more practice with the iPad

A. Degas, National Gallery #3 (2011), a photo by kelise72 on Flickr.

Size: variable
Media: digital (using Painting Pad for iPad)

Comparing Painting Pad vs Inspire Pro:

Painting Pad has quite a variety of mark-making implements (pencil, paint, felt-tip pen, marker, stickers) as well as different background papers.

Inspire Pro has only "paint" (no pencil or other marks) BUT you can change the size of the "brush", and can define the colour quite precisely on a colour wheel.

On both apps, you can select an image (e.g., jpg) to paint on (as a background).

Given the variety of marks, Painting Pad app is a bit more difficult to "paint" with than Inspire Pro...there is no blending feature in PP as there is in IP, so the painting feature really looks really "digital" and "singular". With IP the painting and the blending both are a little more painterly, while in PP the painting and drawing both are simply marks over top of another.

So for "painting", I prefer Inspire Pro and for "drawing" I prefer Painting Pad.

Digital. Art?

a. Monet, National Gallery #2 (2011), a photo by kelise72 on Flickr.

Yesterday I plonked myself in front of Monet's "water lillies" (Room 43, National Gallery, London), iPad and Nomad brush in hand, and had a go at copying a couple of the paintings...

First a word on the experience of painting with an electronic device -- not as easy as one might think to "get it just right". I mean, the app I used (inspire pro for iPad) *was* quite simple and easy to use...but it took a few tries to get the knack of desired mark-making, blending, loading the brush with colour, etc.

So above is my first try... I think it's not quite great, but then as with everything, painting with an iPad will just take practice.

The best thing about the afternoon though was the FUN of it, and the FUN of sharing this experience with the other museum-goers. More than one kid (and adult alike) paused to watch what I was doing, comment to each other and even ask questions (about the iPad, the app, the Nomad brush).

I think Apple might be missing out on a marketing/sponsorship opportunity here? ;) Especially since there's an Apple store in Covent Garden... hmm...

Anyway... I'm further convinced that technology is firmly a part of my art practice... either within the source material/images, the sketchbook work, or the finished piece...

Using technology to assist the artist...

venus (2011), a photo by kelise72 on Flickr.

Here is a painting (from a set of 5) that is slated for my year-end assessment. (60 x 60 cm, oil on canvas).

For all the readings that can be made of this piece (it's about emotion, colour, faces, self-portrait or what-have-you), I think there's something just a little more that can be said... and it's about HOW the painting arrived to THIS particular point that interests me the most...

First of all, it *is* a self-portrait, of sorts. I took a photo of my own face as seen pressed up against a pane of glass... then I worked out the shapes and colours I wanted in my sketchbook... and finally sketched the shapes on a primed canvas, mixed up oil colours, applied paint to canvas with various brushes. And away I went, pretty normal stuff so far.

But after a couple of days, something wasn't quite working with the colours yet I felt near to the "done"...

I wasn't sure what to do next so I stepped back and I took a photo of the progress of the painting with the same camera phone as used for the original source photo, loaded up the photo in a little phone app called "Scribble" and tried various combinations of colours and lines... until I found something that WORKED.

Back to the canvas, mix up the new colour and in one more session I was DONE.

I think I found a new way of working that really WORKS when I'm "stuck". The final piece will be more-or-less "traditional" painting on canvas but getting there with a technological short-cut or two.

Hooray for Sony Ericsson Satio and Scribble! Thanks for the helping hand!