Making Memories

From early childhood in the 50s till now, I have always had an unabiding love for making and preserving images through the visual arts.  Whether photographed explicitly or drawn in great detail, few things reproduced exactly look as great as we remember them.  When we are in a place, or seeing someone, we see with all of our senses.  We can feel the wind blowing on our face, smell the spring flowers, hear children playing in the distances and the array of other stimuli that a picture simply cannot capture.

This is where art comes in.  Whether a professional painter, photographer, illustrator or other artist, the goal is to stimulate your imagination sufficiently to make you feel the work.  Adding a texture to a photograph, emphasising the center of interest in unique ways, creating an illusion of movement, putting people or animals in the scene and many more techniques are used by professional artists to enhance the feeling the artist wishes you to experience.  Color, lack of color, contrasting values, shadow and light, and the like, all move toward treating you to the visual experience you expect when viewing the work of a professional.

Have you ever sat and wondered why the works of the Old Masters and works of more Modern Masters from Norman Rockwell to Robert Wade are so very inviting.  It is because their works elicit emotion and stimulate the imagination.  They take you places you have never been and make you feel their experiences of having been there.

Luckily, I have lived long enough to have seen the world’s outlook on art and artists change.  I remember in my portrait and event photography days slaving over a negative with a magnifier trying to retouch a child’s portrait, or working with sepia prints and transparent oil paints to enhance the image of a loved one.  Now, most of those tasks can be done quickly in Photoshop or some other program.

Some say this is a bad thing.  They claim the use of modern methods has in someway reduced the integrity of the work.  I leave everyone to their own point of view, but I personally believe modern methods are as valid an artform as any forms before them.  There is no harm in loving the traditional and grasping the modern.

If we look at the mere history of art, we see art changing throughout history.  Each new style or school of thought led to new and improved methods and fostered the genres of work we all know and love.

Having said all of this, there are great accomplished artists that display and promote their works on the internet.  The fact is, in this day and time the artist must have a presence on the web, through websites and social media to be found.  I find it intriguing each morning to sit at my computer for a short while and search through the various artists’  websites and view their beautiful creations.  It is like having an art gallery available 24/7 and the creations of these talented individuals are there to stimulate your imagination, bring back memories, calm and relax you or simply for your enjoyment.

Thank you for your kind indulgence and please support the art of your favorite artists.

Photoshop Tips and Tricks Using Textures, Blend Modes and Topaz Impressions

In today’s world, Adobe Photoshop and other products used to enhance photography and works of art are an essential tool.  Most of this powerful software has so many features, if you are a user, you are continuously amazed at the features you discover and the effects you can obtain.  All visual artists are in reality entertainers, and these products allow you to put on a heck of a show.

The use of modern tools to enhance photography or produce traditional art without potential systemic effects from toxins in the medium has become a popular way to produce art and makes selling art simpler in our computerized world of online art sales.  Rather than produce prints from a photograph of their work, artist can now create their work on a computer with the original being a digital file. Each person that buys the art is buying the original output of the artist.  It is still a print, but print number one and print number five hundred will be essentially the same, with no loss of visual integrity.

This tutorial is basically an experimentation with some of the effects that can be obtained in Photoshop using layers, blend modes, textures and Topaz Impressions.  I hope you enjoy and the information is helpful.

Note:  This article is intended to discuss modern methods of enhancing photography and creating digital paintings and art.  I was and still am a traditional artist, often using paints and brushes to produce my work.  I applaud the talents of all artist regardless their choice of mediums.  This article’s focus is on a specific artform and the tools that might assist artist using them or wanting to try their hand at digital art as a medium.

Turn Historical and Personal PDF Documents into Art in Photoshop

Recently, some of my photography and art friends that use Photoshop have asked how to take PDF Files and turn them into Wall Art. Many of the public domain historical documents such as patents are available, but only in PDF, not Jpeg or Tiff. PDFs and Photoshop often do not play nice together, but they can be brought into photoshop, copied and pasted into a new document as a layer. This video gives the rather simple step by step process to make this happen.

 

Valentine's Day Special Discount

Valentine’s Day is that special time when you get to tell that special someone how much you care.  One of the best ways to do that is with art.  Art can provide the person you love with a lifetime of joy and each time they look at it, it will be you they are thinking about.

I know that Valentine’s Day comes shortly after the expense of Christmas and during the middle of Income Tax Season.  As a result, I am slashing the prices of my artwork in half.  All you have to do to receive a 50% discount on any of my published works on Fine Art America or my host Website http://barry-jones.artistwebsites.com is to use the following code at Checkout:

VAUFXK

This code applies to my portion of the price.  Since all orders are carefully fulfilled by Fine Art America/Pixels.com I cannot offer a discount for their portion of the price, which includes printing and accessories.  Regardless, this is an exceptional discount and applies to all of my art including Patent Prints.  Please take a few minutes to browse my galleries.  Out of the more than  1400 Prints available you are sure to find just the right Item for that special person. 

The Restoration of History

Patent Art

Patents are great for letting you know where society has been and where it is going. Browsing through the Patent Records you find the most interesting things, especially the older records. I enjoy putting in a number and just keep adding ones to see what followed. Since ancient times man has been inventive. Fire, the wheel, methods of building, society itself, all started out as thoughts, some collaborative and others singular. Regardless, patents lead us from the past to the future, from the light bulb to computers and beyond.

Unlike most of my art and photography on this site, patent images and some images produced by the Hubble Space Telescope are produced by government agencies and therefore are not subject to specific copyrights unless otherwise stated in the documents. They fall into the same category as older works without copyright. They are in the public domain and as United States Taxpayers, we are able to use those images, reproduce them and sell them. If sold, the Government gets its royalties through the income taxes generated. Although anyone can easily obtain public domain images from the various governmental agencies and other sources and use them in any manner they choose, many of the document copies and/or photographs are in very bad shape when downloaded. What I and others that sell patent art do is retouch and restore the original document as much as possible without compromising its integrity and place it on a background that provides a unique visual experience that does not detract from the historical and nostalgic significance of the original image.

If you choose one of my patent creations, rest assured that other than the image, the background, placement, and digital restoration of the original document is performed by me. The images are aesthetically pleasing. They cover a diverse range of subject matter and are excellent interior design works for home or office walls. At the resolution provided Fine Art America, most prints can be made up to 45 X 60 inch sizes. Check Out my Patent art at http://barry-jones.artistwebsites.com/art/all/public+domain+images/all?page=2

 Thank you for your interest in my work,

 Barry

 

Fall is in the Air

The temperature is dropping, the days are crisp and clean, leaves are changing to their fall colors and it is a landscape photographers dream time. As a visual artist, I always love Fall. During the Autumn months, I spend much of my time driving the countryside looking for interesting shots or subjects for paintings. I thought I would share with you some of my recent works and hope that you will visit my website to check out my work and galleries. BTW, Boo, afterall, Friday is Halloween! Thanks for looking, Barry

 

Capturing Moments

This is a video slide show of some of my coastal photography and art.  I have thrown in a couple of mountain scenes for balance.  I sincerely hope you like this and please visit my website and my Art Site.

You Can Now Shop My Art Here-Convenient and Easy

Thank you so much for taking time to view my blog.  You can now shop for art directly from this blog.  Just click on any image and a complete shopping experience will appear.