Illustration Friday: Excess -

"Jamaica on Sunday"
digital collage by Mick Mather

In addition to being my contribution to this week's Illustration Friday - the theme is excess - the image is also something NEW from The Papers Series. It's a collage of some of the news items that appeared during hurricane season this year. As I was looking at it again I thought, what better sums up the idea of excess than the sight of your car floating down the street. Yup, excess wind, excess rain and excess destruction!

Thursday Challenge: Happy -

"Three Happy People"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

I know I've said it before but Dale Hudjik's Thursday Challenge is my favorite photomeme site because of the latitude always given with each assigned word. The fact that he always posts the following week's theme along with the current week is another plus. Anyway, happy is what we have in front of us for now and I couldn't resist posting this photograph of my granddaughter, Leighlund, snuggling in as close as she can get to poppa while being kissed by Draco, the dominant Tom of the house. Easy to do, since he's the only Tom in the house. Dare I say it? Don't worry, be happy! :)

Zip, zero, nada -

"The Devil Went Down to Georgia"
digital collage by Mick Mather

The introductory title for tonight's post references my emotionally empty gas tank. There's nothing to say about this that couldn't be steeled and cured by winning the Bonzo Gonzo Lottery for about a kabillion bucks - keep your fingers crossed. Better yet? Buy some artwork! I need a nap and one of those horse pills that might work on this migraine headache.

Another nod to Bill Ives -

"After the Rain"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather
- original photograph by Bill Ives -

Here's another image that began with one of the beautiful photographs taken by my beantown buddy, Bill Ives. The original is a great study of a row of plastic chairs down on the beach at Point Independence Inn, Onset, Massachusetts. After asking him for permission to do one of my manipulations, soon began the processes of cropping, filtering and layering. In short order I was just plain stuck, I wasn't getting what I wanted and I walked away from it for a few weeks. With fresh eyes I began the process again, using filters that I wouldn't ordinarily employ, only to be foiled a second time. Before putting it away, though, I ran a few experiments, had some fun and chalked it up to experience. That was back in August and tonight, while surfing the summer files again, it jumped right back out at me! This is rather blocky and jumbled up but I like the way the cubist forms repeat, relate and resolve themselves within the whole piece. Thanks again, Bill. :)

Moody Monday: Unnatural -

"Unnatural"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

"Two spires scrape the sky, pointing their own way, a wide gulf separating references to the cross. One an unnatural harness attempting control and redirection of the mysterious aura. The other a simple and narrow path, harmonious synchronicity with the spirit - and yet, no less a mystery." - a flicktion by Mick Mather

Connections -

"Basic Series - A Square Peg and A Round Hole #5"

monotype by Mick Mather

I was noodling around with another image this morning that ended up as the weekly post at my Sci-Fi blog, Outer Dust Rings. As it happened, it turned into a revived, digital version of The Basic Series, which is actually an altered book project that became impossible for me to continue. More insight and a few more examples of these works-on-paper in book form can be found at No Matter What Shape - The Archive. As I contemplate moving forward with these works as digital paintings it seems like a good time to show this piece and take a peek back in time while looking to the future.

Another something old -

"Receiving Line Seats"
digital collage by Mick Mather

It's funny how the images that you research and review over the course of a morning, an afternoon, a day, a week or a month will stick in the subconscious and lead you to a similar color palette in your own work. For one reason and another, I've been immersed in looking at the colors of autumn, in particular is this stunning manipulated photograph by Jeff Clow. To be fair, I've also been looking at a lot more landscapes although I'm not really sure why. Perhaps just to soothe the eye as we transition between seasons here in the Central Region of New York State. Tonight's post, residing on the other side of a seasonal transition - from winter to spring - contains a lot of the same soft, warm and comforting hues...and the world keeps goin' 'round.

Illustration Friday: The Zoo -

"The Zoo"
digital collage by Mick Mather

As you can see, The Zoo, is our theme at Illustration Friday this week. It didn't take me long to follow back along the trail to the Greek Life at almost any college campus you might have as your own, personal reference. For me it was the University of Florida and Syracuse University with a research residency or two at the likes of Fredonia State, Cornell University and Ithaca College...but I digress. Who among us doesn't recall that one fraternity, forever etched in our memory in the film "Animal House", where the common room always smelled like beer and cigars and was generally speaking a mess. This particular house was, like the movie, always on the brink of losing its charter and because of the notorious parties, hazings and hijinx was more commonly known as...wait for it! The Zoo! :D

Thursday Challenge: B&W -

"Selfportrait of the Artist as Life Imitating Art in Black & White"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather
- from an original photograph by Michael Moody -

I've been thinking about this week's Thursday Challenge all week and I had plenty of good ideas for the theme, B&W. Just as I was about to begin, serendipity visited my inbox via good friend, artist and photographer, Michael Moody. As it happens, Michael is the photographer who documents the Open Artist Receptions each month at Delavan Art Gallery in Syracuse, New York and this is one of me standing across the room from a painting by another very good friend of mine, artist and printmaker, Michael Berman. So, not only do I have an unexpected image for this weeks challenge, I also get something NEW from The Selfportrait Series. Enjoy, I do believe I smell some turkey cooking in the oven! :D

To the breaking point -

"Above the Red Limit Test"
digital collage by Mick Mather

There's more than a single meaning in today's post for me. For starters, taking things a lot further with certain filters than usual. Testing the limits, pushing the boundaries and applying greater pressure than ever before in the Secret Visual Laboratory. Testing ... testing ... is this thing on? :D

...I gotta wear shades -

"The Future's So Bright"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

Today's post is one of those images that strikes a musical chord with me. In this case, the 1984 debut of a group called Timbuk3. They pretty much had just one hit - from their debut LP "Greetings From Timbuk3" - but they were quite a good band and quite a bit quirky at the same time. This is all there is today come to that...what with my rosy future and all. :D

Moody Monday: Natural -

"A Natural Beauty"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

"I clicked the shutter, catching her with eyes closed. She complained that her hair looked like a pile of straw, that her face was marked from a bad fall. With all of this - hindered not at all by the textured glass separating the small room she was in from me - her countenance shone with a natural beauty that came from within." - a flicktion by Mick Mather

Look both ways before crossing the street -

"Walk, Don't Walk"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Not a lot to say since I'm half way to the couch for the New York Football Giants game and a nap. As it happens, I'm still working with one foot in the past and the other foot in the future. It's also a short week at the office since our Thanksgiving Holiday is this coming Thursday. Since no good deed goes unpunished, I'm likely going to have get most of the end of the week's posting accomplished before Wednesday as well as attempt to get some prep work done for those paintings I keep threatening to do. Ta!

Cover Story -

"Red Baseball Cap"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Something new here from the Faces in the Crowd Series. Basically, a jumble of faces and backgrounds have been layered, filtered, manipulated, repainted and color shifted. In the end, it was the variety of textures that were brought further forward than usual that are attractive for me - also seen in yesterdays post where patterns are used more aggressively. Too, the look on the person's face began to emerge with each successive layer and I quite like the challenged appearance that has been suggested here.

Illustration Friday: Superstition -

"Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop at an Irish Breakfast"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

I suppose the custom of tossing salt over your shoulder after having spilled it is not just peculiar to the Irish. That said, we often think about such things as the weekly theme, superstition at Illustration Friday, in terms of the cultures we happen to know. Whether this depiction of such green voodoo is an accident waiting to happen or a preventive measure, I'm not really sure. In my own family tree, I'm fairly certain that Clan Christie would be tossing some after breakfast just to be on the safe side. :)

NEW from The Selfportrait Series -

"Selfportrait of the Artist as a Transportation Center Poster"
digital collage by Mick Mather

One of my favorite bodies of work, and by far the longest running, is The Selfportrait Series. You can imagine my great surprise when I learned that Thursday Challenge offered up the theme of portrait for the coming week. As an update to anyone unfamiliar with these pieces, this is always an opportunity for me to wear satire on my sleeve and poke fun at myself, the medium of photography and the various uses of photographic imagery - whether that be for fun, for profit or for documentary purposes. :)

Stand a little closer -

"Five O'Clock Shadow"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Another aspect of my working method is to save blocks of time for play. I have two series of works that were made just for that purpose and today's post is one example of the Faces in the Crowd Series. Without going into any great detail - since I've discussed the process previously for work that resides in the Making Faces Series - I take anywhere from 3 to 5 faces and run them through the array of filters, generators and manipulating software here at the Secret Visual Laboratory. Suffice it to say that this image, once completed, suggested its own title. I love it when that happens! :)

Goin' to a party, party -

"Strapless Cocktail Dress"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I'm still following a line back to old methods of working while allowing the new to seek it's own level. Similar to the cocktail party depicted here, it's a lot like getting reacquainted with old friends, enjoying the company of current friends and, at the same time, meeting and getting to know new friends. What's this? Must dash, the servers are passing trays of champers and scallops wrapped in bacon! :D

Moody Monday: Lavish -

"Lavish"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

The theme, lavish, at Moody Monday this week might presuppose wealth, finery, opulence and the best things that money can buy. For me it's the richness of everyday things that comes to mind and that routinely catch my eye. For example, the red rails, the door and the storefront muntins of this little shop where even the brickwork steps forward a little, having it's own place in the sun for our purpose here. So, the lavishness of simple pleasures, as simple as this view down a sunny and colorful street. :)

Technology of fun, old school style -

"Roustabouts"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

While tonight's post isn't totally non-objective abstraction, it's surely way out there on the expressionist limb of the tree. I layered a pair of fractals a few weeks back and have been playing with them off and on ever since, adding a bit of digital drawing and generally having fun while shaking things up. Coming back to each version in turn and studying them, I found something in this first set of layers - basically a very stylized set of tents, poles and the Circus Engineers of the Big Top, known as roustabouts. So, here you have it, swirling billows of canvas directed ever upwards, a canopy yet a few feet above the heads of the daring acrobats and the man on the flying trapeze. The edge of town never seemed so exciting as the day the circus came to town!

Isn't it a pity? In Heartbreak City? -

"You're Beautiful"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Today's post is a crop of my original image that predates the James Blunt song used in my title by over a year. Blunt describes that feeling of immediate loss experienced when two lover's meet, fall in love at first sight and never see each other again! Within the confines of that fleeting instant, however, is a lifetime and an eternity of loving. Such intuitive knowing can never be less than painful and how we respond, individually, to such angst will fuel stories and songs and folk tales for centuries to come, just as it has for centuries past. Baby! Come back!

Illustration Friday: Scale -

"Selfportrait of the Artist Not to Scale"
digital collage by Mick Mather

In addition to being my post to Illustration Friday for this week's theme, scale, I also have it serve double duty as the latest image in The Selfportrait Series. I believe the visual puns are self-explanatory and I'm off on important business with the family today. We'll chat again later. :)

Thursday Challenge: Transparent -

"Transparent"
photograph by Mick Mather

Transparent is this week's theme at Thursday Challenge and, once again, I've chosen a straight photograph with no manipulation. This was taken at Rick Destito's building, known as "The Gear Factory", that houses studio space for artists, rehearsal rooms for musicians and a long range plan to rehab the upper floors into live/work space. Before I dash off for a well deserved nap I recommend clicking on the link to have a peek at what some of the young, movers and shakers in Syracuse are making a reality. Zzzz-zzz-zzz-zzz! :)

One step forward, two steps back -

"Defining Solutions for Serious Issues, With Cocktail"
digital collage by Mick Mather

With more than a week's worth of puffery and ill advised, self effacing innuendo over the new work I decided to step back a bit. I've retreated into old and familiar territory for the past 48 hours. As far as I can tell, it's a purposeful measure of distance traveled from familiar shores. I can also revel a little while in the double entendre present here. Other than that it's time for - what else? - a cocktail!

NEW from The Papers Series -

"Television"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I've been working on this piece since summer. I've started and stopped and started again, trying to figure out what this piece means for me. It's part of that body of work that results from quickly tearing up newspaper scraps after clipping one article or another that I want to save. The torn pieces are scanned and then reassembled digitally. I suppose I could flesh out, so to speak, a good story about this image for you as regards ratings, fluff and the fact that men are easily distracted by the bright and shiny! In the end - if I do say so myself in Quote of the Moment in the sidebar - "Like the viewer, I too am looking for something in my own work." What I don't say is that I don't always find it ... well, I do, but sometimes it isn't satisfactory (sigh!).

Moody Monday: Humorous -

"The Inattentive Valet"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

The weekly theme at Moody Monday this week is the word humorous. I don't know how funny the following story will be to you, but some of the people who know me and love me have gotten miles of entertainment already. For one, my good friend Rob D'Agostino who left quite the cutting comment at yesterdays post! Before I move on, do visit his site and have a look at the first study to go up in flames as posted at Save My Studies - talk about humorous? This short video is hilarious! As for me and what elicited Rob's comment, we need only see the evidence above, enhanced with that checkered pattern peculiar to The Harlequin. Last week, as I was walking to my office I thought, "Gee! This left shoe feels awfully comfortable. A lot more comfortable than it should." I looked down to discover that it wasn't a shoe at all and exclaimed, "Darn! I've worn my slippers to work!" Unruffled, and since my slippers are leather-soled moccasins, I figured, what the heck. A few steps further and I'm thinking, "Gee! The other one isn't nearly so comfortable." Looking down a second time my mouth hangs open, my heart skips a beat and in a bit of a fright I say out loud, "Darn! I've worn one slipper and one shoe to work today!" I suppose you can guess that I hopped back on the bus, returned home for a matching set, double checked to be sure it was a set of shoes, and then back to work! What a day! :D

Another dark abstract impressionist piece -

"Crosstown Traffic"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digitally manipulated flame by Mick Mather

I suppose it would be correct to say that this piece is an extension of yesterday. At least, in regards to my personal philosophy and the pitfalls of working in this direction. Be that as it may, I fell instantly in love with the original fractal that resulted in this new work and the manipulations therefrom. In my mind, the imagery being produced was reminiscent of a large city at night, looking down from a very tall building upon gridlocked avenues and streets. As I watched, strains of Jimi Hendrix began to filter back up into my consciousness. While thinking of you, I hear the refrain: "Crosstown traffic...all you do is slow me down."

Have I tricked anyone but myself?

"The Amazing Elizabethan Cloak"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

I continue my experiments with fractals and attempts to wed some very interesting flames to my photography or digital drawing. At the same time, I'm continually aware of being seduced by the technology of mathematical sets that make the work possible. I've mentioned this before in relation to ending up with a sci-fi look to the work - perfectly fine in that realm - and fractals can be very, very beautiful all by themselves. There are a lot of artists who do little more than enter a mathematical formula and wait to see what the fractal generating software provides. While I have no problem with it as a legitimate creative process using tools that are another flight up the technogeek high rise, it's my own way of working that's at risk some of the time. This post might be a good example ... have I allowed myself to succumb to said seduction? Am I only fooling myself by referencing an English Queen and the habiliment from two centuries ago?

Illustration Friday: Hats -

"The Black Hats"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

While I was finishing up this post for the theme of hats at Illustration Friday, I began to see this as part of The Trinity Series. As some of you may know, "Trinity" is a growing number of sculptures that I plan to fund, create and install somewhere in 2008 ... but, I digress. An old photograph of an old matchbook began to appear as little men wearing skullcaps. A different sort of head covering than might be expected but it suits me for the moment. I have quite a few versions of it and will post one or two alternates at No Matter What Shape - The Archive. I'm feeling a little dizzy, my stomach is upset and I need to lay down. I'm not complaining, mind you, I think the work week had some hidden stress that's only now reaching the surface. Hey, bartender! One scotch, one bourbon, one beer! Please. :)

Thursday Challenge: Orange -

"Woman in Orange, Apartment B"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

I have to say, this Thursday Challenge - the week's theme being orange - screamed for all of the obvious possibilities. While searching through the photo stacks here at the secret visual laboratory I settled on a fuzzy and indistinct image of a woman whose blouse took on an orange cast after a bit of hue and tint manipulation. I cropped and dragged the result into my usual working frame and ran it through a few more filters to come up with a background reminiscent of a high rise apartment building while overlaying a venetian blind-like look to the figure itself. So, there's more here than might immediately hit the eye and, while I thought about taking this a little bit further, I think I'll leave it right here ... for now. :)