HEY MON | Niki Butcher

Nassau, Bahamas © 1987

Reviving a Technique After the tragic death of our son, Ted, our family traveled to the Bahamas to reset and discover how to go from being a family of four to a family of three. I felt that we needed to step away from familiar things and go to a country with a different culture, so we would have to learn to depend on each other. We met wonderful people in the Bahamas and did get to experience a different culture from our own. For a moment in time, we forgot about our sorrow. We laughed together, hiked to unknown locations, visited local boatyards, and enjoyed the unique culture and scenery. In the end, our grief was still with us, but the trip to the Bahamas was the first time since Ted’s death that we had all smiled and laughed together. The trip was the beginning of our healing. The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Niki prints her images on fiber-base black and white mat surface paper in the darkroom, then using Q-tips and cotton balls, she applies a thin coat of oil paint over the surface allowing the image to gently be seen through the oil paint. Archival Print Making Niki’s open edition gicleé artwork is printed on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag matte finish paper using eight archival inks. A state-of-the-art Epson Stylus Pro printer creates deep, rich dark values that hold subtle detail in the shadows as well as bright vivid colors that are truly tropical.