Weekend of Mobile Photography/Art with Talented Mobile Artist, Clint Cline
Recently, you may recall that we posted our third in a new series of articles entitled ‘Weekend of Mobile Photography/Art‘. That one was with Alexis Rotella our first was with Jerry Jobe and our second with Fiona Christian, our third with Amanda Parker and this weekend Clint Cline tells all! Take a look…
“My weekend with Sando Botticelli
Assiduus usus uni rei deditus et ingenium et artem saepe vincit. Cicero said that. It means (roughly), “Constant practice committed to a subject often outdoes both intelligence and skill.”
Because I work daily in the communication arts as a writer and designer of print, digital, and video works, my weekends are often eclipsed with projects spilling in from an overstuffed week of To-Do’s. But on the occasional weekend where I find myself without an armload of project briefs or honey-do lists, I heed Cicero and burrow in the practice of new things and unexplored ideas.
When Joanne asked me to consider sharing my weekend, I was coincidentally researching inspiration from the early Renaissance masters for an Easter series I was doing on the Resurrection of Christ. Her invite arrived as I was studying the classic, almost sculptural, forms of Sando Botticelli’s early Renaissance works. So I decided, in the spirit of Jerry Jobe, to pick an image and take you through my steps of transforming it into a contemporary piece”.
Botticelli’s “Portrait of a Young Woman” was painted somewhere in the early 1480’s. I was struck by the almost porcelain stoicism in her face. As much as I appreciate his attention to the details of her wardrobe and hair, I chose to isolate her facial features, which would require some serious cropping. And a background on which to build the new piece.
Earlier in the week I’d snapped a shot of fresh paint on the wall of my son and daughter-in-law’s new apartment.
I liked the texture and contrast so I applied a Mextures formula to deepen the contrast. The color wouldn’t matter since I was about to apply a color overlay to make the background simpler and more dramatic.
I found this gorgeous red on the FB page of friend Michael Carmantrand and sampled it for use in Superimpose where I would build the new image.
I applied the red as an overlay filter but it was a bit strong for what I was envisioning. I then ran this through Stackables to add some center light and knock back the harsher contrast of the original.
It was now time to introduce Botticelli’s young woman.
I removed the background around her face in Superimpose and brought her in with a bit of transparency to allow the background to inject some shading around her eye. Her positioning in the frame over this background also produced an “eyebrow” for her other eye. The green overlay was originally a test to see how I could use color within the image. I dulled it to an olive reminiscent of Botticelli’s palette and a bit of transparency to let the underlying hair become a textural element in the final piece.
Next, I lifted a fragment from an early painterly piece. I keep a handful of these as masks in my Superimpose library.
I then went through a series of colouring tests, working variously in Mextures, Stackables, PhotoCopier, Glaze, and Impresso to experiment with shading, texture, and color.
I was struck with one of the darker studies and paired it with one of the lighter studies to find the light and color balance I was hoping to achieve from the outset.
And that was my weekend! Joanne, thank you for letting me share this glimpse into what was more of an edit track than a shooting journey.
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
