Thursday Challenge: Construction -

"Birdhouse XXIII"
manipulated digital photograph & digital collage

"... the road to success is always under construction ..."
- Lily Tomlin

Illustration Friday: Caged -

"Birdcage XXII"
digital drawing & collage by Mick Mather

"... we think caged birds sing, when indeed they cry ..."
- John Webster

Thursday Challenge: Home -

"Birdhouse XXI"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

"... every house where love abides
and friendship is a guest,
is surely home, and home sweet home,
for there the heart can rest ..."
- Henry Van Dyke

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse XX"
digital drawing by Mick Mather

"... you can cage the singer but not the song ..."
- Harry Belafonte

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse XIX"
manipulated digital drawing & collage by Mick Mather

"... what bird so sings, yet so does wail,
O 'tis the ravished nightingale,
jug, jug, jug, jug, tereu, she cries,
and still her woes at midnight rise ..."
- John Lily

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse XVII"
digitally manipulated fractal flame collage by Mick Mather

I haven't posted much from this series in a while. While working on one of the new pieces to be included in the upcoming Disintegration Collaboration Project reveal on August 1st, it occurred to me that I ought to put this one up. In addition, I dedicate this one to Lisa Sarsfield.

At the eleventh hour, I've decide to add this to Thursday Challenge, theme this week is earth, even though it's not a photograph.

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse XVI"
manipulated digital drawing by Mick Mather

This body of work continues to grow slowly these days. I've had this piece, quite unfinished mind you, in a file for some time now. This week's comment exchanges with Lisa Sarsfield gave me a bit of a nudge though and this morning I got back to it and finished things up. For now, I'm off to get a handle on a few other projects while I still have a nice day to work outside ... we'll chat later!

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse XV"
manipulated digital drawing by Mick Mather

I feel like I've been neglecting this particular series recently. I do enjoy creating them and now that I've completed this last one in the documentation files, perhaps it's time to get busy and do a few more. I'm sure I will, but not right away, the meeting schedule has fired up again and I'm already going to be out a few nights this week. Later ... I have a committee meeting to get to.

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse XI"

manipulated digital drawing by Mick Mather

Since hanging this series at The Weiskotten Gallery at the beginning of July, the impetus to add new work has ebbed a little bit. I haven't painted anything new for The Toys Series in about 3 weeks either so I'm happy to get back to these whimsical pieces. I think about them quite often, in particular regarding some way to market these for sale while figuring out how to give some of them away. Ideas are whirling about in my head and something is likely to come of all this sometime in the not too distant future.

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse X"
digitally manipulated drawing & collage by Mick Mather

I'm still playing catch-up from the long weekend. To sooth my just-about-shattered nerves, I thought I'd fiddle around with a new piece for The Birdhouse Series. Here you have it and do excuse another hit 'n run post this evening ... it couldn't be helped.

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse IX"
digitally manipulated drawing by Mick Mather

To celebrate the hanging of images 1 thru 8 in The Birdhouse Series I thought I might post this newly created image. Eleven works from The Toys Series were also hung today at The Weiskotten Gallery and I have to admit that the show looks bright and happy. Just right for the beginning of summer! I should also like you to make a note that I've posted an alternate version of this at my other blog, No Matter What Shape - The Archive. Have a peek if you're interested, I'm on my way out to have a little Irish Whiskey along with a few glasses of red wine as a chaser.

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse VIII"
manipulated digital drawing by Mick Mather

As I mentioned yesterday, this is a hit and run post. I have a late meeting and a date for a few cocktails so, before dashing off to accomplish both of those important tasks, allow me to say, "hello, I must be going!"

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse VI"
manipulated digital drawing by Mick Mather

I'm in the home stretch with the work slated to go on exhibition at The Weiskotten Gallery for the month of July. I'd like to get at least two more images produced for this series but feel that I'm pushing it. Since I need to assemble the disk that goes to the printer by tomorrow, I'm uncertain that said pieces will be forthcoming. One never knows and I do have the last completed birdhouse slated to go up tomorrow. I have a late meeting and might just as well warn you now that it will be a hit and run post. As I keep saying, can't stop to chat longer, back to work!

NEW from The Toys Series -

"Top"
digitally manipulated tempera-on-paper painting by Mick Mather

Just finishing up what I can in preparation for getting images to Community Darkrooms for reproduction on their beautiful, industrial, ink jet printers. If all goes well, I'll have ten each from this series and The Birdhouse Series. Just like yesterday, I'm off! Back to the drawing board.

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse VII"
digitally manipulated drawing by Mick Mather

As I get closer to assembling the work for my upcoming exhibition I find that I need a few more images in the two series of work that I want to present. I believe I have enough work for The Toys Series but am a few pieces short with this one, The Birdhouse Series. I'm afraid that a flurry of concerted effort and activity is the only way to go about accomplishing the task. So, I've stopped to chat too long already, back to work!

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse V"
digitally manipulated mixed media & drawing on paper by Mick Mather

It was close to a 12-hour day at the office and I'm beat to my socks. Yesterday, fortunately for me, I was playing around with a coffee stained piece of paper covered with notes (names, phone numbers and the like) in various colored inks; ball point pens for the most part. That particular stained paper is the precursor to another series that I may begin showing at some point. There's a lot of preparatory work to be done and it may or may not be soon, but I digress. After scanning, resizing, layering and manipulating, out popped another birdhouse! Yeah, hard to believe but, I swear, it's true!

NEW from The Birdhouse Series -

"Birdhouse II"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather
- original photograph by Lelainia N. Lloyd -

As I mentioned last week, here's the second image from a new group of work now known as The Birdhouse Series. I suppose that spring is a fitting time for such an auspicious beginning and, once again, my many thanks to Lelainia N. Lloyd at Tattered Edge for allowing me to manipulate a beuatiful photograph of one of her own birdhouses. This is a radical treatment come to that and here's a link to the original at No Matter What Shape - The Archive just to give you an idea of what that means. :)

For the birds -

"Birdhouse I"
digitally manipulated fractal flame by Mick Mather

A new series seems to be emerging from The Secret Visual Laboratory. The key word here is emerging, and decidedly so, since the original idea has been quite a long time in development. It started not quite 2 years ago in British Columbia with a marvelous photograph of a birdhouse by Lelainia N. Lloyd who has an equally marvelous blog called Tattered Edge. I fell in love with that image and wasted no time requesting permission to fiddle about with it. Anyway, this birdhouse is not a manipulation of Lelainia's birdhouse, but it's due to follow along in short order I believe. Keep a birds eye open for it, okay?