My Blog List

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Pollacks Sprout From Asparagus


Asparagus taken from Photoshop to Paint and doctored again.

Asparagus reversed in color in Paint
The original Asparagus Photograph doctored in Photoshop.


I was on my way to play in the water again this morning and stopped by my computer. The phone rang and I spoke to Jon for a while while diddling about. I chose Asparagus for amusement while chatting. After I hung up, the phone rang again. It was my son Steve. I played with asparagus a bit more.

I never did get to the watercolor station that has once again taken over the lower level bar and upsets Ellis so much. I won't get there this afternoon either. At last the heat wave has broken. It's a delightful 84 degrees Fahrenheitand I'm going to the lake this afternoon to chat with the neighbors who swim. Art comes from life. You have to live it to make it. --I like the black rendition best. The white one needs a bit more black don't you think? Bottom line: reference photographs can be stretched to broaden artistic possibilities. I like stretching and Jackson Pollack would have loved it! 

23 comments:

  1. Wow, we're both doodling. Sometimes it's the best thing.

    The top two are my favorites. Knockouts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. I haven't felt like doing anything serious in weeks. Maybe it's the weather? Maybe I'm percolating something? Maybe I'm taking stock? Doesn't matter. This was fun. The iPad is fun--though I haven't spent any real time with ArtRage, with which you are working wonders.

      I like the black rendition of asparagus. The asparagus as I shot them originally and fooled around was poor--so a perfect candidate for some further fussing around.

      Delete
  2. I love the first one...there's so much going on.

    84F.... I'd settle for 74!! The whole country seems about to be submerged!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorry Pat was right. Last night Ellis and I ran out to collect the deck chair cushions as I heard thunder rolling across the sky. I did't want an ounce more of rain to seep into those that would take days of high temps and sunshine to dry up.
      Then the sprinkles stopped. That was it. I was sorry I had made us scramble and sorrier still that we didn't have a downpour. The guy who has been setting off fireworks ever since the forth went on with his noisy show another evening in a row. I'm thrilled it's Monday tomorrow.

      I like the top on two,but I also like learning that negative prints were an option.

      Delete
  3. Looks like great fun and a possible inspiration, have to try that sometime.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Photoshop offers just a different way of looking at things. I like to see what happens when you click this and click that. I like to export what I did into another program and tweak it a bit--especially when I'm so totally involved in honing my skills as a portrait painter. It's a good release. I've decide I do not wish to show the portraits until they are finished--thus the watercolors and the photography.

      Delete
  4. I don't know if ole' Jackson would like it - too easy, too mechanical. Not enough sweat, physical involvement. No starting with a blank page.

    That doesn't mean it doesn't take talent get a good result. And all of your efforts are quite beautiful.

    I've always been a bit ole' fashion. Primarily I feel: Acoustic > electric; painting > digital. Exception: Pat Metheny, music genius of our age (electric guitar).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Jackson would have loved to play around with Photoshop.

      He wasn't old fashioned, he carved a new movement along with some other unconventional painters. Actually, none of the artists we admire were tied to the old, dark, salon approved, style of painting. Starting with the Impressionists, they all broke away from convention. And I suspect, they would have all tried their hand at this new way of looking at things. Artists look at things. It's what we do.

      Painting is painting. Digital photography is digital photograph. There's also classical guitarists and electric guitarists and acoustical guitarists. All are artists who favor a particular art form.

      I'm sorry you didn't like my Photoshop creation. I had a good time with it. This post and the other one illustrates simply that reference photographs can be pushed to extremes.

      Delete
    2. I didn't say I didn't like them - I said they were beautiful. They are excellent, actually.

      Delete
  5. I just admire your regular experiments with different media and ideas. Your creativity is admirable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mick. While I slave away on the portraits I have going, I'm filling the time and poking the blog. It's been fun. I love the idea that I can take an ordinary photograph of very little interest and digitally alter it into something else via two different software programs.

      Delete
  6. lovely digital art...I like the dark one best too! Have a nice "day off" we all need those --!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are no days off at this late date. There are breaks, a lot of them, from portraiture.

      Watercolor and digital play filled my recesses. I've decided to mostly not to show works in progress. It would be too boring to watch me slowly find my way to the finished stage.

      So, for the blog, I'm using "fillers." When I laid out the pages of the in house magazine I published for our art company, some small article or photograph always needed to be found to fill a page, a blip, a filler. Digital art from a poor photograph or a quick, wet-on-wet watercolor of a street in an Italian town might have filled such a space. Give it a caption and it's a tiny article.
      Photography is a wonderful filler. I feel comfortable with it. Watercolor, I'm not so sure:-))

      Delete
  7. Very nice session at the machine. These results are very cool indeed. I like them all--very graphic looking. Best of all they look fresh and like you were having fun. What more could one ask of art?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Bill. I enjoyed myself. I do like to play with this machine I'm sitting at and the photographic software programs.

      I personally like handmade art, like Dan. But for a filler while I'm doing my guys and my grandson's portraits, photography works for me--and watercolor does too if I still need added brush time.

      Delete
  8. I do like the top asparagus best, Linda. And I am glad that heat wave has broken!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me too! Yesterday was delightful. The water in the lake was
      85 degrees Fahrenheit. It was like a warm bath. The cooling off came when you got out into the air again. Quite lovely.

      I like the top rendition of Asparagus too, but I had to see what a the reversal would look like. It's my nature. As for both of those, I think they make the original look sick. Yuk.

      Delete
  9. I like the top one a lot - the dotted lines create good movement. They make me think of the dots in Australian aboriginal art.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like the top one too. It has depth and texture and is a type of field "painting". It does remind me of Pollack who dribbled and dropped and manipulated paint as he felt like it over a period of time on unfinished canvas laid flat on the studio floor. His paintings were physical workouts--thus his label in the art world "action painter." Digital playing with effects in a couple of software programs is not action painting for you're still sitting on your bum, but it is whimsical like Pollack's work and I did approach it to tweak where I felt it needed it.

      Delete
  10. Cara Linda, il figlio di una mia cara amica ha studiato all'accademia d'arte di Carrara specializzandosi nelle tecniche del dripping di Pollock!Ha fatto con questo metodo lavori anche di diversi metri quadrati! Sono sempre stata stupita da come,con vernici alla nitro,attraverso il dripping, con pochi "segni" e pochi colori riuscisse ad ottenere una realtà astratta ma al tempo stesso realistica.Questo effetto mi fanno anche le tue opere di digital-Art!Ognuna delle tre versioni ha un fascino particolare,anche se la mia passione per il colore mi fa preferire la terza,dove il colore è più presente!Buon inizio di settimana,Rita.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely your work. I,ve liked visit your page. I,ll follow near. Congratulations

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Eva. I'm sort of out of sorts since my kids left after a two week visit; It's hard getting back into the swing. But through these types of meanderings, I do hope to have a brush in my hand soon. It's an honor to have your endorsement.

      Delete
  12. Lovely :-)

    Last night the temperatures dropped to 84 and I swear I thought it was 70 or so... 80 is so much better than 90. And 70 is so much better than 80 :-)

    ReplyDelete