Saturday Night Photoshop Silliness

Really, I wonder about me sometimes . . . .  I mean what the hell is going on here?  Answers on a postcard, as they used to say. After a ( much needed ) week in bed I can only think that boredom may have something to do with it or just stored-up silliness . . . . .  

 

The Landscape of Nostalgia

I'm still working on the idea of Nostalgia, though mostly in my head. A good idea needs to be carried around for a while, quietly nurtured in the mind. This one needs to be sidled up to rather than approached head on.

The Landscape of Nostalgia is a fictional place with it's roots in a real time and location. By the time one arrives at nostalgia any resemblance to the original reality is tenous. Enough to make it look similar but now it's the evocation of a time that fills the space.
 

I am genuinely interested in early photography but also aware of ( and amused by)  the fact that everyone is looking back and saying ( nostalgicaly), remember the good old, bad old days of photos that turned green, cameras that leaked light, film that was grainy?  It's evocation, evocation, evocation - the 70's weren't really great, we just think they were.

It wasn't until I had done these couple of pictures ( very exploratory still )  that I realised I had been so influenced by Atget's photographs of Versaille. Like everyone I love the pictures of the old Paris buildings but the photos taken at Versaille seem more moving somehow. Can't really analyse that.

These three pieces have the right amount of fictional about them while obviously rooted in some kind of reality. I feel that I'm heading in the right direction.

Technically I'm not 100% sure about them as they print up quite green . . .  or purple according to which paper I'm using. That's just trial and error of course, lots of trial and plenty of error . . . . .and plenty more thinking about it.



 

 

Ideas of Alienation - Experimental Digital Art

 The Landscape of Nostalgia idea led me to think about alienation . . . . not that much of a reach really. I try not to get too hung up on the idea behind a piece. Really I've tried not to make art 'about' anything but it's kind of crept back in. Lets just say that these pieces have a feeling of alienation about them, a kind of displacement and leave it at that. I promise not to talk about a 'dialogue' or a 'journey' so as not to get too w***y about it.

 

You have to admit they are pretty spooky looking. I wanted a feeling of near recognition about them, elements that you can almost identify but that lie just beyond your conscious reach.

Prints of these have come out really well. Didn't want to go for just black and white so the background/light colour is a very pale dusty kind of pink which contrast well with the deep saturated areas of black. Always print on a matte paper which makes all the difference with digital .

Sod's Law that I run out of inks at this point. These will be listed in my Whitney's Art Etsy shop as soon as the new inks arrive. Will post that on my facebook page as soon as so go on and hit that 'Like' button if you want to keep up with that kind of thing. I must admit I'm not as focused on this kind of thing as, perhaps, I ought to be . . . .  I'd rather be making art.
 

 

Tonight in Photoshop . . . . .

                                   'We were going somewhere once'

                                   Tonights outing in Photoshop

The Real Crime Scene

 The way we hurt ourselves and each other . . . . that's the real crime scene. That's what these are all about. 

I'm enjoying the mix of photo stamps, a bit of scribbling with the mouse and then the graphic images. I think this is working out well.


 

I printed the top image onto a t-shirt transfer, ironed it on, peeled the backing paper off in great anticipation only to find that I had ironed it on upside down! It does look good, except for the fact that my chest distorts the image!!! What I need is a guy to try this out on. And no, my old man is not about to volunteer . . .  not really his style. So, if you are reading this, have reasonably flat front and you fancy being a guinea pig the let me know and I can have another try . . . .  the right way round!

Anatomy of a Picture

 
This is where it started, with a doodled shape done in Photoshop. I'd had a couple of frustrating hours trying to get stuff down on paper. It just wasn't working so I thought I'd give it one last bash but in Photoshop instead. Nothing to lose.

Stamped that a couple of times and I'm beginning to feel mollified because it's looking the way I wanted it to.

Add a bit of this

and a stamp made of this. Junkyard are great for interesting textures and shapes!
 

Now I was intruiged because I hadn't really expected this combination to work. Like it in black and white but love it in red.

A bit of colour added, more out of curiosity than any real plan, and this is what I ended up with. Now where the hell did that come from? A question I find myself asking quite a lot. I'm crap at on-purpose art but the accidental-oh-blimey-look-what-I-just-did is where I seem to excel. Go figure!

 

Mandala Collaboration - Art that Circles the Earth

This has been the most fun, collaborating with Shana Goetsch as part of her Art that Circles the Earth project.This was the very first piece that she sent me, wool glued to a circle of card.

I really wanted to give those colours a 'pop' so I dug out some bright blue painted card. But I'd also been thinking about prayer wheels and astrolabes so my next move was to cut out the middle and mount the circle so that it could move. Back it went to Shana . . . . .

Then just after Christmas I got this in the post. Gone was the blue card, a round of mosaic like pieces now backed the original circle. I love this process because each time what I got was something so different from my usual colours/style. Bloody brilliant, makes you think a little bit more.

Again I felt that the colours needed a little bit of a 'pop' so I bought a white gel pen and went round the edges and the middle. A bit of silver paint went on top of that to give it a bit of lustre and gold pen to work into the little mosaic pieces. I wanted to enhance them not lose them. Once I'd done that I thought about sticking the two circles together and losing the moveable element. It needed something more . . . . .

Oh yes, it had to be done! Turn that baby round and the eye follows you round the room! It made me laugh which is always a good sign in my book. So off that went to Shana, our collaboration now complete. I told her to let me know when she received it but I knew . . . . yesterday, a funny little bump sensation and she came quite clearly into my mind.

All the collaborative pieces will be in an Community Arts Thesis Exhibition from April 25th so if you are in the Baltimore area then go along and check it out. I so wish I could be there.