Same impulse, different results

#248
Source material: Tree trunk, postscript printing error.
All three images this week started with the same tree trunk close-up, but in the process of experimenting with how that image interacted with others, became completely different final images. Here, the blurriness of the hole-filled bark is contrasted with the sharpness of a bad printout (digital gibberish).


#247
Source material: Tree trunk, Idaho skyscape.
The bleached-out clouds and horizontal streaks (from mosaic filter, then motion blur) are modulated by the tree. The early versions of this were too noisy, and obliterating it with white, then leaving undertones of the busy-ness created a eerie calm.


#246
Source material: Tree trunk (two types), wood plank, bullet-ridden metal sign, sundial, oil drill chart.
The arcs of the tree trunk combined with the bullet holes reminded me of mapping celestial bodies, but it took quite a long time to figure out that the missing piece was a sun dial.

Contradictions and Contrasts

#245
Source material: Japanese cloud icon, train rust, globe.
Here, the overall field was given a subtle modulation by overlaying a very blurry close-up photo of a globe. You'd never be able to make it out, but the effect is all it needed to liven up the surface.


#244
Source material: Japanese cloud icon, train rust/graffiti.
"Postscript" truly came to completion after I thought the initial image was done. In flipping on and off one layer, the dramatic contrast you see here exposed itself for the first time. It was a much better image than the one I thought I had finished. The word, then describes the process quite nicely.


#243
Source material: Japanese cloud icon, train rust.
No comments.


#242
Source material: Japanese cloud icon, train rust.
Here, the train rust creates a very watery ripple effect, which was quite pronounced until I turned this piece upside down for a little more ambiguity.


#241
Source material: Japanese cloud icon, oak tree Touville Park, Oregon.
An image very early on in this series never felt quite complete to me (see # 047), and my recent splitting of the rectangle seemed like it might offer a possible solution. The text is from some bizarre ad from the 80's that I only vaguely remember, but it seemed to be perfect for accentuating our efforts to tame the wild, and contrasting the wildness of the tree and underbrush with the orderly green waves.


#240
Source material: Japanese cloud icon, Idaho cloudscape, dicycle, train rust.
Here, the bullet holes give way to a floating dicycle (the failed experiment in British postal delivery transport). It never ceases to amaze me how a small, dark smudge can change the balance so immensely.


#239
Source material: Japanese cloud icon, Idaho cloudscape, bullet-ridden metal sign, train rust.
This piece takes off where #238 ends, adding a word and its derivatives, a favorite trick of mine to somewhat randomly force the "content" down a more thoughtful path.

The Weekly Press explained

In 2006, I had the desire to get back into my creative work on a regular basis, but was finding no time or energy to do so without a specific project to work on. I decided to set a goal to create one image per day and post it on my website, then send out an email describing the work to people I thought might be interested to watch the progress.

We'll, I soon realized that goal would not be possible right away, with all the work commitments, so it turned into a post-a-week goal instead of daily.

Today, I'm expanding that idea to this blog, to get more input and hopefully drive more people to my website of digital art. I'm happy to say that I am often posting as many as 15 images per week, and so over time may average my original goal of one a day. My ultimate goal is to create 1000 images in the series.

#238
Source material: Idaho cloudscape, bullet-ridden metal sign, Japanese wave icon, train rust.
Sometimes, I find that images seem so easy to do. They just roll off the tongue, so to speak. Other times it's a struggle to get anything out that makes any kind of sense. This week's image was a piece of cake, a companion piece to last week's most recent. I feel right at home with this visual language. It's like using small words: Art is fun.

For a work that was a bit more of a challenge to produce, I direct you to a new piece called "Signage" on my featured page: featured. You'll recognize the parts, but for some reason, this one just took the long way.