Last Sunday, Beverly and I visited the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art and saw a Rockwell Kent exhibition. No words wasted, I love that guy. We had seen an exhibition about five years ago at all places the Norman Rockwell Museum in Sturbridge, MA. Rockwell meets Rockwell. Anyways, arriving home last week, I began to lament my inability to paint. Or draw anything for that matter. And then I came upon this alternative: digital manipulations of my Acadia photographs. Using a basic digital editor, I played with the controls for hue, saturation, lightness, whitepoint, blackpoint, brightness, contrast, gamma, despeckle, and sharpen. With these ten tools, I've been creating some art digitally enhanced (created?) that works for me. Usually I bemoan such digitilisation of photography. But in this instance, my enhancements are not subtle attempts (trickery?) at improving a photograph, but obvious manipulations. It's only digital but I like it. And I really needed to rest my verbal self. And maybe accentuate the visual.
4 comments:
It is amazing how Photoshop can almost fool us into believing we have some artistic talent isn't it?
I've taken several art classes over the years but could never find the time to maintain the skills I learned in those classes.
Photoshop seems like a relatively easy way to at least pretend we're artists.
I've enjoyed this ongoing series.
vxWell, I think there is a talent involved in what you do. The collages, etc. On the other hand my little experiment is less so. Still, the original photographs require some compostional skills. So we may not be artists, but it's not velvet elvis either.
After your entry today, I'm not sure it comes as a compliment but I think some of these are rather good "abstracts," abstracts in the sense that they seem to capture some universal aspects of the natural world rather than a specific moment in time.
Seeing those universals seems a sign that you're in touch with nature in a way that many people are unable to connect with it.
That's a great point ("abstracts in the sense that they seem to capture some universal aspects of the natural world rather than a specific moment in time.") in the same spirit as that Rockwell Kent quote. There's that idea of the ultimate again.
And I'll always take a compliment in whatever form they come. Thanks.
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