Showing posts with label photomontage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photomontage. Show all posts

Saturday, 14 January 2012

The Art of Numbers

Most of my life as a scientist, the job of numbers was to measure subtle changes in our theories.  I never gave much thought to the symbol itself. Numbers were written with little thought other than what is represented. I never took the time to think, “Wow, those numbers are pretty.”
Now that I’m exploring the creative side of expression, I see the beauty in numbers. Sometimes a number is a flowing image with flourishes and color, other times it is ultra modern in its monochromatic simplicity.  All the time, it still represents a finite value….Marvelous!  Maybe even “Cool!”
Numbers are recognized everywhere.  Do we ever stop to think about how many different ways numbers impact our lives? Perhaps the thought of “stop and think about a number” will be the artistic equivalent to “stop and smell the roses.” 
Recently Tonya Davenport from CREATE MIXED MEDIA blog invited mixed media artists to create seven days’ worth of numbers sets for the project “The Week as Art”. I was honored to participate in this project on the week of January 15-21.
My numbers are photomontages created in Photoshop. I use my photographs as the ingredients for photomontages. Numbers and letters are my special interest, I photograph them a lot. As for backgrounds and textures, I often photograph things that the majority of people in their right mind would never consider noticing (pieces of paper, scratches on metal, paint splotches etc.). I love the process of building my photomontages by layering and blending together all the pieces until I get the desired result.







Here are the numbers for this week.







Sunday, 4 September 2011

Wednesday, 17 August 2011

Chimayo birds



Who knew that the peace dove will bring war?
But it's official - Carol L. and I started Bird Wars 2011.

Why?

Just for fun.

These are birds from a wooden carved door in one of Chimayo churches. Blue and black triangles are metal decor on the wall, dots, stripes and textures from here and there.

Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Birds of Santa Fe


These three photomontages are composed from photos taken in Santa Fe.

 Metal bird on the church gates in Chimayo combined with stars painted on a board found in Cerrillos and a sidewalk pattern in Santa Fe Farmers Market.
     These two doves were seen on the gate of an art gallery on Canyon road, together with floral pattern from a wooden cabinet they started to look like a lever mechanical toy.
     This one was inspired by Carol Leigh. We took the same picture in Santa Fe and she was the first to create a wonderful photomontage http://carolleigh.blogspot.com/2011/08/summery-color.html.
      I tried my best too. The bird and the tree are from two different murals, dark diamond pattern is from the chair upholstery in Santa Fe down town hotel. Oh, boy, getting these blues and pinks was mind twisting.


Thursday, 28 July 2011

Buried treasure collaboration

This is the third year of Buried Treasure collaborative project on Seth Apter blog:
http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/2011/07/treasure-chest-2011.html

Seth invites artists to repost their favorite posts from the depth of their own blogs. Our blog is less than one year old, so not a lot of digging was required, but I'm pleased that I can introduce to you a very talented artist and an extraordinary teacher, as well as show you some of my digital art.

Frankly dear, SHE DOES give a damn!
 (Original post from 26/03/11)

This little play on a phrase made famous in the 1939 classic film,” Gone With The Wind”, is dedicated to Carol Leigh http://carolleigh.blogspot.com/ whose Advanced Photomontage online class is about to finish. I think Carol is an exquisite teacher, she shares generously her knowledge, stimulates creativity, teaches us to pay attention to the tiniest details and she takes time to give us detailed critiques to enhance the learning experience.
I present here some of my homework, with immense gratitude to Carol.
If you like what you see, all credit goes to Carol.
Elena









As an awe-struck husband, I’m compelled to throw in my 2 cent observation. Elena being the most intelligent and more importantly most capable person I have ever known and believe me when I comment that this is no mere compliment considering the level of intelligence and achievement attained in our level of friends. It doesn’t matter whether it is neuroscience, culinary arts, horticulture or art, Elena is consistently at the top of the skill sets. What prompts me to offer this heartfelt thanks to Carol and her photomontage course is that unlike neuroscience, where the discussion of ion channels, neural receptors and plasticity may be limited, the creation and discussion of art is wonderfully inclusive. I’m not surprised by Elena’s growth in art, but I’m wonderfully impressed with the results. So thank you Carol, I agree, “Frankly dear, YOU DO give a damn.”
Russ

Monday, 6 June 2011

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Pear #43

My hand painted papers and an image of pear, familiar but never the same.

Tuesday, 1 February 2011

One in 1,400,000


Advanced photomontage class with Carol Leigh http://carolleigh.blogspot.com/ started today.
I have the feeling that Carol will keep us very busy, as I know no other person who generates as many ideas as Carol does.