Jeanne Ground
Clay, Watercolor, 3D and "Paintography"
by
Fine Art Registry
Jeanne Ground is a Fine Art Registry™ member, a highly diversified artist with a great portfolio on the FAR® website. She is also a writer. We asked her to write an article on herself, her art and why she joined Fine Art Registry.
Living in a wide valley between two mountain ranges is about as good as it gets for artistic inspiration. Then too, Oregon's beaches are only an hour away. I paint at home usually supervised by two cats, Dustbunny and Stormy. Stormy appreciates the fish screen saver. Dustbunny shows her need for extra attention by throwing pencils, brushes and papers on the floor. This is where digital painting is easier, no kitty foot prints in fresh paint! Stormy can’t resist liquids so I have to be careful to empty my water containers and cover my paint palette when I’m doing watercolor.
I've always loved to make things although I never considered a career in art until I was already well into my third year in college. The first art that really had an impact on me was Michelangelo’s David. When I saw that piece in Italy it had a profound impact on me. Then I saw a few other pieces done by Michelangelo. My feeling about art would never be the same. I came home from Italy and back to school feeling that I needed to learn to create beautiful and interesting things. Working in marble didn’t interest me but the beauty of shape stayed with me. I reached the status of senior at the University before I actually found the courage to switch to a major in art. My husband believed I could do it and he made me believe that I could.
I suspect my artwork shows my determination to make use of unique ideas. There have been times when I've approached galleries and was told, "Your work is so different we don't quite know what to do with it". Well, that's just too bad; they have no imagination!
I fell in love with clay and how it comes to life in my hands. The feel of the wet clay as it turned from a lump into something interesting was wonderful. Hand building was even more interesting than wheel work. I reached the point though where having my hands wet and cold for periods of time just wasn’t working for me, so I looked for another medium.
I had always loved the light and luminous quality of watercolor but I wanted shapes.
Is it a painting or sculpture?
Shapes are very important to me and I've discovered that I can make watercolor paper do interesting things when it is wet. What's more, I can paint both sides! For several years I experimented with ways to hang up these creations and finally found ways to do that. Once my three dimensional watercolor piece has been put together, I now mount it on a background canvas which has often been painted digitally and stretched as any canvas would be. At first I thought it had to be behind glass and I didn't like the glass between the viewer and the piece.
I've found that it isn't necessary to put them behind glass. They are treated to resist dust and can be cleaned by using a soft clean paintbrush. I know it works because I have some that I've had hanging on the wall for years and they are as bright and fresh as when I first hung them up.
It took many strange experiments with materials and designs to make the materials do what I wanted. One of my best discoveries was that bags of split peas and lentils were perfect to hold watercolor paper in place while the glue dries. (They drape so well!) These paintings have to be done in stages and to hurry is to lose the piece. When I’m really into these three dimensional projects, they kind of take over the whole house.
Is it a painting or a photograph?
I saw my first computer graphic program in 1985. I was fascinated but frustrated because there was no way to print it. Black and white dot matrix just didn't do it! Since then I've enjoyed the evolution of computer programs and printers. When I discovered there were printers that would print canvas it was an awesome day! Then I got a Wacom tablet, which allows me to use the same motions to create a painting, as I would with a regular brush in hand. For detail I used to use what I referred to as my "3 hair" brush, now I use my "one pixel" brush. A new world indeed! Painting on my computer is more versatile than using a brush and paint. To my way of thinking using the computer capabilities to express my creativity enriches and enlarges the possibilities. Digital paintings can be as delicate as a butterfly or as sturdy as rock.
Painting digitally is like being able to dip your brush into liquid paint, that is thicker than water but thinner than oil or acrylic paint, or you can do thick brush strokes. The beauty of it is that you can protect areas from being disturbed by your new brush strokes. You can change the transparency of your paint by degrees until you have it just the way you want it. You don't have to wait for it to dry like watercolor if you want a hard edge and you can change the softness of your brush edge by degrees, which gives you amazing control. Adding layers with varying degrees of transparency gives you great amount of depth to your work. If a brush stroke seems too heavy once applied you can erase by degrees so that you can lighten the area without disturbing what's underneath and you never risk damaging the paper or canvas. Sometimes when you are painting you realize that you should have stopped sooner. Painting digitally solves that problem because you save in various stages and you can always go back some steps. When you paint digitally, with a couple clicks, you can have the best airbrush available. You can not only do either fine or rough washes or gradient but you can then push the gradient around. When highlighting or darkening an area, you can do it without disturbing texture that is already there. If you have to leave a work in progress there is no problem with mixed paint drying out! No problem when your cat pushes your brush on the floor. The amount of pressure I put on my digital brush can change the line width just as putting slight pressure on a regular brush does. The kind of digital painting I do can't really be done with keyboard and mouse. Without a tablet and variety of digital brushes, it simply wouldn't work.
An option that artists doing digital painting have is to use parts of photographs in the painting. They can even paint with the colors of the photograph itself. It is like just dipping your brush into a photograph that has become liquid and simply using the photograph for a palette and paint, all without disturbing the parts that you want to keep as they are. You can use parts of the photograph as they are; add a piece of another photograph, layer them, make some parts more opaque than others. The options are truly unlimited.
I refer to my digital paintings that have recognizable photographic elements as “Paintography”.
Some people dismiss digital painting as if it isn't really art at all because "oh it was done by computer". Well, the computer doesn't "do it" any more than a pile of paintbrushes; tubes of paint and a canvas create works of art. The hardware and software are simply tools. Granted they are awesome tools but tools all the same.
Digital painting is not yet recognized by everyone as legitimate original art but as people begin to understand the work, attention to detail and creativity that goes into digital painting, they will have a better feel for the fact that digital or not, the painting is an original piece of art.
Fine Art Registry™
I was delighted to find Fine Art Registry. What drew me first was a way to safeguard my artwork. I've been concerned that anything visible on the Internet can be stolen and I want people who buy my paintings to be assured they are getting the real thing. Certificates of authenticity are often not worth very much. Then when I discovered there is a sales gallery available too, I was really excited about the increased visibility for my work and another avenue for sales. I feel that having a work registered adds to its value.
People often wonder how I do my paintings and I like for them to have a place they can look up more information about the process. When people look at my digital paintings I want them to have a better understanding that "digital" doesn't mean "created by a computer", but rather "painted by an artist using digital brushes and digital paint". I love the idea that for years to come people can look up a piece of my work and learn more about it, and see more of my work in one place.
— by Fine Art Registry
|
June 2, 2008
|
Print Version - 
PDF
Discuss article | 
Print this page | 
The views and opinions of individual authors/contributors expressed on the FAR® web site do not necessarily state or reflect those views and/or opinions of Fine Art Registry® or its agents or subsidiaries.
