Welcome, Rebecca,
One of my little lunch-hour passions during my "cubicle internment" days was to create crossword puzzles for sale to syndicators. Apparently I wasn't as discreet as I should have been about over-runs, because another employee -- a satirical chap and a swift draftsman -- once produced a wonderful cartoon in which my several coworkers were all bent over nose-to-grindstones, while I was depicted as sitting back in my chair, a thought balloon above my head containing a half-filled crossword grid.
I've heard that there has since been developed software that will fill words into a blank grid for you (the hard part), so that only the clues need to be written (the fun part). I never sought it out, because I rather enjoyed the hard part, even if it did get me cast in a cartoon panel (which is probably where I belong much of the time).
Anyway, I'm fascinated by what you've done in the paint program. I can say that I can't imagine how you did it, because I'm one of those owners of a powerful computer running PhotoShop 7 and all I can do is resize an image, or alter the color, brightness or contrast. The one-inch thick manual sits, spine uncracked, on the shelf with all the other intact one-inch computer manuals. Nonetheless I use the imaging software very often during the course of many paintings, taking digital photos in progress and then, after putting the paints away for the day, playing on PhotoShop with possibilities for changes or improvements to make on the canvas the next day. (And no palette to clean up!)
All that being said, I'm looking forward to seeing how you translate your digital images into oils (or whatever other medium you might choose). As I just mentioned in
another thread that began with a digital painting, I'm lacking in any expertise to say anything meaningful about how a digital image shapes up under the standards, methodologies, and materials of traditional portraiture. I could make some generic comments about values and edges and the like, but until I see how you actually execute those details by hand, the comments wouldn't be very useful.
Your dad looks like quite a character. Please give us a look at the painting as you work on it.
Cheers,
Steven
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