Showing posts with label Abstract. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abstract. Show all posts
Thursday, November 26, 2015
A Conversation with Mobile Artist Carolyn Frischling
In the coming months I hope to include more artists who have participated in group or singular exhibitions. I recently had a conversation with Carolyn Frischling regarding her work that is currently on exhibit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
What is your name and where do you live?
Carolyn: My name is Carolyn Frischling and I live in a little historic town called Sewickley near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Carolyn: My name is Carolyn Frischling and I live in a little historic town called Sewickley near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
How did you get started in mobile photography?
Carolyn: I was always on the go and so I started experimenting with creative apps on my iPhone. I would regularly search the App Store, eventually downloading hundreds of apps and learning what they do. My husband, Michael Frischling, encouraged me and was very supportive. I make time every week to see what is new.What devices do you use?
Carolyn: I use an iPhone 5, an iPad Mini Retina and a MacBook Pro. |
| Lady Mondegreen © Carolyn Frischling |
Do you have a traditional photography or art background?
Carolyn: Yes, I have a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from Washington University in St. Louis and was trained in traditional art-making methods, which I still practice and love.
Who or what inspires you?
Carolyn: I'm inspired greatly by Modernism, Futurism, Pop and Graffiti; sculpture--Brancusi, Boccioni, Henry Moore, Tom Yody, Peter Reginato, Berta Fischer; glass--Dale Chihuly, Dino Rosin; painters--Kandinsky, Gorky, Piet Mondrian, Georgia O'Keefe, Helen Frankenthaler, Agnes Martin, Al Held, Brice Marden, Tomma Abts, Mark Grotjahn, Peter Doig, Sarah Morris, John Aslanidis, Justin Bower, Jonathan Christie, @poesiatranscend, Teo Pirisi, @moneyless1980, @librarystreetcollective, including @wais1, @samfriedman and Adrian Falkner, @spogo15, @kem_vegas, @qspuno, new media artists--Wade Guyton, Alain Vincent, Isaac Budmen, Wes L. Cockx, Nathaniel Smith, Terry Bowie, Stephen Paré, Nico Brons, Simon Degroot, Jesse Draxler, Bobbi McMurry, @rina_mualem; writers/teachers--St. Augustine, St. Therese of Liseux, Wassily Kandinsky, Herman Hesse, C.S. Lewis, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Thich Nhat Hahn, Robert Ault, Gong Shu Yi Shu, Bobbi McKibbin, Dawn Guernsey, Peter Marcus, Joan Hall, Richard Noyce, Rosaire Kopczenski.
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| © Carolyn Frischling |
I am most interested in your recent participation as a selected artist in the 103rd Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Annual Exhibition. How did you get involved in it?
Carolyn: I found out about the organization through word of mouth, and that is has a storied past with members including Mary Cassatt, Philip Guston and Andy Warhol. There is a juried entrance, and every year there is an Annual Exhibition, with a separate juried entrance and guest juror, usually held at the Carnegie Museum, but this year at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. There are several opportunities to show with the group during the year, but the Annual is the organization's most prestigious event.
How many of your pieces were exhibited?
Carolyn: I submitted two entries; the first, a trio titled Quidditas/Unknowable, which means essence, and the second, a pair of 2D and 3D versions of an abstract collaboration titled Actualizing Abstraction with Isaac Budmen. The 3D version is a 9x9x2 inches full color sandstone print. I was very fortunate to work with Isaac teambudmen.com whom I met on Instagram. He wrote The Book on 3D Printing, and is an artist-in-residence with the Metropolitan Museum's Digital Media Lab and has been invited to lecture at the New York University's Tisch School of Arts. I was also very happy to have both entries selected, five pieces in all.
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| Quidditas/Unknowable I © Carolyn Frischling |
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| Quidditas/Unknowable II © Carolyn Frischling |
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| Quidditas/Unknowable III © Carolyn Frischling |
Did you attend the opening? If so, what was the reception like toward artwork created with an iOS device?
Carolyn: Yes, it was a memorable night. My trio Quidditas/Unknowable was a group of resin-covered prints on aluminum, each 20x20x1 inches and it seemed that the people I talked to were more interested in the presentation, which I wanted to be as high-tech as possible for a static image, given the medium.
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| Actualizing Abstraction with Isaac Budmen © Carolyn Frischling |
Tell me about Mobile Masters.
Carolyn: This is the second year for the Mobile Masters. It was held at the Moscone Center at Macworld 2014. The founders are Dan Marcolina, Denise Marcolina, Jack Hollingsworth, Kevin Kuster and Paul Toussaint and the Empty Spaces Project gallery in Putnam, Connecticut. With my submission, I provided links to my online portfolio at carolynfrischling.org and my Instagram page, @carolynfrischling. This year I was honored with a feature in the Founders Folio near the back of the Mobile Masters eBook. It is very special to me since most of my portfolio is non-photography based abstract digital art, doing what Dan Marcolina has coined app stacking. In other words, I use my mobile device to create art, but very often, I do not start with a photograph. Here is a short video about Mobile Masters (below) and a link to the app store.
What is your advice for mobile photographers who would like to exhibit their work?
Carolyn: I would buy a good inkjet printer because you'll need to proof your work even if you decide to print your work with a specialty printer.
Do you sell your work? If so, where?
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| Hypostatization © Carolyn Frischling |
Carolyn: I sell my work on curioos.com. They are one of the only publishers of fine art prints to offer limited edition prints on Hahnemule paper with my own signature. Each print comes with a certificate of authenticity. I also sell prints on aluminum and on silk, when available, on my commercial site carolynfrischling.com
Carolyn: Do you remember when only black and white photography was considered worthy of being called art and then color photography became accepted? It's the same with digital and mobile art, which are getting bigger all the time. Thank you Geri for this interview.
Find Carolyn: Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / tumblr
Add to Flipboard Magazine. |
| Quidditas VIII © Carolyn Frischling |
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Egoz Wickham - Interview and Abstract Tutorial
What is your name and where do you live?
My name is CJ "Egoz" Wickham, and I hail from Stockton, California.
How did you get started in mobile photography? What device do you use?
One day I decided I wanted a cooler looking Facebook profile picture, so I downloaded the app that would start me on this new path: Toonpaint. After I did a few of my friends photos, I downloaded a couple more apps... That began this Avalanche of art. I use only the current iPhone that is out, and only apps on that phone. No PC or Photoshop.
Do you have a traditional photography or art background?
I have always been creative, but not in the artistic sense. In fact if you were to put a paintbrush in my hand, it would remind you of a kindergartner' style lol. Somehow once I started using apps, it just clicked.
Who or what inspires you?
Color. I love color in all its glory. Whether it's the art I make or the clothes I wear, I love myriads of colors flowing everywhere.
Do you plan your shoots with an end in mind or do you shoot and decide later as you edit?
One thing that keeps my style fresh is having no plan. I hop from app to app, experimenting with blending and layering. Only towards the very end of any piece do I coax it to look like something.
Your work is mainly surreal abstract composited images. Do you use stock photos in your editing?
Sometimes. I try and have most of my work be things and people I myself have taken. Occasionally I reach out to google and search for free/stock photos just to bring it all together. I have networked with artists and models over the last 5 years, so constantly I get images sent to me by them to use. Networking keeps me fresh.
What are your favorite apps for editing?
If I had to pick the three most influential apps to my style? Superimpose - layering TangledFX - painterly/line smoothing Pixlr-o-matic - filters. To be honest, I constantly try out new apps and funnel them into my style. I'm very open to trying new things, and get excited for that moment when I realize "THIS WILL BLEND WELL WITH THIS OTHER APP".
Have you ever sold your work? If not, any plans for the future?
All in all I have probably sold around 20 canvases, 15 prints, a few coffee table books, and phone cases. I've been in a few art shows, and plan to be in many more.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
The secret to my success (and by success I mean the joy I have in creating) lies in experimentation. Jumping out of my own comfort zone has led to many evolutions of my style.
Tutorial by "Egoz"
For this tutorial I wanted to show how to start with nothing and end with a highly detailed, intricate edit. I use Superimpose for a lot of my layering and blending. For those that have not used it before, I highly suggest it. When I reference foreground and background in this tutorial, I am referring to Superimpose.
The first step is the creation of colors. I bring an all white image into Superimpose, both foreground and background. Using the settings button "upper right" and the filter tab "highlighted" I can change the two layers to any color I choose. I wanted to start building geometric shapes and colors to play off of.
Use the transform tab to then place your shapes wherever you feel like. There is no rhyme or reason to what I do, I like to organically go with the flow. After each square of color click the flatten button (top left) and it flattens the two together, so you can add a new foreground. Rinse repeat until you are satisfied with random colors. ![]()
(below)
Add as many colors as you want. Then save to your camera roll. ![]()
First Saved Image (below)
Now let's hop over to one of my new favorite apps, Matter. One of the best features of this app is that the shapes you add to your image can reflect what's in your image inside of them. See how there are mini versions of our background in the discs?
Now let's bring up the app iColorama S, a tricky to use yet highly detailed app. I can get lost in there for hours. We are going to use the Brush section, "Artist" brush. Now when you click this your entire pic will go stark white. Do not fret! We are using the abstract brush.
Select a Brush from the Brush menu. Under "Set", Raise your size variation and your color variation, this will ensure that you get a myriad of shapes and colors. The artist brush reacts to your source image and brings it to the front using the style you've chosen. ![]()
So you see, our background is still there in spirit, with tons of details. If you add a bit of detail that you're not happy with, you can always start over!
iColorama S results (below)
This is my favorite part, blending. Go back into Superimpose. Set the background using our Matter discs version. The foreground should be our detailed iColorama edit.
Line them up perfectly (the cross button upper right) then go to the "transform" tab. Hit the upper right settings button, and a choice of blending styles will show up below. We are looking for the "difference" blend. Since our foreground and background are similar colors, the difference blend makes them go inverted. Look at all these crazy colors!!![]()
Ok to tie this all back to something less abstract, let's bring in a silhouette. I Googled free silhouettes/stock silhouettes to get some I knew would not be someone's property.
To extract the silhouette, we are using the mask tab, the color range masking tool, and sliding the threshold to 100 percent. Then by clicking anywhere that's white, will remove all the white!
Switch to the transform tab, move your silhouette to your liking, and voila! You have an intricately detailed, colorful piece from just a white square.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions, I'm an open book.
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