I have been asked to reproduce some unique images over the years but today's was by far the most interesting yet.

Enter Barbara Meales. 

Barb had seen a notice on Facebook about my doing image restoration as a fundraiser for the Caruthersville Humane Society, and sent me an image of her her grandparents.

This is how it arrived in my email.

When I received the image I only viewed a tiny little thumbnail and the file size of the image.

I called Barb to discuss what size she would like to be able to print her corrected image. The original was, at it's largest length, approximately 7 inches. I should have no trouble up-sizing this to an 8x10.

We spoke about the image's origin and she said she felt the image must have been taken in the early 1900's, possibly the 20's. The image was taken shortly after her grandparent's marriage.

But when I looked at the image in my software, and was able to blow it up and have a really good look, I discovered something quite unique about it.

First of all tt wasn't printed on a medium that would have been commonly used during the era in which it was captured. It was on textured paper more commonly used for post cards or paintings, not photographs.

As a mater of fact, as it turns out, it wasn't a photograph at all. It appeared to me to be a water color painting that had been done over either a sketch or some kind of image projection. How interesting!

The first thing that caught my eye was the clothing. Without the distinct detail of a photograph, the clothing appeared obviously painted.

After careful examination of Grandpa Lane's face, I seen the trademarks of a painter attempting to add expression by the swoosh of a brush on the eyebrows, and the irregular shaped pupils from an attempt to add light and glint. Grandma Lane's face bore the same tell tail signs of a painting. Iris' of different size and the outlining of her lips were obvious, as well as the shadow line of her chin and left ear. And I am betting Grandma wasn't actually wearing the hat which appears to me to be an addition by the artist, possibly to doll the image up a bit.

So I went to work doing my "thang".

The first thing I had to do was increase the exposure as time had darkened everything.

Next I got rid of the orange glow characteristic of almost any aged image, and then proceeded to remove the scratches and water damage that had accumulated over time.  

I had to draw on more to the image because of the way it had been cut, making additions to the clothing and to Grandma's hat.

I attempted to make it look more like an old photograph as apposed to a painting.

It came out looking "not so bad".

But something just didn't look quite right to me about the finished product so I darkened the edges just a bit to add back some of the aged look, and put on a bit of the grain that had come from the textured paper. Still not satisfied, and remembering a comment made to me by a friend about people "enjoying the rusty look of an aged, sepia-colored image", I made the adjustment to aged sepia.

I don't care for Sepia myself by the way, but it seems a popular thing with many people, so I did it just in case Barb might like it. It just doesn't "do it" for me.

I called Barb back and told her to check her email as I had returned the image to her corrected in several variations. She received a couple of them while we were talking on the phone and was very pleased. 

Relieved that she was happy with the results, we started chatting about the research I had done since receiving the original image from her. We started doing the math.

Turns out the image is a bit older than she originally thought.

Grandma and Grandpa are John Lane (born 1860) and his wife Darphenia (born 1871). They were married in 1885 and this image was produced shortly after their marriage. That would make the original image circa 1885-1886.

Barb tells me that although Darphenia came from a family with a little money, she and Barb's grandfather were not well to-do people when they married.

She made note of the fact that Grandma was not wearing any jewelry which is something I had noticed as well. It takes me back also to my original thought that Darphenia was not actually wearing the hat that the artist had painted on.

After speaking to Barb in some length about her grandparents and this image, it dawned on me that I had not this work any real justice by making it appear as a photographic image.

So I went back to scratch with the original image and started re doing it again, careful to keep it as close to what it's original beauty must have been. A simple water color on card stock.

And this is what I came up with. I think I like this last work the best, as I think this is what the original work must have looked like.

I get a little charge of sorts from doing this kind of work. I feel as though I am helping to keep history alive somehow for so many generations to come. Sometimes I feel I help to enriched the lives of the families whose histories I am helping to preserve. And who wouldn't feel good about that?

Thank you Barbara Meales, for letting me be a part of your history!