Shayne House Studio




Tide Marks 


This series was created at Fistral Beach, Cornwall, using 35mm slide film and overpainted with acrylic paint. 


The photographs were captured on transparency film and then cross-processed, a technique that involves developing the film in chemicals intended for a different type, in this case, treating colour slide film as if it were colour negative film. This method produces vibrant, unpredictable colour shifts.

After developing, I overpainted the photographs in my studio, using acrylic on photographic paper. The process merges two distinct mediums: the representational quality of photography with the abstract fluidity of painting.

By applying layers of paint - either corresponding or contrasting to the underlying image - the photographs are recontextualised. Areas of the original image are obscured, allowing the paint and photograph to interact as a single entity, rather than separate layers.

This blending of mediums creates a dynamic tension between representation and abstraction, where vibrant colours and textures reshape the original narrative. The result is a rich, complex surface that captures a sense of energy, mood and drama, altering the viewer's perception of time and space within each piece. Through this interplay of paint and photograph, a new visual dialogue emerges, challenging traditional boundaries between photography and painting.