Tracking and mapping time -

"A Time Machine Arrives at the Repair Shop"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I suppose this image would fit rather well at the Outer Dust Rings, one of my other blogs that I've had to let go fallow ... too much to do, too little time. I very much enjoyed doing those posts and probably have a nice little coffee table book in the offing if I can ever figure out just how I'd like to see it laid out. Anyway, for now, this piece is dedicated to a pair of very dear friends who took the time to let me know how much they enjoyed the ODR pieces, Mary Stebbins Taitt and Ranjit Bhatnagar - sorry that there's no story to go with this one but, as I was saying, there's just not enough time in my day!

Peeking past the blinds -

"Peeping Tom"

digitally manipulated fractal flame & collage by Mick Mather

While working on two other pieces for another blog, Outer Dust Rings, some of the trial runs and alternate takes didn't quite fit over there. Happily, one of them did seem appropriate for posting right here - this one to be exact - and here you have it. Now that I've made the official introduction, it's time for me to scrub up, put on a suit and head west to Rochester, New York to attend a wake.

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.

Thursday Challenge: Scary -

"Paraphyletic Sawfly Emerging"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

Yes, I'm still messing about with fractals. The original flames that comprise tonight's post sure remind me of some kind of creepy crawly thing. My initial thoughts on this were of the movie Alien and all of the wonderful frights the first, and best, of the series of flicks gave all of us. It also seems to fit right in with my sci-fi Outer Dust Rings blog - but I'm using this for Thursday Challenge instead. The theme for this week is scary and these little buggers make my skin curl just thinking about them!

Illustration Friday: Moon -

"Full Moon Festival"
digital collage by Mick Mather

With moon as the Illustration Friday theme for this week, I was drawn to this image. Originally destined for the Outer Dust Rings, I've struggled for many an evening here at the secret visual laboratory but never did quite get it to fit. Lucky for me I suppose since nothing else I've tried this evening has panned out. Anyway, it's been languishing in a development file for months, hauled out from time to time for a bit more work, and I'm pleased to finally be able to post it.

Messing around again -

"Deck of Cards"
montage by Mick Mather

Bear with me for a moment, for the end of the story comes first. The title is a nod to an old series of very short stories, The Chronicles of a Lonesome Princess, that has been mentioned before in this blog. In one of those little vignettes, the Lonesome Princess posed for the Court Photographer. The object of this exercise was a deck of, let's just say risque, playing cards that were passed out in ration packets to the troops on a distant field of battle. Here then, in tonight's post, we have the box that said deck of cards would have been packaged in. The other thing that happened was that almost every other layer, as this work progressed, was fine and at least two more versions of this would stand easily on their own. Since our Lonesome Princess exists as one of the characters over at my Outer Dust Rings sci-fi blog - The Princess of Derby - perhaps one of those alternate versions will see the light of day over there at some point.

Where's the illustration for IF? -

"Three Broken Chairs"
montage by Mick Mather

Yes, I know, I usually have an image for Illustration Friday posted in this space. However, the piece that I worked on for IF this morning kept whispering Outer Dust Rings ... so, you'll find it here, instead. When you get right down to it, I feel lucky to have posted anything at all today, let alone two! I was at the 40 Below Summit, a very good conference I might add, for most of the day and, all of a sudden, I'm beat right down to my socks.

Caught up in a fiction -

"Future Memory of Gillian O'Casey"
montage by Mick Mather

As I begin to better see the structure of a story at my other blog, Outer Dust Rings, I find that the work, divided between the two blogs, is becoming an issue. It's more of a battle these days when deciding where an artwork is destined to go. I've been able to handle this well enough, so far, by keeping posts at ODR to just one per week while saving some specific images into holding files for future consideration and completion. Still, every new idea comes much more slowly while passing through that prism of decision. So, here's a piece that firmly belongs in The Outer Dust Rings, but I like it so much, I prefer to put it here...and now for something completely different. I'm off to a breakfast tea. Ta!

I'm Late! I'm Late! -

"Blind Side"
block-relief print (state proof) by Mick Mather

The end of one long work week hasn't quite arrived. I have the duty at a local art gallery this evening, so my day won't end until 8:00pm. This is not a complaint, mind you, but surely a handy excuse for another hit & run post tonight. I haven't shown much of my old school, block-relief printmaking in quite a while so have a peek at one of my own personal favorite pieces. For those of you who are used to seeing an Illustration Friday image at this point in the week, I uploaded that image at my other blog: Outer Dust Rings. If I'm not right here when you get back, I'll be at The Westcott Community Center Art Gallery and then to OHM for a cocktail or two. Ta!

Something simple -

"Take Me To The River"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Something fast and easy for the Easter Weekend that's named after the classic song by Al Green. I have a story for this image too, but couldn't quite get to it, and had hopes of posting it at my Outer Dust Rings blog. Participation there is requested if you want to have a peek...oh, feel free to write me something for tonight's post after doing just that.

Thursday Challenge: Colorful -

"Colorful"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

This title of this evenings post is the theme at Thursday Challenge this week. I knew that I had a handful of photographs that would quite likely be usable, and yet, I began messing about with a failed photo that was almost totally black save for the red spot. Primary red at that - so, I went about tweaking and lightening and brightening and layering and filtering and...phew! This is what happened by the end of the process. As the piece developed, a number of other versions, equally satisfying but less colorful, were created. One of these alternate images can be seen at my newest blog, a collaborative, sci-fi creation of an imaginary world known as the Outer Dust Rings.