Sunday, May 23, 2010

jtCanvas again


A couple of digital prints arrive for framing. 

The Bourbon Street accordian player is printed on archival quality paper. The Santa Fe flamenco dancer is printed on canvas.

Both images started as low-resolution, single-frame video captures.

Pumpkin, of YouTube fame (see the May 17 article), observes from a chair.

jtCanvas


jtCanvas is one of my recent projects, a growing collection of original digital paintings output to canvas. I'm working on a series of Southwestern, Shakespearean, and contemporary images. And just about anything else that doesn't fall into those categories.

One of the digital painting techniques I've been exploring involves starting with a single frame capture from video footage, then enlarging and manipulating the low-resolution image into a large image printed on canvas.

While in Granada, Nicaragua, with a pal JohnG, I shot a hasty few seconds of video of a papaya vendor walking down the street of the barrio (singing doo wah diddy diddy dum diddy doo... oops, wrong blog). I cropped in close on the subject, enlarged the size and resolution of the image, then sent the image through multiple painting sessions in Corel Painter software, and also through multiple modifications in Photoshop. The final canvas is 40 x 30 inches.

Cropped version of original video frame.

Final canvas

Friday, May 21, 2010

Design Awards for The Shakespeare Papers

The Shakespeare Papers (our bimonthly edition of Shakespearean tidbits, insights, and design) have recently been recognized for design excellence by two different design competitions: The Davey Awards and The 2nd Annual AIGA New Mexico Showdown (AIGA is a national professional designers organization).
You'll find more information about The Shakespeare Papers (and how to subscribe) at www.TheShakespearePapers.com.

The Davey Awards (International juried design competition)

AIGA New Mexico (regional juried design competition). Both volumes I (2008) and II (2009) were recognized for design excellence. 

Samples of The Shakespeare Papers. Six issues per year, each issue is a unique design approach.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Update on Pumpkin's YouTube Fame

Admittedly, 100,000 + hits on a video is not so much by some YouTube standards, but also not too shabby for a MaltiPoo.




Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Side Straddle Hops

Time to do some blogging stretches and warmups, get back in blogging shape.

Lot's of stuff happens around here that doesn't get documented or archived if I don't blog about it. The day is probably coming when I'll need this blog to remember things that happened. For example, if I'd been blogging while in high school, I might have a better recollection of that alien abduction incident.

But for now, some Blog Side Straddle Hops (short blogs) that help blog slackers avoid torn blog muscles when they start blogging again after an extended blog layoff.

I've been working on jtcanvas, a collection of original, digital paintings that are printed to canvas. The collection includes various series of landscapes, Southwestern themes, contemporary pieces, and images inspired by the plays and sonnets attributed to the man named William Shakespeare.

I've published a 44-page book of some of the canvases that I can take to galleries (below).

Updates on jtcanvas later.

Cordelia

pages 32-33: Tamora (30x24).jpg

pages 42-43: Psychedelic Cabernet (24x30).jpg

pages 16-17: Egyptian stairs (24x40).jpg

pages 6-7: A picasso-pollock-influence thing (40x30).jpg