CAPTIVA RESTING PLACE | Niki Butcher

Captiva Island, Florida © 2022

I came across this beautiful tombstone with the lamb statue on top of it on Captiva Island and felt drawn to photograph it. The headstone marked the grave of a child named Ann Brainerd. Ann and her family moved from Canada to Buck Key, a small island east of Captiva, when she was four years old. When Ann was ten, she met William Binder, Captiva’s earliest homesteader, and told him how she thought this one part of the island was the prettiest place she had ever seen. Mr. Binder was so charmed by Ann that he agreed to sell her just under an acre of the land for a  gold coin her grandparents had given her. Sadly, shortly after Ann purchased the land, she stepped on a rusty nail and died from tetanus. Anne was laid to rest on her little piece of land, which today is known as Captiva’s Historic Cemetery. Visitors leave shells around Ann’s tombstone to honor her. The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Photographed with a Sony digital camera and instead of oil painting with Q-tips and cotton balls, Niki was able to paint using Photoshop. Changing from the old-fashioned way of doing her art, to the new ‘fashion’ of using technology was challenging, but she’s enjoying getting back to her own personal expression. 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.