Project description: “Illuminature Painting" is an interactive art piece that blends nature, technology and painting by featuring 3D paper flowers on a canvas that shift from black and white to vibrant color when touched. The piece invites viewers to engage with the artwork, revealing hidden colors through tactile interaction.
Materials:
- Crepe paper
- Canvas 16x 20
- Conductive Paint (Graphite Powder + Acrylic Paint)
- Electronics (Arduino Uno, Neopixels, 1M Ohm Resistors, Wires)
Demo Video
Concept Sketches
The artwork I envision for this project is a white canvas covered with white 3D paper flowers. The paper flowers have black conductive paint on the edges, the goal is for them to look like they are from an uncolored coloring book. The canvas has 2 paint brushes nearby. When the user touches a flower (either with their hand or the brush) a light coming from the center of the flower turns on then fades after 2 seconds and the color of each light will change with each interaction. It is difficult for one single person to turn on all the lights by themselves. The artwork requires interaction from more than 1 person in order to see all the lights on at the same time.
"Art is too important not to share." - Romero Britto
Testing & Prototyping
I created the paper roses by cutting a long strip of crepe paper and painting a continuous line near the edge. The paint was made using graphite powder and acrylic paint. Once the I made one of the flowers I tested the capacitive touch sensing circuit by using an LED that would turn on when the flower was touched.
Circuits & Soldering
I used 6 prototyping boards for the capacitive touch sensing, each board has a resistor and wires that go to a pin on the Arduino. I soldered the sensors together and also soldered a paper clip to each of the wires (the paper clip connects to the paint on the paper flower). I cut a neopixel light strip and soldered long pieces of wire on both ends of the LED in order to distribute the light evenly behind the canvas
Testing the circuit
The canvas (Front & INSIDE)
Feedback and Final Thoughts
When my peers interacted with my final project, I noted that many of them didn't know they could interact with the flowers. It isn't obvious that the flowers light up because the circuits and LEDs are hidden, but their reactions suggested it was a pleasant surprise. I decided I did want to include the brushes next to the canvas to further encourage people to interact with the flowers. Other feedback I received was the possibility of incorporating more interaction through sound or color picking. The lighting of the room also played a large role in how the lights and canvas looked, a dim room is the ideal location for this artwork.
