Cydonut Matrix Animation

I created the Cydonut Matrix in the Spring of 2000. It was my first all-digital painting. I ended up making 100 different versions of the picture in this animation, to populate a photomosaic of about 1600 elements.

What I liked about the painting was that it drew upon the scientific notion of self-similarity on various scales of magnitude. Both the image and the individual picture elements were the same thing. So, it was scalable. That is probably why I made two prints, one Zoomed In and one Zoomed Out.

Living Space

I think artwork should be lived and worked with, as opposed to something seen in a museum or lobby some place. Here’s the Zoomed Out painting wedged into a recreation space.

Work Space

Over here the Zoomed In painting resides with some office and networking stuff. People ask, "Are your walls really yellow?" Yeah. Just those two.

iTours Booth at Convention and Trade Show

eWarrior digital art prints dominate a room. Silicon Valley’s 2007 Real Estate Trade Show and Convention was themed "Shoot for the Stars." Three of my rock icon paintings were there to honor famous celebrities.

Immaterial Girl?

Popularity comes and goes like the tide, doesn’t it? Is this famous blonde the Immaterial Girl? One attendee confided that she liked the painting technique, but didn’t particularly care for “her.”

Classic Rocks

Another guy, commenting on the artwork seen in and around high tech offices, said he’d rather see these any day.

Iteration - 36″x48″ Digital media on canvas

Here you see the artwork "Iteration" on the wall space I’ve chosen for it. (There is an ordinary electric socket in the photo to give you an idea of its scale.) To the regular readers of this blog, "Thanks," it probably took a little longer to get here than you expected. If you are new, this is The Artist at Work: you can browse through earlier posts for an idea of how this painting was created.

I promised to show the process of transforming artwork on a computer into something you hang on a wall quite some time ago (in "Internet time" anyway) so, to make up for the time lag, I am doing it in "real time" today. I am stopping to make this post. I’ll be done later today.

Stretching digital print onto frame

This is a key stage of the process. The print has to be centered on the frame, one staple in the middle of each side. You should be able to see the characteristic diamond-shaped fold in the middle of the canvas. If you get this part wrong, the whole mount will be a botch job. I have done it, and failed. Isn’t it easier to just buy one of these things?

Framing tool kit

Once again, people who work only with their minds on a computer may enjoy a look at the set of tools peculiar to this low-tech task. Those canvas-streching pliers are an unusual item, even for a handyman.

Wooden frame for digital canvas

Most artists do not build their own frames. It is something I wanted to learn as part of the craft. When working with digital media, the work is necessarily framed or mounted, as one of the last steps. More like photography than traditional painting, some of the fine art competitions I have been involved with don’t even have a category for digital media.

Building the frame isn’t that difficult, and you can get ready-made "stretcher bars" from an art supply store. Making sure the frame is "true", measuring cross-wise (just as they do to determine the screen size of your monitor), is essential for the next step, which is stretching the canvas onto the frame.

SFMOMA Tickets

At the beginning of the third millennium CE, people still disengage from the network to do things in so-called real time. Colorfully printed strips of paper such as these afford entry to places of recreation and amusement.

Picasso: Seated Woman Poster

Now through the end of the month you have time to see Picasso and American Art, a San Francisco exhibit showing Picasso’s influence on contemporaneous American artists. On view are a range of works from Picasso to Pollack.

Allow me to interpret this painting, since the subject may not be obvious. In it, the artist tenderly embraces a seated model. That’s Picasso’s head in profile, on the right. Get it? No?

Cubist Study

I was able to capture one photo, before security dutifully advised me that taking pictures was not allowed! I believe this study was done in 1906-1907, around the time of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. The influence of Cézanne is apparent. Picasso had transitioned to cubism, and it was works such as these that introduced him into American consciousness.

Digital Media on Canvas

This is my largest artwork to date, 48"x36" digital media on canvas. Here you see the print, prior to mounting on a frame. At this point, it has been coated to protect it against humidity. The printer ink is "archival" and the clear coating is "non-yellowing." Like artists of the past, who used the materials of their day, I can only hope the work withstands time.

Work safely

The posts tagged "grunge" are about the hands-on aspect of this blog, whether software "hacks" or, in this case, just plain getting my hands dirty.

I use a painter’s mask when applying the coating. Although this blog is not a DYI, those who wish to follow in my footsteps are advised to take precautions when handling the materials of their craft. What you cannot see really can hurt you. Take care of yourself and your environment.

Escher exhibit at San Jose Museum of Art

The recent Escher exhibit in Silicon Valley afforded a rare opportunity to see not only famous prints, but also sketches and intermediate pressings that revealed how the Dutch master created his illusions. Escher’s multi-dimensional Relativity was on display.

Study for Relativity

This sketch was not one of those on view, it is from a rare book. (The museum confiscated my camera at the door.)

There are three vanishing points and three different ground planes in this environment. The floor of one world is a wall or ceiling in another, a door or window becomes a trap-door.

Although it looks strange, people who enjoy 3D computer modeling can re-create it. In fact, somebody made one out of Lego.

Cell phone photo before and after digital processing

Somewhere in cyberspace sites like Google and Technorati are cacheing these words in "digital stone". However, this is the artist at work. And I’m not finished with this post yet.

It started with a cell phone photo taken at Laughing Squid Decade 2, where Anita Cocktail and the Twilight Vixen Revue entertained the crowd. Cell phone cameras are cool because they fit in your pocket, and you’re taking your cell phone with you anyway, right? Mine can even Bluetooth images over to a computer. But, the pictures aren’t that good.

Two computer OS’s running two Web browsers each

Here you see the new blog design for this site in progress. Rather than take sides in the so-called “browser wars”, it’s best to surrender to the fact that one can never win that argument, but only stir up resentment. So, the front-end is being tested under Mac and Windows, running Firefox, Safari and IE. The UI is implemented using only CSS and DIV tags, no TABLES, however, I am not convinced that is the only solution.

The back-end is now powered by Wordpress, providing category tags, user comments and RSS feeds. Wordpress is a “classic” Web 2.0 app, based on PHP and MySQL, but don’t let that stop you if you’re interested in creating a blog, because it is actually very easy to install and use. (You don’t have to design your own theme, like I did.)

Tech geeks recognize that half of these are server-side issues, and what really counts is how it looks on your own computer, client side. The blog is being re-launched with the “quick & dirty” version of its own blog theme. That means the “look & feel” will be refined over time. If you have a recent Flash Player and Javascript enabled everything should to pretty much work without a hitch. Bug reports welcome.