Woman in forest--MC
Among other things the painter David Hockney is also known for his use of iPad to paint. Not that I am comparing myself to him but I began my painting career, such as it is, digitally on my desktop using an app called Fresh Paint. That was over five years ago. Some of my works done thus have been merchandised and worn by people.
On June 19, last year I also began experimenting with the app Paint 3D, which is an offshoot of the popular Microsoft app Paint. I do not use the 3D part of it but the virtual tools such as the marker, calligraphy pen, spray can and oil brush fairly regularly. The reason I mentioned Hockney is because he says he started using iPad in 2010 and found it to be “a terrific medium.” He also speaks about how digital painting involves “no cleaning up.” I too have written about it. He saw a new medium in iPad and in keeping with his prolific output he has produced a sizable body of those works as well.
For me digital painting was out of pecuniary compulsions. Paint supplies cost quite a bit, especially if you are not able to sell any work. These two apps—Fresh Paint and Paint 3D—allowed me to explore my abilities without having to spend extra on the supplies. I have hesitated to call those as works of art by the standards of the traditional definition of painting.
Is painting decided by the tools and supplies one uses? I don’t think so but I am not yet fully clear in my mind. Hockeny, of course, has embraced iPad fully and produced some remarkable works. I see the rationale in calling it just another medium which just happens to be virtual. Merely because I have not used actual paint, brushes and canvases should not mean that I have not produced them fully.
This morning I felt the urge to do a quick work on Paint 3D. As I often do to maintain my motor skills, I first produced an unbroken, single-line sketch of a sort of forest canopy under which a woman is standing.
Once that was done, I saved a copy and started filling colors into. That part of the Pain 3D done I transferred my work to Microsoft Word, which has some amazing editing and effect tools, which I used to create a few other versions. Among the effects that I like is randomly removing background and then giving the surviving work some shadow effect, which in this case is one below. I can do so many different versions of it. You can be bet that one of these will be merchandised immediately after posting this blog.