No Illusions, Pulse of the Motherboard, In the Balance and Rising Green: New Digital Abstracts

I don't have much time to post this week, so I thought I would at least put up a few new digital works.  I love working with design and spatial relationships.  I think you could probably guess which title applies to which image, even if I didn't have them in consecutive order in the title of this post!
Is there one among the four that resonates with you more than the others?  If so, what do you think its appeal is for you?
Hope everyone is happy and healthy and taking some time for your favorite creative activity!

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Golden Cluster

Golden Cluster - Image c 2011 Lynda Lehmann
 

I wasn't going to post to my blog today, but I was so impressed with these roses that I saw on my walk that I wanted to share them with you!

I hope everyone has had a good day.  It's going to be sweltering here on Long Island for the next few days, with high humidity, so it may be my last walk until a cold front moves in!

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Cloud Fire: A Cogent Commentary on My Digital Art by a Fifth Grade Student

Cloud Fire - Image c 2010 Lynda Lehmann

Recently a fifth grade student from Florida contacted me through one of my websites, with questions about one of my digital art pieces.  She had seen "Cloud Fire" on my Imagekind site and liked it so much that she wanted to use my image for her school report.  Lauren might have chosen any artist from the past or present, but after an internet search, she chose my work (seen above) to write about.
I feel that Lauren's report is well organized, quite readable, and true to the rules of good grammar and syntax.  To me, her report exemplifies diligence and academic excellence.  And I'm honored that she chose my art for her academic project!  
Here is the content of Lauren's report, verbatim.  I hope you enjoy reading it.  Please join me in acknowledging Lauren's writing efforts.  Lauren, thank you again for featuring my art in your paper.  Perhaps one day we will read your words again, should you choose to pursue journalism, art criticism, or perhaps teaching, as your career path. 
(Note: I have changed  Lauren's text font and formatting and moved her name to the bottom, to fit in with the formatting of this blog.)
*****

My Favorite Work of Art: Cloud Fire 

Cloud Fire, a digital art piece by Lynda Lehmann, is energetic, inspiring, and full of bright color. It is an example of abstract art, which means that the viewer may see completely different things at different times. The name, Cloud Fire, is an especially good choice of titles for this piece because clouds are constantly transforming their shapes as well. The ‘fire’ is characterized by the blaze of neon colors. 

As Cloud Fire explodes with its swirls of Crayola bubbles, the colors seem to drive the circles on a wild ride of chaos. There is not a single pigment that isn’t represented on the exciting journey. In response to the excitement produced by the blast of color, the piece causes the viewer’s heart to beat just a little bit faster. In the midst of all the emotion, a feeling of freedom is somehow conveyed as well.

Lehmann, a current resident of Long Island, NY, utilized a computer, filters and software known as Photoshop as the mediums to produce Cloud Fire, which was completed in 2010. She chose intense tints with a lot of contrast as well as many dynamic twists and turns for the lines. Although digital artists don’t always get to see their work actually printed, Lehmann’s recommendation for Cloud Fire’s ideal size is 16” x 20”. The type of paper chosen for the print is also important for the visual experience.

In addition to practical uses, computers have become digital darkrooms in recent years. The first experiments in digital art happened in the late 1950’s occurring in Germany and the United States. As computers became more advanced, so did the opportunities for digital art. Today, digital art is a widely accepted type of art expression in galleries, boutiques and exhibits as well as on the Internet.

Cloud Fire is mysterious and aggressive at the same time. These very different characteristics cause the viewer to experience a wide scope of constantly changing emotions. It is truly abstract art at its finest. 

Lauren L. #14 

4/26/2011

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

A Pale Beauty, Mindfulness, and Being

Pale Beauty - Image c Lynda Lehmann

 I love looking at this gorgeous, pale and delicate rose.  It's dainty and gossamer presence reminds us of the preciousness and transience of life.  It also reminds us that it is during tumultuous times such as we're living in now, times of great upheaval and change, that we need to turn inward to the peaceful core we each carry deep inside; it's only by permitting ourselves to situate at our most centered point on our psychic "fulcrum," if you will, that we will manage to weather the storms of destructive emotions and events.  
While I believe that organized religions often divide us, I believe that we each can find God at the deepest part of us; indeed, I believe God lives in the deepest part of us.  So rejoice in your Spirit, your Being-ness, your infinite Creativity.  Be whole and mindful, and create in the image of what YOU want the world to be.  And BE yourself. 

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

A Secret, Magic Place

A Secret, Magic Place - Image c Lynda Lehmann

An unlikely combination of living elements caught my eye while deep in the woods of the White Mountains. The light was golden, entering the forest from a low level, in early autumn light. The day was bright and still, the sky a soft, cloudless blue.  
To find a tree hollow with a single mushroom standing in the middle of it, surrounded by lichen and a necklace of pine needles, and all that rough bark texture and pastiche of leaves faded to gold, was mesmerizing.  
It was enchanting, a day to remember.  

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Across the Street: Counterpoint in Window-Pane

Across the Street - Lynda Lehmann c 2011 

The view in the door glass of a vintage building reflects the arched doorways and windows of buildings across the street.  I enjoy this shot because I'm fascinated with what I like to call "alternative spaces": spaces that are in some way transitional and can't be defined in the way a dedicated "room" can be, and spaces that are otherwise ambiguous or interesting.  Portals, hall, balconies and alleyways all offer unusual perspectives and have always held a fascination for me.  "False spaces" created by reflection or illusion, evoke a similar reaction.

Do you have a favorite space in your home or a familiar building that intrigues you and doesn't quite fit the definition of a standard "room?"

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

In Praise of Abstraction

Metrimorphic III -  c Lynda Lehmann 

If we are going to discuss the validation of art by virtue of "skill" or "meaning," we have to give abstraction a fair shake. To my way of thinking, abstract art is more interesting (if not more beautiful) than realism, because it presents a visual experience that has no precedent in reality. It presents something totally new and is its own reality. Realism refers to a single point in time and space even when it is arresting, compelling and speaks to universals.
But abstraction can be richly layered and full of ambiguity and mystery that yields fresh nuances of visual experience with each viewing. To me, abstract art comprises a rich, multi-dimensional experience because it doesn't cater to the constraints of time and place. The new visual experience it presents is of value in and of itself, and does not require a literal meaning in the usual sense. As a matter of fact, it may call on the viewer to be a more active participant in the viewing, because it reaches beyond our usual scope of perception and lends itself to the subjective reality of each viewer. Art does not need to refer to political or religious ideologies, or even the continuum of human emotions and experience, to garner its meaning. It simply is, and therein lies its meaning. And to me, abstraction is very compelling in its visual (and emotional) richness.
As for the "skills" part of the equation, Kandinsky (among others) manifested a high level of both imagination and skill that many realists don't possess. I wanted to post some of his images to illustrate the point of this post but because of copyright issues, had to use one of my own, instead.  Compelling abstraction is difficult to achieve, often involving both concept and great discipline that match or exceed many realist paintings.  

NOTE: I first wrote this as a response to a discussion on Robert Genn's Painter's Keys site.  You can read his original letter and the responses, including mine, here.  While you'e there, you might want to sign up for Robert's thought-provoking newsletter.  
All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Silver Linings Trim the Sea

Silver Linings Trim the Sea - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Some views of nature invoke powerful feelings and there's not a word or set of words that will do them justice.  We know when we are witnessing scenes that speak to mysterious powers beyond our comprehension.  
I took a series of photos the other day on a beach on the south shore of Long Island, facing into the sun.  Photographically speaking, this is a no-no, especially without a good polarizing filter.  Since I had only my Nikon 7000 with me, I had to settle for its built in neutral density filter.  I simply could not pass up taking shots of the clouds and beach lit up in bangles of silver.  
Even the seagulls couldn't get over the drama in the western sky.
When clouds obscure your horizon, I wish you bright silver linings!

Witness to Clouds and Sea - Lynda Lehmann c 2011

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Firestorm: New Abstract Expressionist Painting to Benefit Japan

Firestorm - Image c 2011 Lynda Lehmann

I painted this piece last week, and I think it expresses my emotional response to recent events in Japan. In view of the ongoing devastation, grief and loss of the Japanese people, who have lost their homes, their towns and infrastructure and their loved ones, and who are facing the dire consequences of nuclear contamination, I will donate all profits from this painting to the American Red Cross Japan Fund. By that I mean all proceeds minus the fee (if any) due to whichever artist's site I may sell it on. Shipping is always the customer's responsibility. 

"Firestorm" is 22 x 28 inches, painted in acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas. It can be framed or hung without a frame. 

My price is $900.00.  By donating the proceeds of this painting to the people of Japan, I can afford to give a more sizable donation than I would otherwise make.  Maybe it will buy some clothing, food or drinking water for a family who has lost everything.

Let's pray for their comfort and healing, and for the nuclear nightmare they're faced with, to be adequately dealt with and over. As for the rest of humanity, I hope we'll learn to make better choices in our energy policy, and become more aware of the consequences of letting corporate interests and lobbyists push dangerous technologies. 

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

Peony Pink and the Ides of Plutonium

Peony Pink - Image c 2011 Lynda Lehmann

Spring solstice has arrived!  This tender season is usually regarded as a time to rejoice at life's beauty and renewal.  Life is precious.  It is also delicate and perishable, and not at all guaranteed.  It's a gift and a miracle, with or without a religious perspective to cast it in.  I present to you a photo of a delicate Peony as a reminder of life's fragility, as the towns on the Northeast coast of Japan and well inland, struggle for their very survival. 
I will continue to wish, hope and pray for the Japanese people to find comfort, solace and the support of the world community in their healing from this week's multiple tragedies. I also wish, hope and pray for all of us to achieve freedom from the nuclear monster. The lethal potential of isotopes with a half life of 25,000 years or more, makes nuclear energy a Pandora's box of potential for the destruction of Life.  I think the world is finally recognizing that a technology that can't be controlled or adequately addressed with solutions and fail-safes, should not be used. Plutonium and cesium can exact a high price for the privilege of turning on a hair-dryer or the central heating system.
If you're not familiar with the specifics of nuclear energy and how it's produced, and what radiation can do to all living things, you might want to read the books of Dr. Helen Caldicott, the Australian physician who researched and campaigned against the nuclear demon. She saw the contradiction of ministering to a few sick children while the nuclear monster grew in the background and cast a shadow over all of life on Earth. If you think I'm being dramatic, read "Nuclear Madness" or "Missile Envy," among others.  And read other sources if you like, as I did, to corroborate the information she presents.
Let's pray for the government of Japan to mobilize their Air Force and call on other countries for help in burying the distressed and very dangerous radiation-spewing nuclear reactors with sand and concrete, before they pour more poison into our atmosphere, to rain down on the seas that are at the base of our food chain and settle on our precious land, water, and all living beings.  
Physicist Michio Kaku suggested this solution, which was successfully used to limit further contamination after the Chernobyl disaster. Given the miserable condition of the plants, it's the only solution.  Incidentally, Dr. Kaku suggested that where alternatives are available, using nuclear energy is like selling one's soul "to the devil," as Christopher Marlowe's doomed fictional character Doctor Faustus did.
Personally I'm for going in other directions, as the feasibility of safe-use for nuclear, is doubtful, at best. It's never been more obvious that nuclear power is just too dangerous to fill our energy needs, and we need to make drastic changes to improve the technology and come up with real fail-safes.  Or we need to go in other directions.

If more funding went into R & D, even a fragment of what has gone into designing and building weapons systems, we could find alternatives. And since we in the USA use 25% of the world's energy, we need to learn to cut our use. If everyone conserved, including corporations, we could make a big dent in our usage. For example, we recently drove down a major Long Island road that is lined with the gorgeous buildings of corporate headquarters. I'm talking HUGE modern buildings with too many offices to count. In most of these buildings, the lights were left on for the overnight hours. If the cleaning staff needed to clean, they didn't need every floor and cubby illuminated bright as day, at ten at night. It's just a small example--but it's my guess that the power those buildings consumed over one night, could power a small city for basic needs during the same period of time. 

Japan has long had Mag-Lev trains; we do not. Our mass transit systems are in disarray and our roads are a mess in many places. There are SO many things we can do to make travel easier and more fuel efficient. But we are spoiled and no one really wants to feel any pain at all, to facilitate change that will help us survive in the long run. As for nuclear, it's my opinion that no amount of physical/mechanical safeguards will make the technology failsafe, until we learn how to neutralize spent fuel, etc. 

There will always be the occasional natural disaster of unprecedented proportions. As advanced and organized as Japan society is, they did not give credence to the idea that the flooding of the shoreline plants could threaten their population, and maybe the larger human family. If plutonium becomes airborne because of an explosion, those particles will land and emit radiation willy-nilly for 25,000 years. 

So how does that advance the cause of human life, world peace, and the pursuit of happiness? Experts with a wider perspective on nuclear technologies are few and far between and of course, they are not willing to create a panic now by laying out worst-case scenarios. I don't know what we're going to do, but I know that nuclear weapons and nuclear power have the potential to put an end to life on earth. No one even talks about its mutagenic qualities, and ill-advised news-persons sometimes suggest that we can "wash it off" or take potassium iodide. They don't take into account or articulate the differences between alpha, beta and gamma particles, and how they move into the body and the permanent damage they can do. To me, getting rid of nuclear materials--except for medical applications--seems like a survival imperative for our species.

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

New Abstract Painting: Byzantine Blues

Byzantine Blues - Lynda Lehmann c 2011

"Byzantine Blues" is one of my recent series of small paintings, just 11 x 14 inches.  It's one of those paintings whose name seemed to arise out of the ether as I finished it.  While my title does not really fit the definition of Byzantine, I still like it for this work.  Since it's my painting, I guess I can call it whatever I wish!  One of the added joys of making art is the freedom to associate ones image with words and name it thus. That is, to see an image in your own unique way.  

The viewer too, is called upon to see whatever he or she wishes, and that is the freedom that is inherent in the ambiguity and mystery of abstract art.  Although the bottom line is that titles are not at all necessary to the visual experience, especially of abstraction, and may even detract from the viewer's freedom to see it in his or her own way.
Dictionary.com defines "Byzantine" as follows:
4.  Fine Arts . pertaining to or designating the style of the fine or decorative arts developed and elaborated in the Byzantine Empire  and its provinces: characterized chiefly by an ecclesiastically prescribed iconography, highly formal structure, severe confinement of pictorial space to a shallow depth, and the use of rich, often sumptuous color.
You can see that this painting does not resemble the "ecclesiastically prescribed iconography," of Byzantine Art at all, although the confinement of pictorial space to a shallow depth and the use of rich color, may apply.  You can read more about the Byzantine Empire at Wiki.  
Why have I just written several paragraphs to outline why my title doesn't really fit my image? The answer is that creative process is messy.  It doesn't conform to the parameters of logic or conscious thought. It's not rational. And that's what makes the journey interesting.
Although I appreciate the beautifully rendered realism of masters such as Da Vinci or John Singer Sargent, my preferred style of painting is abstract.  What is your favorite style, when it comes to making or appreciating art?

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

New Abstract Painting: Pragmatic Red

Pragmatic Red - c 2011 Lynda Lehmann

The other day I set out to do a subtle painting. As you can see, I failed miserably.

When I paint, what happens most often is that the paint takes over and tells me what to do. Not literally, of course. The paint doesn't have a voice. But it speaks to me through it's character as it emerges out of the tube. Color, consistency, and (unfortunately) smell, all stir my senses into an excitement as real as if I were watching a horse race or awakening as a child does on Christmas morning, heart aflutter and with a gleam of happy expectation in her eyes. I begin to paint and the volitional part of the process gives way to the subconscious, intuitive part.

So here you have my most recent result, in this 18 x 24 inch acrylic painting that I'll call "Pragmatic Red."  The title is a bit of an oxymoron, as there's really nothing practical about creating such a bright and intense painting. It's done for the joy and fulfillment of the artist and for whomever is willing as a viewer, to embrace his or her kind of work.

An intricate under-painting shows through the surface, a sort of "iconography" showing through the top layer. An artist friend said the image reminds him of a "mother board."  I'll go with that for today. That's the nice part about abstract art: you can see something different in it each time you look. Different from realism, in which the specifics of time, place and context are spelled out for the viewer, the abstract engages the viewer's imagination and calls forth a more active participation. What might this painting represent, if anything? Or is it a visual experience that can't be classified?

Actually, it's simply "The Visual Experience" that I'm after in my pursuit of painting. As long as it's fresh and new, it can bring stimulation, surprise, and visual joy to my world.  

Dictionary.com defines Constructivism as follows: 

–noun ( sometimes initial capital letter )

1.Fine Arts . a nonrepresentational style of art developed by agroup of Russian artists principally in the early 20th century,characterized chiefly by a severely formal organization of mass, volume, and space, and by the employment of modern industrial materials. Compare suprematism.


While I often paint in a style that might fall under the category of Expressionism, I would say that this piece could be seen as a sort of embellished Constructivism. But the label doesn't matter. It's the Visual Experience that counts!

Most of us enjoyed looking through kaleidoscopes of different sorts when we were kids. To me, painting is the same kind of exploration of the visual phenomenon. I do it in the spirit of adventure--and the willful abandonment of the more mundane aspects of my daily world.

What attracts your eye in the spirit of exploration and childlike joy?

All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my primary site at http://www.lyndalehmann.com/gallery if you would like to see my acrylic paintings and more of my photography and digital art. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!

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