Let me tell what you've won! -

"A Brand New Car"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Once again I was just fooling around with the digital drawing program, an old car and the super secret array over at the Secret Visual Laboratory. After tumbling dry, here we have it. :)

Freewheeling -

"Cattails Separating Two Roads to Nowhere"
fractal flame collage & digital drawing by Mick Mather

Today's post began with an old fractal flame that was loaded into my favorite digital drawing software to add some lines and shapes while employing a bit of manipulation-born trickery. Once satisfied with the collaged fractal and digital drawing, into the super secret array it went. I have to admit that I've been less than inspired lately and have gone back to a favorite method of working through such a slump - add something/anything to the blank, white canvas and toss abandon to the wind! I rather like the way this turned out.

From beginning to end -

"Lamp & Glasses"
digitally manipulated drawing by Mick Mather

I was going through some old sketchbooks as the winter past was edging toward spring. I show the original 1994 sketch here at No Matter What Shape-The Archive with a bit of insight as regards this particular period of study and effort. What you see here is the manipulated version. Yes, after shoving it through the super secret array at the Secret Visual Laboratory.

NEW from The Mister Existence Series -

"Sister Existence Realigns Divergent Parallel Universes"
digitally manipulated collage & digital drawing by Mick Mather

Once again I was puttering around in the secret visual laboratory with a number of new ideas that have been spinning 'round in my head. Pretty soon a digital drawing was created, layered over a digital collage and sent through the super secret array another time. By now my wild imagination is off into the field of quantum mechanics, parallel universes, Hugh Everett's relative state formulation and that darned cat ... Schroedinger's to be clear. Anyway, our good sister, convinced that she alone is the unifying center, is busy with realignment.

Looking further back -

"Kate in the Background"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Whenever I look at photographs with the intention of creating a collage, the background, more often than not, is what I find more interesting. Such is the case here with the added benefit being that the multi-layered, finished product resembles two dear friends of mine ... ahhh, the wonders of the super secret array! :)

Boo!

"A Ghostly Procession"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Sometimes when working on a piece, as it steps through the paces in the super secret array, everything goes phooey. Usually that's not such a good thing but in today's post, well, it works for me just fine. Now, let me see, turn the infinity interlocutor up a notch and full throttle on the combobulator dissonance ratio and ... :O

Say "Cheese!" -

"Photo Op With the Guest Speaker"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I've been playing quite a bit this last week. Tossing images around quickly, cutting and pasting with minimal softening, blending or repainting before running it through the super secret array. Todays post has been nagging at me a bit, demanding to be finished ... so, here it is.

The BIG back yard and then some -

"Kings Court Walk I"
digital collage by Mick Mather

One of the things that struck me while running a set of topographic maps and satellite views of "the BIG back yard" through the super secret array here at the Secret Visual Laboratory is the way it all began to resemble walking trails. It also prompted me to take further notice of a walk to plan, in early spring, around that bright, green shape at the top. In reality, this is a small pond nestled into an area bounded by a commercial development site, I-695 and railroad tracks operated by the Finger Lakes Railway. I'd do it today if I had a pair of snowshoes but, no matter, you may be able to see documentation of the Milton Slough Walk in 3 or 4 months.

While I was out walking, again -

"All That I Survey"
manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

I've set myself to the task of scanning all of my old photographs that were taken with film using my trusty, old and beloved cameras: a Petrie 35mm fixed lens beauty purchased in the late 1960's and a rather modern (at the time) Canon Z115 with automatic zoom and lots of bells and whistles. While pleasantly occupied I came across some of the documentation of Greymoor Walk along with a number of other treks, that I was never certain how to apply to that task beyond matted and framed prints. With all of the technology that I have at my fingertips today, the process of creative interpretation is now as simple as the decision to press on. It's funny though, as I run things through the super secret array here at the Secret Visual Laboratory, I find myself dwelling on drawings and block-relief printmaking for some of the work. Who knew?

Let your fingers do the walking -

"Base Camp"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I was just fooling around with a few of the really old files the other day and decided to give this piece another run through the super secret array. It hails from 2006 as an incomplete part of The Maps Series. Currently, some of my reading and research has uncovered a virtual trail or two, hence the digital introduction to the post. With that in mind, the further work accomplished here seems right, finally, and rife with double entendre.

Drawing With Leighlund Series -

"Leighlund's Christmas Goose"
manipulated digital drawing by Mick Mather
- original drawing by Leighlund Ruth Vincett -

Earlier this week, Tuesday to be exact, I posted a beautiful piece of land art created by my middle granddaughter, Paige. Well, you know how it is, you can't post one without representing the other so, here's another piece from the Drawing With Leighlund Series. To catch you up, and for newcomers, this series begins with one of Leighlund's delightful, scribbly drawings and then comes to Poppa for a run through the super secret array at the Secret Visual laboratory. This one reminds me of a fat, Christmas goose taking flight.

One more crazy week -

"In A Hong Kong Umbrella Factory"
manipulated digital drawing by Mick Mather

Even though it appears that I'm facing another grueling week at the office I'm finally able to step back a little bit and have some fun. Today's post came out of an old digital drawing that's been hidden away in a file with no plans to go further. I hauled it out for fun and started running it through the super secret array here at the Secret Digital Laboratory. Well, must dash, I have meeting after meeting today and another this evening.

'Cause we're goin' out tonight -

"Put on Your Red Dress, Baby"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I'm still reminiscing and reviewing old files. Today's post was among them and, although not used at the time, deserving of another run through the super secret array in the Secret Visual Laboratory. That said, this is the eve of a traditional holiday, Thanksgiving, and I expect the jazz bars will be jumping ... see you down at the shake shack, yes?

Wallpaper? Shower curtain? Kimono pattern? -

"West to East"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

It was something that one of The Finnish Sisters said, Susupetal to be exact, that got me to thinking about things with a taste of the orient in the recipe. As I pressed the original photograph into and through the super secret array at the Secret Visual Laboratory, things began to take on the proper flavor and so, here you have it.

One thing leads to another -

"The Cave of Ali Baba"
manipulated fractal flame collage by Mick Mather

I was just horsing around to tell the complete truth. Layering a few fractals and then running the result through the super secret array here at the Secret Visual Laboratory. After an hour or so the idea of a cave began to assert itself and I was quickly drawn to the tale of Ali Baba. Quite simple really, in the connectivity of thought at least.

Out of the blue -

"Take Me to the River"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I was just hanging around the studio, playing and minding my own business when up jumps the devil! Well, not exactly, more at, what jumped up is this particular piece. As I was saying, I was playing around, deconstructing things, doing a bit of addition and subtraction before tossing everything into the super secret array. The plug-in filters and manipulators made quick work of it all and, hang onto your hat, gave me two very different images from the same base layers! I'll show the other soon enough ... a few meetings and long days at the office are right 'round the corner. Anyway, work that just falls together, as if appearing out of nothing, is the breaking news of the day. :)