My life and a new direction
Well ..... Here it is.
The results of my first attempt to engage with, what I shall refer to as, 'the art world'. An attempt that started in June 2009. After almost 50 years of doing all kinds of things to earn a crust - and still being skint - even gaining qualifications that are effectively worthless, it was time for a new direction. What that direction was to be was not clear at the time.
My realising three things helped me set about on this current venture. Firstly it had to be a way of making some kind of living. Secondly, start up costs had to be, at best, minimal - if not gratis. Thirdly (after not really feeling that I had "fulfilled my potential" vis-à-vis gainful employment) it had to be something that I enjoyed doing. It was at that point that I was struck by the realisation that the powers of the silicon chip would offer me my best chance of success. My first thought was to try to create music on my PC (having seen myself as a long time rock 'n' roller - more details about this are on the music page of this website), but found that learning how to effectively use the free software without training would take me too long. I also felt that my writing skills were up to creating a work of great literature, but a starting point never really materialised. The issue was finally settled for me when my brother (bless him) introduced me to Artrage2. I then looked to replicating the principles of putting paint on canvas and producing 'art' (or cultural artefacts).
This package, and others such as Photoshop, DAP and Picasa 3, allowed me to circumvent two things. Firstly, I could ignore the fact that I had had no formal training in any of the arts. But, most importantly, it also allowed me the luxury of making as many mistakes as I would/could without it costing me anything more than time and effort. This was ideal to me, as trying to paint on canvas would see me discarding hundreds of unfinished projects simply because I felt each one was not good enough (that's the Virgo in me apparently). I would be unhappy with them or I had made too many 'mistakes'. A very costly exercise indeed. My last problem was how to deal with creating original art (images) at the heart of an era when postmodernism meant that just about everything had already been done. What I decided to do then was to just go over old ground - as it were - and try to replicate what real artists had already created. So I dabbled in a range of genres in a range of styles. Each influenced by different cultural values and from different times and places.
Here are the results of the past 12 or so months. Added to that I have been offered two exhibitions and - providing I can get the funding or help for framing and printing these images etc. - I will be an exhibited artist come January 2011.
I hope you enjoy
The results of my first attempt to engage with, what I shall refer to as, 'the art world'. An attempt that started in June 2009. After almost 50 years of doing all kinds of things to earn a crust - and still being skint - even gaining qualifications that are effectively worthless, it was time for a new direction. What that direction was to be was not clear at the time.
My realising three things helped me set about on this current venture. Firstly it had to be a way of making some kind of living. Secondly, start up costs had to be, at best, minimal - if not gratis. Thirdly (after not really feeling that I had "fulfilled my potential" vis-à-vis gainful employment) it had to be something that I enjoyed doing. It was at that point that I was struck by the realisation that the powers of the silicon chip would offer me my best chance of success. My first thought was to try to create music on my PC (having seen myself as a long time rock 'n' roller - more details about this are on the music page of this website), but found that learning how to effectively use the free software without training would take me too long. I also felt that my writing skills were up to creating a work of great literature, but a starting point never really materialised. The issue was finally settled for me when my brother (bless him) introduced me to Artrage2. I then looked to replicating the principles of putting paint on canvas and producing 'art' (or cultural artefacts).
This package, and others such as Photoshop, DAP and Picasa 3, allowed me to circumvent two things. Firstly, I could ignore the fact that I had had no formal training in any of the arts. But, most importantly, it also allowed me the luxury of making as many mistakes as I would/could without it costing me anything more than time and effort. This was ideal to me, as trying to paint on canvas would see me discarding hundreds of unfinished projects simply because I felt each one was not good enough (that's the Virgo in me apparently). I would be unhappy with them or I had made too many 'mistakes'. A very costly exercise indeed. My last problem was how to deal with creating original art (images) at the heart of an era when postmodernism meant that just about everything had already been done. What I decided to do then was to just go over old ground - as it were - and try to replicate what real artists had already created. So I dabbled in a range of genres in a range of styles. Each influenced by different cultural values and from different times and places.
Here are the results of the past 12 or so months. Added to that I have been offered two exhibitions and - providing I can get the funding or help for framing and printing these images etc. - I will be an exhibited artist come January 2011.
I hope you enjoy
PortraitsHere we have 8 portraits. I have included, for the purposes of critical observation/judgement, 3 portraits of people with instantly recognisable images, 3 friends/family, a group of strangers and 1 fantasy image. The image of the three youths are from a photograph taken by my brother who lives and works in Norwich. I just felt the picture so perfectly captured that bored image that young people so often exude in bucketloads. I remember feeling the same way myself all those years ago. The photograph my brother took is, I feel, a fantastic example, and I recommend that others take a look at his body of work on http://www.behance.net/?search=matthew+waite (it is so much better than my own, but then he has been doing it longer, and he has had longer to perfect his 'art'). The other three known person examples of portraits are a friend (thank you Nataline) the second is my long-suffering partner, Linda and the third is her sister.
Each one is created in ArtRage2 by painting from photographs (it would have been difficult to ask Mohandes and Robert Nesta to sit for me, and Mr President's time is a little difficult for us mere mortals to buy into) and then filtered using Photoshop Elements. Both pieces of software used were free 'demo' versions. Still lifesHere we have 4 still lifes. All four involved painting from photographs. The first two were 'painted' using Artrage2. The horse chestnuts were photographed in sunlight on our balcony. The photograph of the fruit and walnuts was taken in indoor lighting. The boots and grapes were 'painted' using various filters in DAP and Photoshop.
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Landscapes
These images were created using a variety of software. The pictures of Mt Everest, Chichen Itsa, Cheops, Roseberry Topping and Mt Fuji are created in DAP. All using at least two different styles for each. The waterfalls, bluebells, and lake district were 'hand painted' in ArtRage2. The second version of the blubell woods is then filtered in a 'Monetesque' stylee in DAP. Stonehenge and Uluru were photographs that I filtered several times each (using Picasa and Photoshop). The West Scotland sunset is an unfiltered photograph - but is included here just because I like it. The burn at the Knockengorroch festival is created using my original photograph, and then filtered through DAP in a watercolour style. Finally, the second version of the waterfalls is 'handpainted' in Artrage2, filtered using a Cezannesque style in DAP, then flipped and cropped in Photoshop.
Figuratives
These images are largely created from my own imagination. As was the tropical island image at the top of the page. The 'flappers' are the exception as they are 're-painted' copies of an image I found lying around at a car-boot sale - and is, thus, an example of what artists apparently call a 'found item'. Most of the images were created in Artrage2. All except the Moon/Church which was (quite remarkably) created years ago on the generic Microsoft Paintshop package back in 1995. It is included here as it was my first ever attempt at generating computer art (plus I really like it). The African mask and the three African figurines were painted from actual artefacts bought from African street traders whilst on vacation in Portugal. The vase includes a photographed copy of a van Gogh which, I hope, appears to hang on the wall in the background. My attempts at a 'post-modern' sense of homage.
Wildlife, pets and plant-life
These largely speak for themselves. The dog is a picture of my parent's Border Collie (Meg), the two cats (Smudge and Chloe) belong to one of my neighbours. All are painted from photographs using Artrage2. The elephant was particularly difficult as they are really just grey lumps. What I particularly like about these is that they allow me to demonstrate just how powerful a tool that computer software atually is, and how useful it is to me personally. This is because it allows me to 'paint' something with so much detail. A good example of this can be seen if you take a long, hard, look at the tiger's eyes when the image is enlarged or printed out.
Abstracts
These are actually my favourites (although not, I admit, other people's). These are all largely created using Photoshop filters and other useful Photoshop or Picasa 3 manipulation tools. But some actually originated in Artrage2. The last one is again 'borrowed' from my brother. I took his painting and filtered it several times in Photoshop to make it different enough to call my own. One major flaw I found with virtually all of these is that I couldn't replicate them. The process of filtering was done without my noting in detail what each stage entailed. This makes them not only unique but almost unrepeatable - even for me. This is a practice I intend to deal with in future (i.e. I will make sure that I record all filterings etc.)
Townscapes and seascapes
The first and fourth are my Artrage2 versions of two paintings that aready existed and were hanging in a local 'greasy spoon' type cafe. It gave me an opportunity to try out another style and was something I really enjoyed completing. The next two are from photographs I took whilst on vacation in Crete (Agia Pelagia and the 'old quarter' of Malia). Both are created in DAP and are examples of how average photographs can be manipulated to make them look like interesting 'paintings' (my opinion). The final one is 'painted' in ArtRage2 from a generic photograph of Polperro and has then been 'flipped' vertically to confuse the locals and the original (unknown to me) photographer.