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Screen Capture Characters

Finding a suitable digital medium in which to quickly, or, for me more effectively create, as I suppose: someone visually inclined is to do, the direction can and will veer off into the digital frontier altogether.  If you are making art on a touch screen how much easier everything becomes right? Well, not necessarily so. Thing is painting with your finger with fancy brush settings, learning those and all the panel offers is one thing. The application. What about the ART? Or more firmly even, the subject ? How about a subjective look.  Click on one to open in a slideshow. 

 

People like "ART" because they can see the way the producer of the art sees. The way they themselves see but in a sublime moment only perhaps, it’s experiential, nay existential. It is very little to do with subject, but everything to do with it. And who can then truly create ANY ‘art’ would the next goto response. ART, ARTIST. What are these terms? 

It is also standard these days, commercially. To the picture maker, invaluable in helping the creative spontaneity perhaps. With regards the digital space we hold and those brave frontiers, never before explored and so on, it is seminal in our minds. Art? Or is it not ART? We have lost focus on the subject. And found it again.

In my exercises with the above 4 composited canvases is a performance of the subject, myself inhibiting the space between your eyes and a computer or other electronic device screen. And (You are now spellbound and hypnotized into a deep trance like state from which you will only awake knowing .. exactly what I mean) it is then all up to you and the screen.  So easy, no mess or fuss. I hope you like them, however digital. And if not, there is a print version made especially. 

From a technical standpoint allot is dictated by the program, cutting, resizing, layers and all those things really help, but essentially my finger represents either a pencil or crayon or something big or small, bold and or opaque enough for the drawing. I use my finger because its just easier, think about it. It’s extremely difficult to stick with this 'drawing' stage long enough, but it’s the most important, and this was in truth my objective, and of course traditionally speaking it should lend itself to a painterly treatment in whatever form thereafter. In these cases they are painted in with value only (pity!), each one took more or less an hour to do, some were longer and others extremely short.

In the examples are scenes snapped off a screen while running using a program, the movie plays on my laptop and I hit ctrF12..Then I open the image and off I go. Some fine actors are given tribute here not least of which to name and my personal hero at an early age:  U’Shaka. The great Elephant, and more specifically the man Henry Chele, who’s portrayal pervaded in the masterpiece the series became. Now I can talk about George Lucas and others too, but lets just enough said, for now.

Reference is the key, without it I am at a loss for which to make justice to the ending of this B-logggging..  Below a collage of my reference used. Best CM

ART TERMINOLOGY .

T hings like transparent and opaque, or hue and saturation, these things mean little out of context, not unlike for instance the word: ART. That is an even broader contextual word integrating many many things. But we're not concerned with that now, only the smaller parts, all of which add up to or amount to or summarize of 'ART'..

 T he first and foremost important thing is the mark making! Ask yourself, in how many ways can I do that? So many it is countless, all for what? That is a seperate hemisphere question: why? The right is all free and does, the left calibrates and conditions, and further inquires.. But we are cohesive wholes and we make marks, then that is ART.

 W hen I was younger the chiefest motivator was the television, not really though, I mean it was my own imagination, but it sparked also by the creative "idea" in the script and overall influence of the medium, the tv screen (Not necessarily a Marilyn Manson lyric). So, others art, in the case of me as a young boy: Crocodile Dundee for one. I found the whole movie exhilarating so that I made an illustration of it (found on this blog! btw).

O ne of my earliest memories is a friends art at must have been pre-school, seriously, and would not be able to recall his name, maybe Ricardo, he had drawn the getalong gang from tv, I didnt watch much tv so I wasnt much interested in the subject as he but in his (somewhat styled but accurate) re-depiction. That further motivated my own marks in life.

A bove is an old drawing just to compliment the story. In the mean time back to the topics at hand. No.1 is resolved. Making the mark. Herein lie all the details of terminology, hue, value, these are terms most likely applied to picture making. Form may be a broader concept. These can become ques and motivators. So without wanting to confuse them, there are 'principles' in say picture making, and then there is simply the mark, what 'terms' apply to that, how it will work and not so much about what it may represent when made.

S et aside the mark for now, before it; is the creative impulse! And this may or may not lead to a finished work, it is sometimes just the pleasure of doing it that counts. And for me this is in doodles most often, entirely free, but usually contains trace suggestions of my motivators, form, light, style. There starts a feedback loop, attaining a likeness and honing it or exaggerating it even, a compelling feeling is hopefully achieved, and neural circuits installed. Strictly speaking.

T hen the media will teach you about the terms. Each paper and each pen or brush in cyber space or not functions in a certain way. Interaction is the mark. On a touch screen anything possibly possible on that screen can be achieved, and likewise not fill the space of an actual painted canvas. But you see the same motivators might use any device or medium. Knowing how to use them is then one thing. Covered. Hue and saturation mean different things traditionally when making a mark. They are the white of the paper vs the fluidity, characteristics of the pigment form on that paper, a dual action. 

I  thought to start this topic earlier as it amounts to say how these 'terms' relate. Opaque media as I had guessed it to work conversely dissimilar to watercolours for instance. The truth is besides the obvious difference and completely objective fact that they will yield different results, more important to my intention on the topic is that they can both be handled in much the same way or ways. Think about it, although watercolour is as light as a wisp and willful as they might say, so can oil with just the right amount of thinner or an acrylic paint, or a very thin natural-binding pigment etc. So, this lends it self more to the opinion of refining the motivator or again looking to the subjective role and simply engaging, exploring with the media in order to understand it.

I t is natural for me to be attracted to and compelled by the different media. I love the topic of ART and am enjoying delving into it here, as a subsidiary left hand goings on, while sharing my findings and my creativity in general. Thanks to anyone reading and blessings to you - CM

hui-land

..just how important are lines.. in a landscape ?? These are such happy lines to me, I thought I would post these and then maybe colour them in maybe not. Just some fun on my Huion610. Inspired! 

From start to finsh

painting in town one early morning, using an ipad air and procreate.

acrsabsbydskbycm

Across Aberdeen by Dusk (Digital Work) 

Surfaces, giclee transfer process for "Colour" exhibit

Surfaces, & giclee transfer process 

for "Colour" exhibit

below is a description of how I turned my digital paintings into hangable - fine art! 

East Facing at Dusk in Aberdeen

340 x 260

This painting I did a sketch for sitting in my car one evening recently. I refined throughout from that moment until I delivered it to the gallery, working digitally and ending with paint overs in oil on top of transfer glaze. That is the stuff that is left on my prepared panel once the paper is rubbed off. 

So there are quite a few steps here, starting with painting on loaction using mostly procreate and adobe sketch on my ipad. Then they are 'printed', but not in any conventional sense either, by way of a bit of a gluey sort of compound (Dont get it on your hands, trust me!) but which is oil based. This "film" pressed to the panel is my Giclee. I work on top of this with more paint.

A print being revealed underneath rubbed off paper, adhered to the panel.

The print grade is standard lazor, but good on thick printing paper. In using this technique its not the quality or thickness of the paper thats important but rather the layers of glaze used. I found two sufficient depending on how well they adhere (it can tend to bead on certain papers). This is spunged onto the print. Once again, the under panel is fundamental as you will see through the glaze to the underneath, white painted and prepared well if at all possible. I think Ive explained my process on preparing these (surfaces/panels) in an earlier post. One can work with the transparency potentials here.

Its important to get all the paper off properly and this takes getting the knack of. Above is a close up photo of a portion of my painting showing a spot of paper that I didn't get off early enough, (I had already rubbed linseed oil into the transfer once printed to the panel), so a cautionary there but which I accepted later as a textural element. The linseed helps bind the print (in theory) and makes it wonderful to paint onto too. I apply two or three coats and polish in. And then work over as much of the surface as I can, matching colours and glazing with my medium. I am able to completely change a piece in this way as oil paint is after all a good opaque medium. In some cases I do, as the initial print is just a very rough sketch. Its quite rewarding to do, especially for me since I am always conscious of the overall concept starting with sitting in front of my subject, and at times the painting is even worked with in reverse (when printed to paper) and also covered up and gradually revealed. It all worked out wonderfully, andonce again was thrilled to be a part of the group exhibit.

"Neu Bethesda morning light"

240 x 250

giclée and oil on panel

Paintings for the "colours" exhibit can be seen on my  main page above.  

Pinnacle Point

Pinnacle Point

Digital Sketch

The above is an example of a digital sketch done from life, this I can now print out and do a transfer of onto panel if I so choose, the sketch gives me all the necessary information I need to take it to completion. The atmospheric conditions, and basic hue, plus shape language of the forms and lighting. Its beautiful, this area was once an indigenous peoples fishing trail, and a tremendous hike you can take now days. I am yet to venture but it is one of many in SA I would probably want to recommend.

Vervits of the Karoo

Mostly napping vervit troop

Vervit above and below

I very happily had occasion to accompany some students in a near by reserve who are studying these vervit monkeys, thanks to them I got really close and with some real gusto put colour to paper. Top two images. 

Where I live they frequent my compost bin which suits me as most folk would sooner send a flying bullet to save their lone lemon or apricot. Its nice to know they have the attention of academics and not just me. When I first moved to town I got a couple of tiny watercolour interpretations in (below). Just a dab of sienna and a dark cool grey (probably paynes) to accent and create the form. Simple is always most effective. 

Im hoping to do more finished pieces soon and will include reference photos and perhaps a video then. I really want to move toward animals in the next while, especially considering the design I will be doing for a public wall. And in an area where these little guys thrive. They (males I suppose only) have seriously bright turquoise testicles! Ill add a little more information on the next post, as they are very fascinating and there is much to tell in fact. 

Its My Birthday!!

I started this blog 10 years ago today, with this little post. I remember well, sitting at the video store on Rosmead ave in Cape Town where I was working (humble beginings!), we had just been taken over by a new owner and so had also gone online with a new system. I had managerial privileges and got to scoping out the options. I could once program with GWbasic but it had been some years since then and without a computer. These things develop fast! I opened a FB account and got my blogspot account linked to my email. Google is a little evil in this way since its not made one update or improvement to the blogger app in the last 10 years that I can tell. That means for someone without much "coding" or web designing savvy I think I have fared well.

Honestly I have also just recently really begun to make sense of the whole Photoshop realm, (thank goodness) and this is helping tremendously with the digital side of my work. I can even make a little gif file as you see, It is really a demonstration of the surface (following my last post) on top of which the little animated armature (happily) sits. So I use a base paper grain/texture/surface and the rest is layers set on multiply, a little focal colour/light and that is it!

Quite extraordinary how things change though, and the world we live in seems so different to what I may have thought 10 years back. Its especially evident in these 'environs', facebook and so on. Everything gets posted online, and networks of people share and comment but perhaps are actually interfacing on a physical level less and less.

FB had the first ingenious closed network system. One of a kind, works seamlessly with all other web content now days. Google started out providing a more autonomous blog platform but simply and seemingly recalled any energy spent on it, instead bolstering their own type of closed network, ie google + . I dont think it will get the same traction, trying for the same market, but of course they are the no.1 search engine, always accumulating information. The biggest 'Machiavellian' baddie of all perhaps. So that without it the web becomes inaccessible. And its just a search engine!

Who will be the biggest, most powerful player in the game for the great pseudo brain we all use these days? If you were a big global multi corp like them what would you say? Hmm I wonder.

 It is certainly the age of information. People are sold hook line and sinker by the rabbit hole searches they go down. Critical thinking we were taught in science class out with the bath water. Anyway..

Aberdeen Street Scene in Watercolour

I have quite a few projects coming up. Painting the karoo scapes, peoples and experience! I will be adding more videos and demos, and many surprises as my creative process unfolds, music even, very exciting. The right sidebar is already full of specific topic lists to look up under and a resources section I will be adding more to in time.

Everything is my own, the idea; of Curt-mart or C-mart is a sharing of information specific to a particular creative process, and its for FREE and with not one bit of hidden ulterior motive (vein glory included). Also the word ART  is a vaguely construed word for me, embedded in my name, and a further premise for the conversation and title. What is art? Hmmmm,? A good question!

I will be sharing more content on Facebook, twitter and Instagram etc, so please join me there too. Here's to 10 years .. the best is yet to come.

Colours