I am so excited to finally reveal my new series of fine artwork that I teased on Instagram a little while back.
If you’ve been following my social accounts recently, you know that I’ve started my own #100DayChallenge in the form of my 100 Fractals series of hand painted fractal artwork.
I discovered fractals as art a few years ago and have been playing with a few different apps to generate them. I was never happy with how complicated and buggy those apps were. Then I found the Silk 2 app for my iPad that allows me to paint with my Apple Pencil or fingers! While I love the zen-like experience of making these colorful individual pieces of art, I felt like I could do more with them.
I’ve always been into layers and textures in my work, so I decided to see how I could layer more than one fractal as a composite image. It wasn’t until I added in a portrait (actually my self portrait) that I really felt I was starting building up my mojo for this new series of work.
After some playing and experimenting, I discovered that layering multiple colorful fractals on top of a color image can work with the right image. But layering them on top of a vintage black and white image is even better. There is a small treasure trove of old family images that have been transformed by adding the fractals to them. I also discovered there is a good amount of public domain images that are in black and white for a more varied subject base.
I chose to use this image from the State Library of New South Wales of King Penguins from the First Australasian Antarctic Expedition that is the public domain for this year’s of Dayton Visual Arts Center’s member show. The theme is The Light Within. What better way to represent the light within but with vibrant streaks of color!
It didn’t take me long to find the right fractals to complement this image of the penguins. I was pleased with our the colors really added nice texture and movement to the piece. I mounted the image to a block of maple wood for two reasons: 1) I’ve always wanted to do a piece of art on wood and 2) I felt the warm color of the wood really complements the colors and vintage nature of the work. When wife pointed out the heart shape layered over the penguins, I fell in love with this image and came up with it’s title: Cold Feet, Warm Hearts.
I was flattered to learn this morning that my piece was awarded honorable mention, one out of only nine awards given out for this show! Come check out Cold Feet, Warm Hearts along with 119 other works from local artists at DVAC July 6 through August 11.
And keep your eyes peeled on my Instagram and this blog for more Fractal Portraits to be revealed soon.