With the beautiful weather of summer and the great opportunities to travel, it is sometimes a challenge to figure out how to keep on creating. Years ago I mastered traveling with my painting supplies, but it becomes a lot more challenging when working with mixed media materials. There are so many more supplies. Not only do I want to take paint, paper, and brushes, but t my stash of found papers, handmade papers, magazines, newspapers, and all the other sources of texture and design. Stencils, stamps, brayers. The list goes on. For a few years I just accepted that my creative opportunities were more limited when I was on the road or when flying somewhere. This conundrum is what prompted me to begin exploring digital art. I'm a traditionalist, so it wasn't a direction I pursued eagerly. At first I began by learning how to use some easy digital tools. Then some more complicated techniques. I'm still learning and always pocketing new ideas, but I think I'll always be a traditionalist at heart. Now, when I'm on the road, creating with digital tools satisfies my need to keep on making art.
Below are a couple of my most recent endeavors. They were both created entirely with digital tools. I've been intrigued with the idea of using vintage papers for collage work, but it was hard to find suitaby aged papers. I've stained papers with paint, tea, and coffee to provide an aged look, but didn't really like the results. Actual vintage papers are very limited and hard to find; I fear a sign of our digital times. But, recently,with a stint of time away from my studio, I decided to create some collages entirely with vintage papers found online in the public domain. I like the fact that the colors are very limited and it requires me to focus on composition. I learned how to create a digital tear on papers that weren't actually torn. Note the ticket on my piece,
Random Thoughts. It was actually a complete ticket. The tear is digital.
What I like about digital art is that I can still satisfy my need to create, but not lug along a couple of suitcases full of supplies when I'm traveling. I just need a laptop, which I always take with me any way. Some of
digital works I've created in the past when forced to travel light are
here.
Below are two collages I created this past week.
It is nice to be back at home and have full access to my studio and supplies. My goal is to continue painting at least one larger format landscape per week with traditional painting techniques. They are available at
Ugallery . I also continue to put my small format oil paintings in my
Etsy Shop. Creating daily is my objective. I hope you like what I do. Prints of many of my works are available
here.
