What process made this wall art?

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rjlittlefield
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What process made this wall art?

Post by rjlittlefield »

This question has me baffled.

On the wall of a local restaurant there are some works of art that look enormously like original thick oil or acrylic paintings on canvas, with the canvas texture showing through.

But when I look close, I notice that the canvas texture appears in places to be impressed on top of a thick paint surface, instead of being a substrate under it. Meanwhile, in other places nearby the paint layer is obviously recessed as if it were thin, but shows no canvas texture at all.

Here are examples of all three conditions:
Image

The pigment layer appears to be continuously mixed. Quickly scanning with a 10X loupe, I have looked for but failed to find any evidence of inkspitting or halftoning.

Like I said, I'm baffled.

Can somebody tell me what process was used to make this "painting" ?

To aid your photointerpretation skills, here is an overview showing where the light comes from. The closeup is the dress at lower right.

Image

Many thanks for a convincing answer!

--Rik

abpho
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Post by abpho »

Could a cloth of some sort have been put on top of the painting while the paint was a little soft still?
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NikonUser
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Post by NikonUser »

Perhaps beeswax painting; "Encaustic Painting"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encaustic_painting
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No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
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rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Interesting ideas.

This particular restaurant is an inexpensive family place, so my bias is to expect that the artwork is some sort of reproduction rather than one-off pieces done directly by the artist. But maybe that's not the case.

--Rik

DQE
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Post by DQE »

I wonder if a local art museum or art department at a university/college could help?
-Phil

"Diffraction never sleeps"

Lothar-Gutjahr
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Post by Lothar-Gutjahr »

Hi Rick,

this looks interesting. It would be fine if you could have another look at the picture to find out, if you may find slightly different stroke directions in that fabric like pattern. If it is all in exactly on direcktion Aphos idea may be right.
If they differ, one must think about a little roller, the artist used to do this by purpose.
The roller does not necessarily need the pattern. This still could be a peace of fabric to hold on an roll across.

Greetings

Lothar

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