That "Hand-Colored" Thing...

Much of the comment on yesterday’s post had to do with that hand-colored portrait of my sister and I. I got to thinking… is hand-colored portraiture still available these days? The answer is “yes.” And here’s a lil blurb on the art I found:

About Hand Painting

Also known as hand-coloring or hand-tinting, this process has been around since the mid-1800's and for many years was the only way you could have a color photograph. The technique involves applying oil based, transparent paints directly on to a photographic print. The paint is normally then 'rubbed down' with cotton swabs until a desired effect or density is achieved. Though the use of cotton is common, there are a variety of techniques used by different artists to achieve different effects. Today, you can use digital technology to hand color images on your home computer, but most purists (like me) prefer the old fashioned method.

That’s from Ontario photographer Patrick Brown’s web site. He doesn’t publish his prices, preferring instead for you to contact him if you want a hand-colored portrait done. And… seeing as how Google Is My Friend… there’s more:

Handcolored photographs are making a big comeback lately. While the process of handcoloring photos has been around almost since photography itself, now we have many more options available to us.

The time-honored way to do this is to print photos on fiber-based paper, not photo paper, and tint with photo oils. There are a couple of sites with excellent information, and other books on this subject, so I'm not going to go into the process further. It's still a good way to do this, but my book, "The New Way to Handcolor Photos With Pastel and Other Media," is about new techniques.

With advances in technology, and the new ways in which we print, including what we print on, you now have a nearly unlimited palette with which to work. The book is about photography, but I think it will be useful to scrap bookers, collage artists, fine artists, hobbyists, and digital artists, as well.

The above was taken from Marlena Montaney’s web site. Ms. Montaney owns Smiling Dog Studio and works primarily in pastels.

I only went two pages deep into my google search, but that was more than enough to confirm the art form is alive and VERY well. I’d seriously consider having a hand-colored portrait done, were I still in the family-raising bid’ness.

As parting shots on this subject… check out these four 100-year-old Russian hand-colored photos. Simply amazing stuff, then and now. And this site has a collection of Russian hand-colored post cards titled “Moscow – 1890.” Here’s one such… a shot of the Kremlin and St. Basil’s cathedral.

I’ve stood beneath that tall white tower on the quay overlooking the Moskva river, Gentle Reader. And ya know what? Aside from the motorized traffic, that scene looks pretty much the same today as it did 100 years ago. Amazing, that.