Flower Painting Scanned into My iPad, with the “Scanner Pro” App

*I write more about the “Scanner Pro” app further along.

I painted this about 20 years ago, and still remember how much I enjoyed the whole process.
I used pan watercolours mixed with a clear gel medium and painted thin translucent layers of colour onto canvas.

Back then, I had a young family and no studio space to set up an easel. A larger painting on canvas had to be tackled on the kitchen table (or on the back verandah). The gel allowed me to get a textured painterly effect (I do also, love the traditional use of watercolour) without having to use, acrylics or oils – not the ideal paint, for use in a kitchen!

I had fun covering the canvas with flowers, building up layers of colour tinted gel, until the painting glowed…a little like an egg tempura effect. In a previous post – in the second painting along (of a mother and baby sleeping), I’ve used this method and it shows a subtle glow.

As the saying goes “necessity is the mother of invention” – I devised this method, to get the outcome I wanted; within the means available. 🙂 Actually the word “mother” is quite appropriate: mothers often have to be inventive to get something done – other than housework!

Nowadays I do have more space (and time) for my arty purposes; but I don’t need much, as I usually work fairly small. I often work on a portable table resting on the side of an armchair or on my knees; also a nice fit for my iPad studio.

*Just touch on one of the paintings to enlarge them all.

It’s great how a scanner app, turns my iPad into a scanner. There’s a few apps to choose from; presently I’m quite happy with “Scanner Pro”.

The “Scanner Pro” app, does a great job picking up: colours, tones, line work…

1. Once you have taken a photo while in the app,
2. you then, either touch on “select all” or “find borders”, where you can move around white guide lines till you find the part of the scan you want to focus on and crop it.  This will of course, then exclude the rest of the scanned picture.
3. You set it for either: letter, A4, business card, auto…and so on. I usually use auto..then press “done”.
4. Next you adjust the degree of contrast and light wanted…and once more press “done”.

There’s quite a few places you can send your scan to: email, print, dropbox,..etc. I take my scans to the “Photo” section on my iPad, where I have created various albums for my artworks.

Update 2023: I now make my own prints of some of my art – you can read more about it on my page: “Printing iPad and Traditional Art”. *There’s also more info about apps I use on my page, “Some App Information”.

Have a great day!