Sunday, October 23, 2011

Technique & Tool: Chapter 6


Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File was the first project posted and links to all 12 posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The second project, Techniques & Tools, continues now...


Participants were asked: 'The one technique or tool that you cannot live without is... ' I have added links of my own choosing to each contribution below, sometimes to products, sometimes to videos, sometimes to the artist's own work, and sometimes to something unexpected. Even the contributors do not know what I will be linking to!
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My camera!
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The camera in my iPhone. Any camera for that matter but the iPhone has become an extension of my, well, I.
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I couldn't live without my computer! Having access to my art and photos and being able to change color, size, etc. on a whim -- critical. Next on my list would be COLOR: my golden acrylics, my ink pads, my oil pastels, my watercolors, etc. I rarely do anything that doesn't have lots of color.
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My iPhone camera (and glue stick).
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There was a time when I would never have said this but it's my computer. It's both a tool for altering my photography and collages and a window on the world.
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The camera for composition.
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Why can I never follow the rules and have just one answer? I cannot live without my computer/Photoshop and my collection of antique ephemera/pictures.
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My camera.
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The Internet. When I start feeling smug about the work I've done ("That's perfect!") I take the time to cruise through my list of Favorite Blogs. Seeing other people's incredible artwork has the necessary effect of deflating my ego balloon and forcing me back to the studio to eat humble pie and start over again. And again. And again. A bad thing? Of course not. Being totally satisfied with your art means you don't need to keep working at it. That means you stop making art and that is a bad thing. 
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My camera. It is my pure joy, I do it for me and my enjoyment alone. It's like a form of sketching for me, it keeps me loose, yet it keeps my eye sharp.
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My computer (and camera - sorry, I know that is two , but they are inseparable!)
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A camera. Right now I'm in love with my Canon Powershot SX10is.
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Photoshop. I use it to scan in photos that I alter in use in artwork, and I use it to tweak and organize photos of completed art.
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At this exact moment in time, and subject to change in the future, because of the amount of digital deconstruction I find myself doing, my Mac.
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Too many to mention...this includes a camera.
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Next 'Techniques & Tools' will be posted on Sunday, October 30th.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is amazing how technology in all forms, drives us, informs us and is an integral part of the creative practice. Very revealing. xox Corrine

ooglebloops said...

Glad to see I have a "tool" in common with all these great artists!!

Artsnark said...

another fun selection! Can't help but think of the classic phrase "great minds think alike". Thanks for another great post, Seth

jinxxxygirl said...

I guess cameras and computers were not the answers i was looking for in tools and techniques....

bohemiannie! art said...

All wonderful. How cool that you linked to Dorothy's book at Amazon! That's one on my USA list!

Beulah Bee said...

Can you imagine what the great masters of the last two centuries might have done with the high-tech tools available today? Were they greater because they didn't have these tools? My opinion--Albrecht Durer would have no use for a camera. Van Gogh would have loved acrylics. I can actually imagine Picasso loving his Mac.

deb said...

another great selection, I enjoyed visiting everyone's cyber spaces. Thanks for all the hard work Seth. Love my cyber-tribe!I don't use the computer much except for design work but I often use digital images for thinking about compositions that aren't working!

theresa martin said...

Thanks Seth!

Shayla said...

let's get digital!

~*~Patty S said...

fun
shaking my head in agreement on so many of these

thank you Seth
oxo

marianne said...

my camera and computer are so much a part of what i do that i didn't even consider that as an answer! i feel pretty silly!

Robert said...

So many artists using the camera and/or computer the way Van Gogh or Monet used a brush. I'm definitely not "there," yet with either of these tools, but enjoyed the comments of several, and also following the links: enjoyed reading about The Descent of the Urbanites" in Pat's blog, and perusing Dorothy's artist books! I loved that Maude's favorites are BOTH an iPhone, and a glue stick (so high-tech/low-tech). . .and I can personally relate to Susan's humbling experience with art and the internet, when one starts taking oneself (and one's art), just a bit too seriously! Great reading and viewing!

jilly zaheer said...

Another great post Seth. Yes, it is interesting how technology has really become a mainstay for many artists. Love your grouping of technology and cameras together on your post!

Kelly Snelling said...

wow, i feel very old-fashioned. the first thing that came to my mind was a pencil. i use it in making jewelry (and not just for sketching. it can serve as a mandrel for an ear wire in a pinch) and for almost every painting for sketching, scratching into paint, grubbing up bits of this and that...i love a good pencil.

improv cloth said...

The work of Dorothy Simpson Krause is intriguing, amazing, and must be phenomenal in person. Thank you for showing/sharing the work of such an accomplished artist.
And all other artists who share, thank you!