Blog

I'm starting a new digital painting today and thought I would post my progress as I go along. I am using a photo of Crush that I took a few years ago as the inspiration but am doing everything freehand from sketch to final painting.

I read this on the Skinny Artist web site and it struck me as coming from right where I am at this time with the move back to Reno and the change in career. Hopefully it resonates with others as well.

The Awakening

A time comes in your life when you finally get it. . . when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out–ENOUGH! Enough of the fighting and crying and blaming and struggling to hold on. Then, like a child quieting down after a tantrum, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes.

This is your awakening.

I have been pumping out new and exciting Woodies and have over 100 different original works available on my website. I have been experimenting using prints of my Woodies from FAA as veneer by gluing them to an MDF substrate like decoupage using matte medium and then applying a clear finish and it works fabulous.

I have many different styles of Woodie, some very rustic and some classic veneer like burls or spalted wood. By gluing the printed image to a substrate they can be used as the beauty panel in cabinet or furniture doors.

I have been doing watercolor paintings since my college days in Southern California. I have always loved going back and forth from oils to watercolor as you are taught to work in opposite manners. In watercolor the theory is to leave the paper as the white in the image. This requires working from light washes to the dark shadow colors. In oils you start with dark washes and the final layers are the highlights.

By going back and forth between the two mediums it challenges my thinking and has me thinking "why can't I paint oils like watercolors?" In watercolor it requires painting with white. (OMG!) Which in purist watercolor circles is heresy. Fortunately I am not a card carrying purist so that doesn't matter to me.

I have been a proud member of the Worth1000 community of crazy artists and photographers since April 02, 2006. I am known there as RatbarSteward. Here is a link to my portfolio. http://all.worth1000.com/artists/RatbarSteward/portfolio

I originally became a member at Worth1000 to learn more about Photoshop and how to create the amazing photo chops that the legendary artists there make. The membership at Worth has suffered the last few years after it has been bought and sold a few times and hopefully the new owners will revitalize it to its former glory. The community there is second to none and I miss it in my artistic life. In that community they used to do interviews of some of the more colorful members and I was fortunate enough for them to do one on me. For those of you who would like to know a little more about me here is a link to that interview. http://www.worth1000.com/discussions/69922/photogworther-inverview-34-ratbarsteward

I am starting on a new series of digital composite images on anthropomorphic vegetables and foods. I'm going to shoot them in the house with my studio lights and composite with body parts and faces. Should be a lot of fun and I already have a bunch of cool ideas. (usually the hardest part)

I'm taking the plunge and depending on my artwork to make a living, this is really scary to me although I have always wanted to try. Raising two children just didn't allow me to try when I was younger, things like insurance and eating were much too important. My health isn't getting any better and I am definitely not a spring chicken. I can no longer work in the construction/millwork industry with my arthritis problems.

I have decided I would like to do something I love with whatever time I have left in this world and creating things is what makes me happiest. I plan on diversifying between conventional painting, drawing, photography and digital art to keep it interesting. (Maybe even a little woodworking and sculpture as well) If I can find the discipline to work on at least one project every day I believe I could make it work.

I have been doing quite a few digital paintings lately and am amazed at how similar to the "real" painting process it is becoming for me. I use a Wacom Bamboo tablet and Photoshop for my paintings. I was really surprised at how long it takes to do these paintings not that the time really has anything to do with the creative process. I really like the skin texture I can get in Photoshop with my portraits and am excited to do more experimenting with the process. The ability to do color changes is something I really like with a digital painting. I can experiment with different color combinations without having to repaint everything.

Click on the link to read more and see more paintings

This is the next image in my series of paintings from the Edward S. Curtis Collection in the Library of Congress. I plan on doing quite a few of these as they really are powerful images to me. Click on the link for the rest of the story and a link to the Collection.

Woodies begin life as simple boards or leafs of veneer. In the original version they were either resawn on a bandsaw and glued up as book matched panels and the veneer was glued to a substrate. Click the link to read more.