Art166 - The Fine Art of Insomnia

~ Exhibition 1

~ Some Saturdays

- (click image for a larger view)

Shop for images by W. J. St. Christopher, at Art166.com.

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The Ultimate Backstory -

Thought I'd post a little fractal-based eye candy for the Easter weekend!

"Exhibition 1" is the piece that started me down the path to digital addiction.

Several years ago, I dreamed that I was in an art gallery, walking down a long, white hallway. There were large -- 4' or 5' wide -- framed images mounted, and very evenly spaced, down the length of this long hallway, as far as I could see.

I stopped in front of a glimmering, silvery piece to read the artist's label. Surprise! My name was on the label! In fact, my name was on all the labels, along with info about them being created with the use of a computer!

I ran up and down that hall, looking at every piece, until I woke up -- smack dab in the middle of an asthma attack! I often wonder if the lack of oxygen to my brain caused all those vivid images to appear in my dream . . .

That very morning, I starting researching "digital art" on the Internet. I downloaded several free pieces of software, and eventually purchased Photoshop Elements 2. During that first year, I worked my way through everything I could get my hands on: a dozen demo programs, digital "painterly" effects, add-on filters and plug-ins, every sort of fractal, then started scanning in my own photos to try different manipulation techniques.

At some point during the second year, and after several miserably failed attempts, I was able to create "Exhibition 1" which is as close to the silvery image in my dream as I'll probably ever get.

I rarely sleep more than a couple of consecutive hours, but I guess that's plenty of time to stumble across a road less traveled!

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