Explaining my Digital Art
My subject is people. People interacting and networking, perhaps unconsciously, in public places. My intention is to use art to hold a mirror to social media today as it operates in the virtual world. Each event would arise from my daily observations.
One of the tools that really sparked the project was my model Zi8 HD video camera. I was able to shoot HD video and digital photography undetected. Most people think I am holding a phone and act naturally. I observe, record, and shoot; the composition unfolds right in front of me. This part of the process, the interaction, is extremely rewarding. The next step is to process the video and prepare to load it onto YouTube. From the stills I take, either with my cannon 5D or my Zi8, I pick the best image, the image I will then use as an underpainting layer in Photoshop. My 25 years of experience in digital retouching allows me to combine 2 or 3 pictures and move elements to enhance the composition. Once the image is complete I begin to paint over the image on a separate Photoshop layer. The updates to photoshop in CS5 feel as if they were were designed for this project. The upgrades in the brushes help me achieve fine detail while accentuating the feel of the brushstrokes. I paint over 95% of the photograph, eliminating some elements and adding others, as well as visual effects, to make the painting move around on the screen. My aim is to to lead viewer of the painting on a guided tour through the maze of the subject matter. When I am finished, I run the painting through three or four painting filters, using no more than perhaps 10% of any of them, to enhances the brushstrokes. Lastly, I size and prepare the work for export. Only recently has the technology become readily available for artists to transfer their digital work to canvas in an affordable way. I prefer large format 30 x 60 inch canvas printed in 100-year archival inks. Once printed, I then paint on top of the canvas with acrylic paints adding detail and highlighting and accenting areas I wish to emphasize. These paintings are my originals. I do plan to produce limited editions of both signed and numbered limited edition 20 x 40 inch canvas prints as well as an unsigned edition, but these prints will not have additional acrylic painting.
At this point, I have 10 finished 30 x 60 inch multi-medium paintings. All along through the process I have been using social media—You Tube, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr—to promote the project. My goal is to get a gallery to represent the work, both in the physical and virtual worlds, and also a website dedicated to the show. The show will be a multimedia affair. Monitors will play the the HD video that inspired the paintings and I will create a DVD. Computers will monitor social media responses, perhaps artistic responses, to the show. Photographic prints of images taken during the reference gathering will be in view, and, of course, the 10 30 x 60 originals will be displayed. The various limited edition prints will be available as well. The innovative part of the project is that the promotion and all the work that goes into it—reflecting and refracting our creative times—will be an integral part of the show of the exhibition.
How to Buy My Art
My guest blog on What it takes and how I participate in Social Media on Artsy Shark!
A Nice article by Carolyn Edlund in response to my guest blog on She Owns It Website
Im Featured in the Chinese I Pad Magazine Luxury Hotels of America.
Free at the iTunes Store for anyone with an iPad!
Buy all my art at the ComputerArtMarket
