The great thing about art and computer is that you never stop experimenting with different ideas and techniques. In my case I’m always looking out for new ways or methods to manage Art painting on computer, without resorting to tablet and pen to actually “paint” via the computer. There are many software programs around that allow you to “paint” via computer, but what if physically this is a step too far – where the hands won’t manage this task and muscle and nerve motor control isn’t there.
This image is the result of a current experimental idea which starts off life as a black and white photograph brought back to life as it were with the addition of what I perceive and feel as being suitable added color. This is an exciting process, as being unable to “paint” directly these days this allows me to use my imagination and artistic input in another way. Here I can use software filters and other options which can be controlled by the basic use of the computer mouse without any careful control. OK some care has to be taken with the merging of layers, but that I can just about manage and with “undo” and “save” as handy tools to hand I get by.
Old "toon" castle
So here is another example of a black & white to color transformation and of course the color additions are a purely personal and purely as I perceive the image. This is a painting from a black & white image of the “Grassmarket & castle” – that is the original central town part of Edinburgh in Scotland with the Castle above. Quite a powerful sky and overall look. The colors represent the way I sense the image and may be a combination of what is expected – blue sky or green grass for example – but in my case so much of my interpretation is emotional that the colors used may not be the “expected” pictorial. The tones, textures and colors may well be indicative of an emotional response where red could be hot or blue cold and so on. They also may be as I explained in a previous post a combination of the reflective elements of a stone wall for example, often a spectrum of different minerals and even temperatures.
It can even be influenced by the infrared response, where for example a young person glows brightly and an older person not so. Where the bright orange red turns to a colder maybe more distant blue – such is the wonder of color interpretation.
So my images are a montage if you like, a kaleidoscope of myriad impressions and as I say intensely personal. One of the great things about art is that it IS so personal yet conversely it is also wonderfully universal. For being a human creation much of it can often be understood by the viewer as they maybe see or identify “something” within the picture that strikes a chord within them.
It always gives me quiet amusement to hear peoples’ reaction to my stuff - “Oh I love that”, and then their partner says, “Goodness knows why, I can’t for the life of me see what you see in it!”
Art – isn’t it wonderful!
