
Lil

Too late - I posted elsewhere.

Heya!

Wow, you've mad a bang up job of that 'Lil, it's spiffing! You are very, very good at this

H&K
Z`

BTW - Sorry to be picky, but it is Culver Cliff, not Culver Point.

OK I can fix that. The title of the jpg as you sent it was "culverpt" and I misinterpreted it.

Okay, I see. No, the "pt" was just a random thing on the end of the name so as to distinguish it from the other Culver pictures...
Still, I enjoy looking at the watercolour.

Isn't it a good job that there are people like you to remind people like me that we know nothing. Who in his / her right mind would paint a picture like the un-re-touched IoW one? (Apart from Turner, and we now know about his eyesight.) Yet I would not have thought to have questioned the evidence of my own eyes.

Now you have prompted me, I remember the tale of the filming of "the Agony and the Ecstasy". Full size, faithful, reconstruction of the Sistine Chapel ceiling complete with "hairline cracks" in the paintwork - apochryphal, perhaps; but not the sort of thing that I would think of.

Remarkable piece of work, but time consuming I'll bet.

Yes, but worth it. Not just because I learned from it, but also because of the satisfaction I feel when I perceive the difference.

My first direct experience of restoration was when the curators at the Birmingham Art Museum in England cleaned their two Canalettos, but kept photos to hand of the "befores". When these guys painted, they were using bright pigments! But we conceptualise all that stuff as being varnish-browned, just as we think of Greek statuary as being colourless.

Nice picture and a very good job on the restoration Lil

perfect to do the restoration on a digital level, leaving the original untouched (well, i hope so...)
even though some critics may say, your work is more a redrawing than a restoration...this is what comp. allow us to do...and i like your comparison to greek statues!

I was subjected to the "redrawing" accusation in respect of a different work, and I've learned to do something I think is even harder than direct restoration -- to bring back the image's original flavour while conserving the sense of age.

And yes, I think it's good to be able to leave the original alone after scanning it; the difference between photography and most other art media is the fragility of old photos (and documents which I also restore) and their perishability from exposure to light.

Thanks for your comments!