The Digital Paintbrush...

'The Ghost Of Annie' © 1974 & 2006 - jim otterstrom
Click on image to enlarge

This image was created on the computer from a 32 year old (October, 1974) black & white photograph.

Annie is an old girlfriend of mine and the expression on her face in that photo haunted me for a long time after she left. What I finally came to understand was that she was already emotionally gone from our relationship when I took the picture, which explained her distant and vacant stare.

Some years back I scanned the picture into the computer and started tweaking it in Photoshop to see if I could bring out the essence of the moment captured in the very poor quality low contrast photo. After a few hours I came up with this image that I call the "Ghost Of Annie", a depiction of her ethereal presence that still lingers within me somewhere.

I find the computer painting hauntingly beautiful, and maybe just a bit Dali-esque.

We've been getting some winter-like weather so I've been indoors going through some of my old photos and artwork and will be posting more of it in the next couple of days.