Kirsti Näntö-Salonen  


Museum Visit by Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

October 2026 - Museum Visit

October 2026 - Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Original

About the Image(s)

Here is ”Museum Visit”. It is an episode of a saga that seems to be growing round the orange compressor cord (Orig. 1) that served as a very versatile prop at the portrait workshop I participated last summer. The center portrait (Orig. 2) is from the workshop. - I started with the background (Orig. 3), an iPhone image of a gallery through a glass door with an embedded wire net. I corrected the perspective, flipped the image horizontally and pasted one half of the mirror image on the original to keep things simpler. As I could not get rid of the grid, I decided to make it a safety barrier between the imaginary exhibition area and the audience. I added a narrow fill layer with the color picked from the gallery floor on the bottom part of the image to serve as the floor, and copied the baseboard from the back wall and pasted it on the junction. I pasted Orig. 2 on the big central frame in full opacity and Normal blend mode, and the two other portraits (Orig. 5 and 6) on the walls of the side rooms. I added a duplicate layer of the background in Normal blend mode in 35% opacity to put the portraits behind the grid. Then I cut out my orange cord from Orig.1 and pasted four copies on the top layer in different sizes. I used the Mesh Warp tool to tweak their forms a little. - I thought that the light comes partially from the illuminated center frame and partially from a window in the roof, and used a soft Dodge brush to continue the lighter area on the gallery side of the floor. I added Outer Shadow layer effects on the coils in Soft Light blend mode in 25 - 50 % opacities and darkened their middle parts slightly with a soft burn brush. The top layer is Average Blur in 10% opacity in Soft Light blend mode. - I am afraid that my coils still look pasted on? What do you think of the little lights on the columns and the fixtures on the roof? I could not decide if they are unnecessary clutter or if they add to the illusion of a real gallery space.
Here is the workshop model?s (Orig. 2) information that I am supposed to share when I use her image: https://www.instagram.com/elinann1ka/


4 comments posted




Alan Kaplan   Alan Kaplan
The portraits of the three people fit well into your museum environment. The floor you created in the foreground is quite convincing. However, I'm not sure what the orange coils are doing in a portrait gallery. Personally, I would just create the portrait gallery and leave the coils out. The lights on the columns and on the ceiling are also distracting the viewer from your created gallery. I try to adhere to the idea that "less is more." It usually works.   Posted: 10/06/2026 20:57:43



Kirsti Näntö-Salonen   Kirsti Näntö-Salonen
Thank you, Alan! I am so happy that the master of creating spaces finds the gallery convincing. I kept removing the lights and fixtures and putting them back, but I think that you are right. - I'll obviously have to do more work on my orange coil-formed alien mother who takes her offsprings to see great-grandmother´s sepia-toned portrait. Maybe the life-forms need more humanoid features. I hope to be able to post the next version soon.   Posted: 10/08/2026 11:34:28



Heidi Gruetzemacher
Hi Kirsti,
Your attention to detail in this image is remarkable! The composition is so strong on its own that I agree the compressor hoses, fixtures, and side lights are unnecessary distractions. What impresses me most is the lighting on the portraits-it's so well executed and believable. Nice work!   Posted: 10/09/2026 00:54:39
Kirsti Näntö-Salonen   Kirsti Näntö-Salonen
Thank you, Heidi! I am so glad that the space turned out so well - I think that they are among the most difficult features to get right. - I think that I'll make it two images, one as you and Alan suggested and another with my dear little Alien family who are what the story started from.   Posted: 10/09/2026 04:13:09



 

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