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Abstract Art Who would have guessed

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Abstract Art  Who would have guessed

Season's Greetings All!

As my journey through photography continues I have expanded my interests to include a different venue of creativity that I call 'photographic art." It is an art process whereby I've used my photographs as a base and made various digital alterations, additions, enhancements to create a work I'd be proud to display in my home and which I also display in my online gallery. Thankfully, though I continue to view myself as a photographer, these artforms have been well received by my peers and colleagues and by my viewing audience and customers and have become a significant branch of my portfolio. So then, and I suppose it is only natural, as I have explored this relatively new aspect of my work I have also pushed my personal envelope into what I can only refer to as abstract art.

Once I took stock of the number of abstract artworks that are present in my online portfolio, it seemed appropriate to gather them in a new Gallery of my portfolio named, naturally, Abstract Art. Here are examples of what you will find when you visit this gallery.

First are a couple of images that are "realistic" abstracts. These are each based on a photograph providing a setting that is recognizable but textures, and/or colors and lighting are present to create mood and promote expression at an emotional and sensory level.

Time Travel
 photo jacksonville201503-526da_2.jpg

"Time Travel" was taken looking out from the Timucuan Preserve in Florida to the St. Johns River which is close to Jacksonville. The sense of history and envisioning another time was very real to the visitor. The texture and coloring conveys that sense to the viewer. By the way, since our oldest son, daughter-in-law and two of our Grandkids live in Jacksonville we visit there a lot. The area around Jacksonville is replete with history and photo ops!

Aurora Borealis Over Florida
 photo Jacksonville20141106-2120da.jpg

"Aurora Borealis Over Florida" is also from an image taken near Jacksonville, Florida. The area is Big Talbot Island State Park at a beach called "Boneyard Beach." This is a fun piece based on what I thought was a clever what-if. What would the Aurora Borealis look like over Florida, a fantasy event for sure! Well, later I spoke to an old time Floridian and was told that the Aurora Borealis was actually seen in Florida at least once. Who knew?

Now let's look at a couple of "pure" abstracts. They don't show concrete images but use shapes, textures, and/or colors to convey feelings, impressions or sense of a message or theme. In my usage, I still like to guide the impressions of the viewer with comments alongside the image.

Feverish
 photo Smoke-2da2.jpg

I have to admit, this one I created without knowing what I wanted to convey. I did have an idea how I wanted it to look, and after working with the image in several digital programs, this resulted. Then after studying it I felt it showed a number of images or faces as if by some kind of stream of consciousness. After my wife saw some additional forms I hadn't discerned, I realized this was one of those works that everyone will perceive in their own way. Research turned up a process that I felt fit what I saw...phantasmagoria. You know, ..."a fantastic sequence of haphazardly associative imagery, as seen in dreams or fever." :) What a fun and a very satisfying creative process!

For the last example I'll show a before and after.

Before:
 photo Marathon20130428-352-Edit_2.jpg

After:
Rabbit Hole
 photo Spiral-2da.jpg

And thus Alice's Rabbit Hole was born! It is hard to believe that one image came from the other!

To see all the images in the Abstract Art Gallery click on this link: Abstract Art.

Enjoy!

I will be producing blogs on a regular basis, so until my next blog update I wish you all the best and be sure to visit some place beautiful. It will do you good!

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