Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Waterlogue App for iOS

A while back I got an email from a gentleman named John Balestrieri who was creating a watercolor app for iPad and iPhone. He had seen the still life I had painted at St. Joseph's Vineyard along with the photo of the actual set up. He showed me what he had done with the photo and I asked him if I could be a beta tester.



























It's a lot of fun. If you're a fan of the watercolor look you can get some interesting effects. It's strongest suit is that it's not afraid to leave whites on certain settings. It does a little drawing first, then starts building the paint up, lightest tones first, darkest tones last. I love the texture and the way it breaks up hard edges every now and then with a soft bleed effect.

I enjoyed playing around with it and thinking to myself "if it had just made this decision instead of that one, it would have turned out truly incredible (instead of just WOW)".  So don't worry about it taking away any of your desire to paint. If anything, it gives you the itch to get back to your paints and make your own decisions. It may also give you an idea to take a painting into a different direction than you might normally have.

You've got to wonder if the artist is one of those jobs that will be automated someday, but I'm pretty sure you'll still need someone with a discerning eye to control the process. And hey, the 85 people who have the wealth of half the world's population will still want to by some original art!

Right?

[chirping of crickets]

Oh well.

In the meantime, I'm a firm believer in using technology to aid the analog art world and not replace it. Watching these appear on an iPad makes you want to watercolor even more and make bolder choices than the app itself makes. And if you have trouble unifying your washes, it will remind you how important it is to do so.

Here's some images that the app created from some of my photos.  It doesn't work so well on people, as you'd expect. That's where the artist still triumphs.

Highly recommended. Try it out if you have an iPhone or iPad. There aren't any plans that I know of to make a version for Android.












Tuesday, January 21, 2014

TV Interview!!


I was fortunate enough to be interviewed on the local PBS station the other month.
Bob Moyer, maybe the best illustrator in Cleveland over the last 50 years and the man who taught me how to watercolor, is included!!  Our segment is right at the beginning of the show.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Kristen























This is from the other night at the Lit.