Image-a-day: a new digital nanoscapes' direction

What started as a distraction has become a new direction for digital nanoscapes, and they are part of my 2012 Image-a-Day project.

Blue Tiles

Nanoscapes began as post-card sized paintings because "tiny" was my comfort zone. When a pal said "I love your work, but I can't hang a post card behind my sofa," I took the hint and made larger paintings. My new comfort zone became 22x33 inches.

The return of small nanoscapes

The original "Net"

But the small paintings and post cards came back, because I love to experiment, I must paint every day, and their size makes them convenient for a traveler.

Through my consulting business, Pass the Baton, I often speak at law schools around the country. Two years ago, I would carry a 12x16 Arches Hot Press watercolor block and a six pallets with 100+ colors. No more. I take three or four tubes of watercolors, a post card block, a 6H pencil, a ruler, an eraser, and a pencil sharpener. Everything goes through security and the whole kit may weigh one pound.

Painting in hotel rooms
With the best lighting in many hotel rooms in the bathroom, I never hesitate to ask for better light for painting. Kind concierge staff members have delivered new light bulbs and, sometimes, multiple lamps to make my rooms workable for a painter. The collateral benefit comfortable bed-time reading. All too often, bedside table lamps give off barely enough light to barely see the alarm clock.

How are these digital nanoscapes made?
I scan a small painting and then experiment the wonderful toys in Photoshop adjusting color and hue, saturation and more. The magic in these new digital nanoscapes comes from horizontal and vertical flipping which, as you will see, makes a combination with a center, giving new life and more energy than the original.

#1

#2

#3

#4

 This painting, originally titled "The Net," is now the image of mosaic tile work that I would do if it didn't require safety equipment for tile cutting. When I turned 60, I decided that I should avoid all activity requiring either safety equipment or liability waivers. No skydiving, no bungee jumping, and no glass work.  

Just painting.

Banish Blank Pages With Solid Geometry Inspiration

Spaces With Stripes 1

In the beginning...

It is one thing to paint every day (which I do), but quite another thing to imagine that I might have a Great Inspiration every time I pick up a paintbrush.

Spaces With Stripes 2

Instead of gazing endlessly at a blank sheet of paper, I often pick up a pencil and begin with a doodle sparked by a memory of Solid Geometry which creates an opportunity to explore of light, intricate spaces, and color.  Solid Geometry was my only beloved area of mathematics, and I am never surprised that while filling in the spaces that I both learn and have fun. 

Spaces With Stripes 3

While starting with random spaces may not be an inspiration for plein air painters or artists who focus on pristine and precise  representational work, I find is useful for experimenting with new colors, papers, brushes and techniques. 

I learned this technique from Russ Dittmar, who also taught me how to coax brilliant colors out of watercolor when he suggested: "lots of pigment, not a lot of water." When I taught this to a group of young students at the R.H. Stafford Library in Woodbury, MN, they jumped in with enthusiasm. Leaving no blank paper in their wake, they filled in the spaces and the space around the spaces.


Spaces With Stripes 1, 2 and 3 These three paintings took me through a "break" during July 2011 when I left the search for Great Inspiration to the rest of the world.  

Each Spaces With Stripes is painted on 7-3/4 x 7-3/4 inch Arches 140# hot press paper.  Each original: $200.  A signed and numbered limited edition matted print called Three-in-a-Row is $100.  (Matt size is 36x14 inches.) Find them all at the nanoscapes' website.