Recently I have been trying to simplify my pictures and have been working in a more abstract vein. Inevitably, it seems, complexity creeps in. The pictures always end up evoking something or someone in the everyday world. One of the things I keep telling myself is that every instance of the particular manifests the universal. Perhaps it is also true that the universal only manifests through the particular. One thing is for sure, making these pictures gets me to a different place in my mind. Hope something similar happens when you look at them.

Below is a selection from a series of spirals. (As always, click on the thumbnail to see a larger jpg)

 last light of the day

 bowie in space

 hide and seek

 with this ring

Karlos

be peace 2014. Digital painting. Size variable

The picture above is the second in a series. The first picture is called speak peace and can be seen in a recent post, below. We'll see if a third pops out somewhere down the road.

Below is a sequence of images called a walk in the woods. As usual, the imagery (and the narrative) came as a complete surprise to me. The first picture is a kind of entrance and then the next is perhaps the heart of the forest. The third reminds me of a climb up a hill. There seem to be many nest-like structures in the weird trees. And then, low and behold, I get to a spot where a cross appears. This is perhaps the biggest surprise, since I am a Buddhist. But, I am from the West, so as Jung pointed out, you can't really do much about where you're from. The last and most complex picture is, in essence, a summation of the others. The dynamic composition suggests that perhaps there is no end to this particular walk.

All of these can be printed up to 80 inches wide. 

a walk in the woods 1

 a walk in the woods 2

a walk in the woods 3

 a walk in the woods 4

 a walk in the woods 5

I sometimes make fun of myself by using the phrase "like a blinding flash" to describe a moment of "realization". Usually I'm referring sarcastically to a thought about something obvious. In the case of the digital painting below, I really mean it. As I've stated elsewhere on this blog, I have been fooling around with a $20 fractal generator, Fractal Domains.  I don't know anything about the math of fractals, so when I plug numbers into Fractal Domains, I'm flying blind. I don't know what's going to pop-up on the screen when I hit the return button. And that's good from my point of view. I'm doing this because I don't know what's around the next corner, which keeps it interesting... for me, at least. When this image appeared, it was, in fact, like a blinding flash. 

Like a blinding flash, 2014. Digital painting. Size Variable

When I manipulate fractals in Photoshop, I work in layers and experiment with the possibilities of interaction between them. I just completed a series of 10 pictures based on the same fractal image (created with Fractal Domains software). The difference between the images results from the way the Photoshop layers interact. Here are 5 of the 10 images. These are meant to be printed fairly large... 64" on the width and ideally, all ten would be displayed together.

The fire this time (1), 2014. Digital painting. Suggested size 64" wide

The fire this time (2), 2014. Digital painting. Suggested size 64" wide

The fire this time (3), 2014. Digital painting. Suggested size 64" wide

The fire this time (4), 2014. Digital painting. Suggested size 64" wide

The fire this time (5), 2014. Digital painting. Suggested size 64" wide

Below is an example of the odd spacial things that can happen in fractal land. To find this kind of stuff you have to look around the edges of the fractal and zoom way in. This particular piece was finished by manipulating three layers of the same image in Photoshop. There are two other versions with different palettes. One of the things I am currently doing is limiting my image manipulations to the overall, edge to edge. From the Buddhist perspective (or the ecological) this refers to the interdependence and interpenetration of all things in one great web of relations. Whatever subsidiary shapes and colors emerge are a result of the defining fractal math and the edge to edge manipulation of layers.

a little traveling music, 2014. Digital painting. Size variable

The posts above and the speak peace may represent the start of something new.  I never know. The test is if I keep doing the new thing for any length of time. In any case, this is essentially a refinement of what I have been doing for a while. I'm focusing on what can be done with fractals and Photoshop manipulations and eliminating overlaid 3-D shapes etc. So for the time being, at least, the Triple Zero figure has been zeroed-out. Another way of looking at this, is that instead of creating indeterminate narratives around Triple-Z, I am making pictures that find their own narratives, some of which I have visited before. For example, I did a study for a painting to be called "speak peace" around 30 years ago. It didn't get painted then. I was quite surprised when it appeared on my screen yesterday in a different form.

speak peace, 2014. Digital painting. Size variable.

Unspoken 2014. Digital painting. Size variable.

Trans 2014. Digital painting. Size variable.

Quiet moment 2014. Digital painting. Size variable.

No trace 2014 Digital painting. Size variable

Slowly turning towards the light 2014. Digital painting. Size variable.

Times Three 2014. Digital painting. Size variable.

Padma 2014. Digital painting. Size variable.

Mysterioso 2014. Digital painting. Size variable.