Who shot the Sherriff? -

"Fire Up On the High Road"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

Tonight's post is somewhat of an allegory. Change is an inevitable fact of life and, while not always bad, I'm feeling a bit beaten down this month. While things will work themselves out soon enough - for the better is always the hope - there aren't any guarantees that this will be the case. So, what to do? Fight the good fight, carry the burden and keep on keepin' on.

Moody Monday: Lonely -

"Lonely Is The Shuttered Heart"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
photograph by Mick Mather

I took this photograph last week and it seems to fit perfectly for the theme of lonely at Moody Monday. It always seems so desolate when a business closes its doors and that brown paper goes up and covers the windows. Eventually, even these makeshift shades will tear, stain, droop and sag, making the barren, bleakness within all the more melancholy.

Drawing With Leighlund Series -

"The Baby Picture"
digitally manipulated drawing by Mick Mather

- original drawing by Leighlund Ruth Vincett -

It's been a wonderful weekend - much of it spent photographing, drawing and painting with my granddaughter, Leighlund. Tonight's piece is from a collage with drawing that she originally made for me at Father's Day. Towards the bottom, quite faint, is a circle with two dots for the eyes and a line for the mouth as well as one very long, single hair on top of the head. I took that drawn element, biggered it, tucked it into my usual 400 X 270 pixel working frame and started running it through the filter array here at the secret visual laboratory. Since the paintings that we did today (also including one by my other granddaughter, Keisha) aren't dry, I haven't had an opportunity to scan them for posting ... I will one day soon. Same deal with the photographs taken by my daughter Lisa while the three artistes were hard at work. I did get a lovely little photo of Leighlund that can be seen here. :)

Still mucking about with disasters from yesterday!

"Another Full Moon"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I can't say that I don't doggedly pursue some of my work when it isn't working as well as I'd like since I most assuredly do and have written about it many time in the past. It's usually rare that I show the results within 24 hours. Be that as it may, tonight's post was not working at all for me while trying to get something ready for Illustration Friday yesterday (scroll down to see that post). It's been a very long day and I believe I'll leave the introduction simple for the moment. Enjoy!

Illustration Friday: Moon -

"Full Moon Festival"
digital collage by Mick Mather

With moon as the Illustration Friday theme for this week, I was drawn to this image. Originally destined for the Outer Dust Rings, I've struggled for many an evening here at the secret visual laboratory but never did quite get it to fit. Lucky for me I suppose since nothing else I've tried this evening has panned out. Anyway, it's been languishing in a development file for months, hauled out from time to time for a bit more work, and I'm pleased to finally be able to post it.

Thursday Challenge: Food -

"Daily Bread"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
photograph by Mick Mather

The weekly theme at Thursday Challenge this time out is food. I had just gone around with the camera a few days ago and got more than a few shots that could qualify here. What I particularly enjoyed about this one is the way the reflections in the glass turned out under the conditions at the time. Except for a bit of cropping, there is no manipulation used here...it came straight from the camera to this daily post. Funny, it looks just like the sort of shenanigans that I'm usually up to! :D

Crazy Ivan -

"Two Women"
digitally manipulated torn paper collage

In Tom Clancy's novel, "The Hunt For Red October", there comes a point where Jack Ryan asks if the Russian Captain has pulled a Crazy Ivan yet. In military gamesmanship, this refers to a sudden 90-degree turn meant to discover and discourage another submarine from being a successful shadow. As it turns out, I did a Crazy Ivan of my own last night when I spotted some scraps of torn newspaper in the recycling bin - left over while clipping out a recent article in the local papers regarding the Totem Project in downtown Syracuse. Anyway, they were begging to be tossed onto the scanner bed and then run through the usual array here at the secret visual laboratory. It was fun, relaxing and it is what it is. It also happens to be exactly what I needed at that moment.

"If I Had A Box Just For Wishes" -

"Lissa's Most Fabulous Birthday"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

Great gal pal and sometimes collaborator, Melissa Morgan, is having a birthday today. No, we can't say how many but, trust me, when the spanking begins its gonna be a few whacks! As I worked on this piece the lyrics to an old Jim Croce song, "Time In A Bottle", kept racing 'round my head. There are only a few people in a lifetime that can make one feel this way and I've been lucky enough to have met more than my fair share in mine. Cheers to ya and bottoms up! Oops, sorry, the spanking comes later! :)

Summer heat -

"Family Felidae"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Since the weekly theme at Moody Monday is feline I started looking at cats. Soon, it was an image of Catwoman that began to chase that ball of yarn comprising the creative side of my poor little pea brain. I took a left turn from the cartoon character into the much naughtier, and therefor much more fun, realm of our own female species that can be just as cat-like as any member of the Family Felidae. Oh yeah! :D

NEW from The Selfportrait Series -

"Selfportrait of the Artist at a Strip Joint"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I s'pose this is quite self-explanatory! As it happened, the Syracuse Nationals car show drew 75,000 people to the NYS Fair Grounds on Saturday. That's a daily draw equal to the Great New York State Fair itself and, well, didn't that get poor me started to thinking about the sweet midway attractions for the adult crowd. Goo'ness sakes!!! :D

Not quite a new series -

"Architecture of Her Fancy Step"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

Over the past two years I've had a few images brewing, waiting to see if a series developed. It's a simmering stew, come to that, and the jury is still out. Tentatively called "Architecture and the Modern Woman", at least two images for this possible series were previously posted. One from last year can be seen here and the first from around October of 2005 reposted here at No Matter What Shape - The Archive. For the moment, this new piece seems to fit into that body of work and the old wheels are spinning. However, it's a beautiful day for a wedding, or to attend the New York State Blues Festival, which is about to kick off in Downtown Syracuse at Clinton Square this weekend...dude, gimme a pork chop samwich and a bucket o' beer! :D

Illustration Friday: Poem -

"Empty"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage & poem by Mick Mather

It's not that I'm lacking in something new for this week's Illustration Friday theme - which is poem since they brought it up - closer at, it's the fact that I personally like this piece so much that I prefer to post it again. Not to worry, it's not like a TV re-run where, as often as not, the repeats begin with a show you saw less than a month before. No, the last time this piece was posted was sometime in 2005 and, to be fair, it was posted at my old blog host as opposed to this one. Anyway (talk about repeats!) I just plain ol' like this one...here 'tis!

Thursday Challenge: Beautiful -

"A Beautiful Summer Day"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Before I have to run - to the office and then to an art opening this evening - attention to a soothing and comfortable beach scape is at hand. Beautiful! This is the theme at Thursday Challenge this week and what could be more relaxing than a day filled with sun, sea and sand? Ahhh yes, a little bit of fluff to pretty it all up? Beautiful!

NEW from The Nightmare Series -

"Wailing Lament of the Banshee"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

According to legend, a banshee wails around a house if someone in the house is about to die. Celtic, Gaelic, Norse and other cultural legends have variations of things to say about these fairies, spirits or fallen angels. For this post, I leave it at the "wailing" for one about to pass as with a Keener who sings the lament at a traditional Irish wake. At the same time, I've given the visual a particularly gruesome treatment. There's plenty of the blarney in me, thanks to Clan Christie, but I don't ever recall hearing about the moan from any of my maternal grandmum's side of the family. Neither have I ever actually heard it myself at those times when the veil dropped to snatch away a loved one whose time had come.

More earth tones -

"Astonished By A Fall"
digital collage by Mick Mather

As today's post suggests, this seems to be the second day in a row that I've used these earthy hues. That aside, I've been using some old filters along with the new...just playing around and experimenting for the most part. This image was really a throw away, but as so often happens, it turned out fine. I'm off to hang an exhibition this afternoon and evening so, must dash.

Moody Monday: Observant -

"The Watchdog"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

For the theme of observant at Moody Monday this week I have this beautiful shot of my eldest nephews dog, Lexus. I got this one at the party my parents gave for friends, neighbors and family at their lakeside home - recently mentioned in Saturday's post. She was laying quietly, minding her own business, seemingly lost in her own thoughts, until the camera came out. At that point, ever observant, she looked directly into the camera while I took her portrait. The original wasn't really as classic as I let on and it needed work...you can see the original photo along with the practically untouched, cropped version here.

A NEW Series: Reinventing the Wheel -

"Reinventing the Wheel III"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital painting by Mick Mather

At those points in time where I feel beaten down, bereft of inspiration and certain that I can't go one step more, I go in another direction. This new series of digital paintings are further being planned to go full scale as actual paintings - created with brushes and paint. You can see the 1st in this series here and just the other day another appeared from practically nowhere. I'll show it sometime soon when I need to post and run...wait for it.

Off and away -

"The Estate Planner at the Crosshairs of Memory"

$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

My folks are having a party out at the lake and, as a dutiful son, it's where I'm off to as soon as I finish this. The piece itself was a difficult task and it gave me fits all morning. My better judgment keeps telling me to hold this for a while, but, I'm thinking now. Here tis! See you out at the lake. :)

NEW from The Nightmare Series -

"Not Fade Away"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

First, if you were expecting to see this week's addition to Illustration Friday, you can see it at my Outer Dust Rings blog. Now then, this week seemed to fly by, until today, which felt like it lasted a whole week! In fact, it was like a nightmare, so a new post to this series seems rather appropriate. In some ways the image is a metaphor, where current and upcoming changes along with the ability to weather the storm leaves one battered and bruised, but still here. Stay tuned.

Thursday Challenge: Garden -

"A Psychedelic Users Secret Garden"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

As always, although I haven't said so lately, Dale Hudjik's Thursday Challenge always offers a multiple of ideas with every theme. This week garden is the topic and I went with a rather straight (ahem) forward image of a chair next to a Spring garden. From there things began to twirl, ripple and melt...as they will for the serious user or unaware thrill seeker. The electric drip of pure color and sound flow, puddle and pool on their way to a trance state and the door to enlightenment. Dude, pass the kool aid! :D

Something from the playpen -

"Wooden Doll"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

I've had this image in a file for a month or so. It came to be during a period of extreme play while working with a new filter and at a time when I was being influenced a little bit by one of my favorite Finnish artists, Itkupilli. The stringy effect is a direct result of looking at so much of her work this year that I had to borrow the idea for at least one piece. Thanks, Kirsi! :)

NEW from The Chairs Series -

"At the Chinese Take-Out"
$50 unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

While waiting for an order of egg foo yung with a side of wanton soup I saw this chair in a new light, so to speak. It helped that the afternoon sun was stealing its way past the narrow blinds only to get lost in the gloom and shadows. After running the original photo through the usual array here at the Secret Visual Laboratory, the color scheme seen here began to amplify the lines and patterns. Variation and repetition enhanced by color if you will, turned this ordinary shot into something much more dramatic in my minds' eye.

Moody Monday: Ebullient -

"She Blew Me A Kiss"
digital collage by Mick Mather

The theme is ebullient at Moody Monday this week and, after researching the files, I settled upon this image of a flirtatious young lady blowing a kiss. What a lovely gesture and who couldn't do with a few dozen of these every day? I think I'll go lay down for a while and dream. In the middle of a hot summer day whose breeze is made not for cooling but for wishing, I hear the sweet refrain of Mama Cass singing ever so sweetly, "dream a little dream of me"? :)

NEW from The Making Faces Series -

"Lazy Eyed Susan"
digital collage by Mick Mather

It's a full day for me with little time to accomplish any work here at the Secret Visual Laboratory. I don't suppose that the passing thunderstorm, big boomers and lots of lightening as we speak, will do much by way of delay or cancellation of events. Since I need to get moving I'll leave you with this post and go hunt for the umbrella. :D

A funny thing happened on the way to the Lab -

"Reinventing the Wheel I"
$50 Unframed - LUCAS GALLERY
digital collage by Mick Mather

As I mentioned last week, I went on a binge of development work for another Totem Project proposal. While I was comfortably ensconced at the Secret Visual Laboratory with the mouse in one hand and a glass of Courvoissier, straight up, in the other, another series of works popped out. The piece you see here is destined to become a large painting...4' X 8' as I currently see it. I know, I know, I've talked about turning images into paintings before and the likelihood of it actually happening anytime soon is still as suspect as my good intentions. I thought you might like to see it and it stands alone as a digital print anyway - remember, most of my work can be purchased for $50 through Lucas Gallery Online.

Illustration Friday: Geeky -

"Selfportrait of the Artist as Archie's Geeky Pal"
digital collage by Mick Mather

While contemplating the Illustration Friday theme, this week it's geeky, I started thinking about it in historic terms. First in mind was a movie starring Tyrone Power as a circus sideshow attraction, "The Geek". Next I began researching the term and various images related to definitions found and somewhere along the way it struck me that one of the more famous geeks of American Pop Culture is a comic book character. Forsythe Pendleton Jones III by name alone qualifies for something quite deep in that neighborhood. Fondly remembered by his nickname, many who followed along in the Archie Comics Series well understood that "Jughead" was in fact a "cool geek" when all was said and done. While there may not be a cool breeze attached to myself in this satirical selfportrait, I sure did have a good time creating it! :D

Thursday Challenge: Time -

"Time for Contemplation"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

The theme at Thursday Challenge this week is time. This photograph has a number of meanings for me in this context, beginning with the subject, an acquaintance of many years. Then there's the exhibition where this was taken, a very time consuming event requiring the effort of dozens of people. Then, there's the time spent in contemplation of the work at hand, works produced by many artists over varying periods of time. Finally, there's the culture itself, having roots that centuries old, informing the work on display. Time? Yes indeed.

Born on the 4th of July -

"Trinity"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

I was going to post a simple birthday wish as I began working on this photograph. As often happens, other voices began speaking to me so I started taking notes. This photo is only a few weeks old as I write and when I clicked the shutter a question stuck in my mind, "when will I ever use an image like this?" The idea that I was so close to the 4th of July was nowhere in my conscious mind - that makes me thankful for the sub-conscious worker bee tirelessly toiling away in dark recesses. During the manipulation the metal posts in the background began looking like a terrific design for another sculpture for my Totem Project - look here if you haven't heard about this before. They were plain, simple, like a trio of stunted flagpoles and I was quite happy with the minimalism of it, especially since the three flags are the focal point. Once I hit full stride with filtering and layering, BAM! The more complex version seen here appeared and I'm just about ready to use this as my design sketch for another proposal. Now, what material to use? It's always something, isn't it?

It seems like Friday Night -

"Shimmer"
digital painting by Mick Mather

One of my projects over the past winter was transferring and re-saving all of my floppy files. With the 4th of July upon us, I decided to take a peek into those files for a few images to get me through to Thursday. In the late 1990's I was taking tentative steps into the realm of digital art using MS Paint on a really old Zenith Data Systems computer running Windows 3.1 - I must say that I miss that old version of paint for one of the features it no longer contains called "stretch and skew". It makes no never mind here, however, since that nifty little function isn't used. So, a peek at something very abstract from those early attempts. Sometime soon I'll post a set of old artistamps created on that same computer ... wait for it!

Moody Monday: Belligerent -

"Belligerent"
digital collage by Mick Mather

The Moody Monday theme this week is belligerent. I wasn't going to post anything this week until I realized there was an opportunity to connect this topic with the upcoming 4th of July celebration. The purpose of the American Revolution was to secure freedom from tyranny of all kinds but, perhaps one of the most precious freedoms we have is the right to freedom of speech. Happy Birthday America!

An old monotype -

"The Trimmed Hedge"
monotype by Mick Mather

As a break from the constant experimental work with the new graphic software program I've been fiddling with, I went back through an old stack of monotype prints and scanned them for use here. For those who've never tried this method of printmaking, what you do is create a painting on a piece of glass, plastic or metal - in my case, one of those 3M Mylar transparency sheets that go through an office copier to make overhead projections of documents - then lay it to paper and burnish with a spoon, barren, fingers or the heel of your hand. In the end you've transferred the painting, resulting in a single print (hence the prefix "mono") on whatever paper you happen to be using. In tonight's post, I've used a rather thick and porous piece of handmade paper. Most artists use oil based printmaking inks or oil paint...I've spent years learning to use water media instead, a long, hard road to a successful print since so many of them are failures. I do like this one well enough to show, so, here 'tis, a break from my usual work.