Back to colouring in!

After a couple of great workshops with 2nd years and Foundation, back to practicing what I preach! I find myself constantly amazed by the rich pickings to be found on a pretty much run-of-the-mill walk with my dogs. Although much of this is brought back in photographic form, I am still to be found walking along, clutching a delicate frond of grass seed-heads, or a particularly grungy, but patinated leaf - I do get some odd looks sometimes!

Grindavik Geo-thermal Power Station

Okay, I know this might seem a bit "random", to quote current popular parlance but, Its what floated my boat this morning. I have a large number of pictures from my last Iceland trip, that have not been given an airing, and this one resonated with me, so I have worked on it a little.
I just loved the way that the structures appear through the clouds of steam, which fits in nicely with the Icelander's predilection for mythical beings. Many of them believe that the earth and rocks are living entities, and who can argue with that when faced with sights like this?

Words, just bloody words....

Sitting here mourning at least 3 images that never got made this week. The buggers have been floating around in my head for the past few days, but the nature of things, being what they are, circumstances stole them. Bastards, utter thieving bastards. It gets a bit like a drug in the end this art malarky, as much a necessity as a pleasure. Hope I am able to pass this to my students. It never ceases to give me immense pleasure being around when this kicks in!

Something for nothing?

More digging old textures and shapes out of 'silly' pictures! Photoshop CS4 and an Intuos graphics tablet make for a slippery workflow - perhaps the most transparent yet. I've kicked off Digital workshops with the students now, so am on a roll to try and encourage them to explore, by example!

More Found compositions - with added decay!

A quick bike ride down to Ipswich docks with my camera, looking for decay and finding it aplenty - especially resplendent against the "new" that is cropping up like a rash all over the area. I find myself constantly fascinated by the ad hoc assemblages that are to be found in environments like this, and am only too willing to bring them home and mash up in my trusty iMac.

Scanners

Am beginning to think that a good flatbed scanner is, perhaps, the key to broad and diverse digital image-making. It is very rare that I will find much visual merit in a totally digitally originated image - i.e. one that has literally started with a blank canvas. Too often are they clinical, almost sterile and lacking in any organic content (hardly surprising really). Am constantly thinking of new things that I can cram under the lid of this magical box!