Today's Abstract

Sometime last week, I received a positive response to one of these images. I believe it was Karen who commented "I don't normally like abstracts, but I like this."

I suppose calling these abstracts is appropriate. They certainly seem to be in that style. And "abstracting" from reality is part of the process.

What I do is take an image (e.g., photograph) which has a lot of colors or a pattern that interests me. I then "abstract" from that original image using a number of different tools available in Photoshop (version 6.0.1) until I arrive at a final product that satisfies my aesthetic.

If it may be said I have an aesthetic. I certainly couldn't express it in traditional art theory words. I'd have an easier time expressing my poetic aesthetic than my "painterly" one, and I've been trying to find a way to express my poetics for over a year.

Just to give you an idea what I'm up against.

It's very much one of those "I know what I like when I see it" kind of things. The trick is to not overdo.

This image might be a good example. It began as two different views of a cancer cell, at two different magnifications. I erased one layer until bits of the other were visible, then I started playing with the liquify tool, and the art history brush, and so on, until I hit something I thought looked good.

I thought it might need something more, so I took one layer and flipped it 180° and started erasing bits of that. That looked too busy, so I deleted the new layer. Happily, I had not saved in a while, so I was able to step back a couple more "overdo's". This was a rare case where it was a good thing that I didn't do frequent back-ups.

Since so much of this has to do with my eye - in terms of colors, patterns, and framing - I'm going to be so bold as to call it art. The only gallery available is on-line, and the current nature of the things is such that I couldn't sell any at an arts festival.

Well, since you asked.... Two works of art are for sale:

This is available as a notecard, and this artistic vision of the princess is available as a postcard. Go to Jonah's Shop for ordering information.

Many of these art works have been archived on my flickr page. I may start copying more there, so they'll all be in one place.

Any original images - photos or abstracts - you'd like to see as notecards? Let me know, and I'll start switching out.