Sunday, January 10, 2010

Simple fare -

"Olive Bread"
digital collage by Mick Mather
"... art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead ..."
- W. H. Auden

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17 Comments:

Blogger SusuPetal said...

Thank you for this lovely breakfast, Mick.

4:48 AM  
Blogger Mick said...

SusuPetal:
Dig in! You'll need to pour out a saucer of olive oil for dipping.

8:13 AM  
Blogger John M. Mora said...

no butter?

9:37 AM  
Blogger Mick said...

John M. Mora:
... NO! No butter ... Pepsi!

9:43 AM  
Blogger Lucky Dip Lisa said...

I admire how you can turn any subject into art. This looks like you created it with gesso and pastels.
Looks yummy too:)

1:26 PM  
Blogger Mick said...

Lucky Dip Lisa:
It looks rather yummy to me too! :)

5:40 PM  
Blogger Seth said...

Love the scratchiness of the surface here.

7:19 PM  
Blogger hpy said...

A nice warm soup and bread made with olive oil. Yummy!

1:07 AM  
Blogger Mick said...

Seth:
Thanks, Seth, I've been playing with an old filter that I never quite learned how to use. I'm doing a bit better with it these days.

hpy:
Just what we need to warm the cockles of our hearts.

5:17 AM  
Blogger Tonya Vollertsen said...

I love the painterly feel of this! It looks like watercolor on rough paper with some pencil and pastel for extra texture. I am just starting to play around with my photos in Photoshop Elements 6 on a Mac. I don't really understand what you have done here or collaged. Did you paint this in a paint program or is there a photo involved somehow? I'm facinated, it's beautiful!

6:33 AM  
Blogger Mick said...

Tonya Vollertsen:
Hmmm, a bit of a problem here as regards revealing the equipment that comprises the super secret array in the secret visual laboratory. My suggestion is to keep playing with what you have. I will admit, however, that I'm not a big fan of Photoshop and I don't use it. I do list some of my favorite painting and drawing widgets on my sidebar - scroll down. I can also suggest that you do a search for FREE graphic software ... one thing will lead to another and eventually you'll amass an array of your own that will suit you. I do work from photographs a majority of time, including this piece, but much filtering, manipulating and layering is involved throughout the process.

6:56 AM  
Blogger Tonya Vollertsen said...

No worries! All I was after was how to wrap my mind around what you may have started with. I would never think to go to my computer to create something like this, It would be easier and more successful for me to just do it by hand with watercolor and pencil and some pastel! LOL! I was going to ask what size it is but I guess since it's digital you can print it any size you want.
I'm not sure I would ever get into this venue, I'm just trying to learn enough to cut and past parts of my photos and arrange them into the configuration I want to paint them so I'm not constantly shuffling from photo to photo for the different elements as I'm painting. Still love it! Thanks!

1:07 PM  
Blogger Mick said...

Tonya Vollertsen:
I'm not worried. My main point is that what works for one won't always work for another. Plus, I'm an inveterate experimenter with software, making it do what it was never intended to do or what some versions won't allow you to do. Basically, just have some fun with whatever you're using.
If all you want is to slice up parts of your photographs, use whatever tool you have in Photoshop Elements - probably a lasso tool of some sort - trace around the part you want, copy and paste into another frame.
For the record, I work small, these images are 400 X 400 pixels.

4:49 PM  
Blogger Tonya Vollertsen said...

Wow Mick, that is very small! What do you do with an image like that? Just curious, I'm kinda lost here. ...if you don't have to give any secrets away. I'm really not trying to get your secrets just trying to understand your medium so I can better appreciate it.
I once took a porcelain doll class hoping to learn to make molds...that wasn't part of the class but as I finished the porcelain pieces and put them together into an antique replica doll, (not my interest at all) I learned why people revere and collect handmade porcelain dolls. I always love to learn about other artist's mediums so that I can appreciate the process and their facination with their chosen medium. Cheers, Tonya

5:16 PM  
Blogger Mick said...

Tonya Vollertsen:
Well, small is a relative thing. At just a bit over 4" square, they're lots bigger than the average miniature painting. As regards what I do with them, well, I exhibit them (next show opens in February) and hopefully sell them.

As simply as I can say, what I do is take a photograph, often more than one, take it apart and put it back together using filters, layering, repainting, resizing, stretching and reversing until I'm satisfied with the results. Sometimes images fall right together, other times it takes all the energy I can muster.

If this still isn't the answer that fits, keep asking questions. :)

7:20 PM  
Blogger Tonya Vollertsen said...

Hey Mick, thanks, I have more questions! LOL! The image is obviously so beautiful and I am thinking in terms of a painting that would be framed and sold to hang on a wall. So what do you sell your images to do in the end? What do you do with an image that is 4X4 in the end? What does it end up being in the real world? Im thinking Magazines and books? Do they end up in the fine art world? When you compete with them , how are they displayed in a gallery situation? I'm sure these are really stupid questions but i am a fine artist and only deal in things that are framed in the end. If I were to buy your image (if it is for sale) how would I receive it? How many times would you be able to sell the same image? Would I have an original or would I have a print of a certain number? Sorry, I am a very curious person, and a scone please! Thank you so much for the wonderful tea! Sip, sip. mmmm!

8:04 PM  
Blogger Mick said...

Tonya Vallertsen:
The end work is a digital print. I take the electronic file to a professional photography lab, Community Darkrooms at Syracuse University. I get back a beautifully printed image on the paper of my choice. I sign the print and number it 1/1 - meaning that I only sell one of each image, a common practice in the hands-on world of the monotype and monoprint where only one, single, quality image is possible. In the electronic age, there's no real way for me to stop someone from lifting an image from the blog and printing it out themselves ... of course any such back alley print will not have my hand-lettered title, number or signature. I always hope that interested parties will purchase work that speaks to them. Sometimes I frame the work, sometimes not. I no long bother with competitions but do seek out appropriate gallery exhibition opportunities.

If someone does want to purchase a work through this blog, you send me some money (all images are priced at $25) and in time you receive a signed, numbered print - unmatted and unframed.

6:57 AM  

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