Woolf

Woolf

This design has a nice place in my heart. Sometimes I doubt if what I do is really art. I read a comment recently, on a video I watched on youtube. Someone said that when an artist takes a photo and alters it, it is stealing and not real art. I have a question… what is art? I bet every single person I ask that question to will have a different answer.

It doesn’t matter the medium or the tools to create art. Art is pure emotion expressed visually or mentally. If you take a photo, and explore more color with multiple blends, shapes and emotions, then you arrive at a different location. Different then what the starting photo appeared to be. You experienced a moment in time that made you become more daring and adventurous. No one has created that piece of art you made. It’s a perspective that hasn’t been seen before. There are hundreds of portraits of celebrities throughout the world. Made with different mediums such as watercolor, pastels, acrylic, pencil, and many more. An artist can trace a photo with a pencil and develop more color with paint. Or… an artist can take that photo and digitally develop it in a program. The source of inspiration is still the same. Both artists arrive at different place compared to where they were at the beginning. Both artists felt inspired to create something different from one photo.

The only way I see using a photo is wrong is when there are copyright right issues but the same principle applies when drawing a photo of a celebrity that doesn’t wish for their work to be shown in that manner. You can’t make a profit on any piece of art you create for any celebrity unless you have constent from the celebrity. There are copyright right issues regardless of the medium you express your art. What if I used a photo of me, is there a copyright issue? No… Is it stealing? No… I take a picture of a traditional sketch I made and go nuts with it on Paintshop. I took the photo and it’s my copyright. I think what I do is consider art. How is that no different than a trace drawing and adding more color with paint? Instead of using my hands to create the outline, I am using a photo. Since it’s my photo there are no copyright issues. So doesn’t that apply to a photo that is on a free domain, that has no copyright issues? Is it not art that I drew an outline of a photo and created something completely different from the original. Many artists do this! They use the photo as an outline and then add their own spin with their medium of choice. Is it not art because I used that photo and made something drastically different in Paintshop? I am on the same ground as someone who is tracing a photo or using a photo as inspiration, or in any other means.

At the end of the day, I go by this example. Fountain by Marcel Duchamp is considered a piece of art. It’s a urinal bought from a supply store. The only thing Dechamp did was rotate the piece and wrote R. Mutt 1917. Two steps created a critically acclaimed piece of art. Is it not art because he bought the main piece from a supply store? Should he have made the urinal himself first before writing R.Mutt 1917?

If you’re within copyright laws and create a piece of art that took you time to create then it’s art. Medium is an expression, not a definition of what is art. Dechamp bought the urinal and was in his right to call it art when altering it.

Well.. this is all my opinion. You can say I’m wrong and what I do is not art but if you take any photo that has no copyright and create something new from it, it’s not stealing. That means, I would be stealing from myself whenever I take a photo of a drawing I made and use Paintshop to create a completely different look. If you are within copyright guidelines, you are fine to take a journey with a photo. If not… regardless of medium, you are going to get in trouble.

Color has no boundaries.

You know… I would love to create my own program. Have it do all sorts of crazy stuff. Geometric effects, texture effects, something very similar to Paintshop but with more effects. Now… if I took a picture of me and used a program I created is that not real art because I didn’t use a paintbrush on a canvas? My tools are the keyboard, computer screen, and my program. I direct color. I can have it go in any direction. It’s up to me to know how my art looks. It’s the same as someone who uses a paintbrush. I use pencil too. Every pattern makes a difference on where I go in Paintshop. I’m using my hand to create every single action on the computer. These designs don’t create themselves. Every artist is a conductor with color.

Every design I made has taken me on a journey. Creating music videos gives me a chance to be on that ride with color as an observer. I see color in motion. I fall in love, over and over again. Color is amazing. It’s more than just a medium or what tools you create your work. You have to feel the connection. You have to become one with color to explore color. It’s infinite. It’s a part of everything. When connecting color with music, I feel it’s true bliss. It pulls me into every emotion I felt while making the design. It also takes me on a crazy ride because certain colors express emotion. Instant reactions… and in motion, it feels like your subconsciousness is on a mission to explore and feel each shade of color on the screen. How does color have a label when it comes to expression? Art is color. Art is emotion. Art is emotion expressing itself through you.

Anyway… I hope you enjoy Woolf. This design definitely took me in a different direction with color. I haven’t used brown and gray this way before. I created a smoky effect that I really like. I always wanted to go down this road. Using pastel colors, especially brown and white is a challenge for me. There’s a version that I love that looks like watercolor. I added lots of effects and colors and I’m really happy it the end result. Watercolor is my favorite medium. I can look at watercolor paintings for hours. However… I do love working with pencil. After I started processing the video, I went back to work on Woolf again. I wanted to add a small shadow effect. Something that shows the abstract side of me. I used one of the final versions and played around with it until I created a sweet effect with Virginia’s face. If you like the video, please look at the original. It’s slightly different from the video.

Katherine