10.04.2013

Learning new tricks

I've embarked on a new photography course...one that's online...and I can do at my own pace...working on my technique so that my art can shine through...

My first foray into an online photography class started with Kim Klassen two years ago...it was both a tutorial on Photoshop and a method to boost one's creativity...it focused on taking a single image and enhancing it to its most artistic potential.

My current class, Photoshop Grunge, takes a different approach.  As you might expect, the focus is on a textured, layered technique...but more importantly, it takes several photographic images and meshes all of the images with textures and layering to create a unique artistic composition.

While the grunge is sometimes a little heavier than I would like, the idea of meshing several images together closely aligns with the work I do as a collage artist.  I believe that every object tells a story...and by combining several images together, that story is clear to the observer.

When I embarked on my artistic journey 15 years ago, I was hesitant to use the one-of-a-kind ephemera I had acquired...once it was committed to a collage, that was it...never to be used again.  Imagine my apprehension...was this the best use for a turn of the century handwritten letter...or a receipt for a 1930 grocery purchase of eggs or a family photo of a dear uncle in 1890...time clicks ahead...scanning, digital imaging, Photoshop and the internet all make huge leaps and bounds.  The treasured bits and scraps that I have been hording now can be incorporated into a new type of digital collage...that still tells the story of the object...but doesn't limit it to a single soliloquy...

I've only scratched the surface of the course...but thought I would share what I have created thus far...

























































































































And though this digital technique can not replace the rendering of paint and paper on a piece of wood or a stretched canvas...adding in a smattering of rust and patina, I hope it will enhance my artistic repertoire...

Do you have any new creative adventures you've pursued?  do tell...

worth a look...

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