James C Christensen - The Listener

"The Listener" by James Christensen can be found on a number of galleries including ArtUSA.com, Swoyer's Fine Art & Collectibles, World Wide Art, Inc., and his own James Christensen Prints, Porcelains, Ornaments and Puzzles.

"The Listener" is one of those pictures so full of detail that a small size like 503x500 pixels simply can not do it justice. I do love pictures that one can explore with the eye for hours finding more and more to see. This one also has details of meaning to find -- I mean where one has to maybe dig a bit in their memory of experience to recall what the source is of the figure being alluded to.

In "The Listener" I look and I wonder if one figure is Baron Munchausen and another Othello. I see figures who might be from Lewis Carrol's works and others who might be politicians and film celebrities. I think some are characters from Christensen's own art works.

I get a feeling of a man sitting oblivious to the shouting crowds in the stands at some sporting event that has drawn this strange crowd together... or is this the artist doing a self portrait showing himself sitting within himself and his imaginings? Or is it an "any man" author or other creative person with ideas percolating in their mind? Or a person who might not be entirely sane... or is that the same?

It is a regular Carnival! Very much like in Venice or some other city where things like Mardi Gras is celebrated.

This is one piece where even the large online images do not do the work justice and I think one would have to get a poster size version -- and a good quality edition -- to do it justice.

~ Darrell

James Christensen's work "The Listener" is a single man's quest for serenity of body, mind, and spirit. In amongst this cacophony its like he is to be the solution finder for this fanciful kingdom. He has had to train himself to tune out, otherwise he would go truly insane. "You can't be all things to all men."

~ Mags.

Jason Chan - Waterfall

Jason Chan did this image which is a part of the collection in his gallery on jasonchanart.com You will find this one in the third row, fourth column, under the first heading "Illustrations". He also has a more current blog, Jason Chan Art.

I like "Waterfall", perhaps because I like children, archaeology, the colour green, finding gentleness combined with strength, hidden places... perhaps because of all these things by themselves and in combination in this composition.

I love the gentle stone meso-American giant presenting the delicate flower to the child held in the palm of his hand. The fresh youth of the young girl is contrasted with the robust antiquity of the moss covered stone monolithic form of the giant. I wonder about the Olmec head in the water and the... perhaps Aztec figure by the falls? The figure himself does not seem to be quite Aztec even though made of Aztec materials with Aztec iconography.

I wonder where this is and where the little red headed girl came from? Judging by the signature I suspect this wasn't done on the computer or at least not done 100% on it.

I think I'll have to have a better look at more of Jason Chan's work when I get back onto a broadband connection.

~ Darrell

If you're not careful you could get taken in by the shear magnitude of this cumbersome, gentle giant and not notice the little girl and the importance she plays in bringing this piece of artwork to completion. The mere fact that the cumbersome gentle giant takes extreme care to pass on a gift of simple but profound beauty and meaning says a lot not only about what the artist is trying to get across, but sheds light on the artist himself and his positive outlook on life in general.

~ Mags

Jan Oliehoek (oilcorner) - Baby Dragon

Jan Oliehoek (oilcorner) describes himself as a Photo Manipulator and you can find his work on both deviantArt and Worth1000.com.

It is such a privilege for us to feature such a well versed photo manipulation artist on our blog. When I first stumbled across this image I thought the creature on my computer screen was real. I sat there for an hour just completely awestruck at this artist's ability to breath life into an image that began its existence as collection of photos. A background as a writer does have a tendency to let your mind create alternative worlds out of thin air. From this image I was able to conceptualize a whole new historical time line and a possible book plot. So if this image can effect me so powerfully, it is my hope that your soul will start to sing as well. I don't often say this about many of the artists that we feature, but I absolutely cannot wait for this artists next spark of creativity as I think he is a creative genious.

Thanks again for allowing us to review your work. I hope we have done it justice.

~ Mags

I was very impressed with this image when Mags introduced it to me. I am a photo manipulator myself and can appreciate the technique and talent that went into this piece. The artist, oilcorner, did a fine job for that contest on Worth1000.com and the full sized image doesn't lose anything at all. You would expect to be able to buy these cute little smokers at a really good pet store.

oilcorner mentions in his deviantArt page on the image that the image actually has been stolen by someone pretending that they had created it -- however oilcorner can provide the source pictures that he used to create this "fake". "Source pictures" are often used to prove an image was a fake in the case of celebrity fakes and similar things -- however they can also be used as veracity that someone created a given fake photo.

One of the important steps in creating a good manipulated image is having good source material and I can see that oilcorner has a good eye for that. I also see he has a very good sense of scale. There is a lot of work that went into this besides cutting and pasting and a bit of colour, hue, saturation, brightness, and contrast matching. There are bits that had to be very much modified -- which takes artful painting using the tools provided in Photo Shop and similar programs.

The only thing perhaps that I might add... might be a blister, burn, or singe mark on the fingers. But perhaps that would be "gilding the lily"? I think it is virtually perfect as is.

~ Darrell

Pauline Jones - With a Soft Thud

"With a Soft Thud" is from Pauline Jones' website "Images of Elsewhere". It can be found in the 10th Gallery there. Pauline Jones has another site where she has more recent works at "Pauline Jones: a painter"

A lonely beach, perhaps just after dusk and what do we find on the sands? Perhaps the crescent moon having fallen from the sky?

It makes me wonder if that makes the image even lonelier with the few lone pines a bit separate from the other trees farther back. I can't quite make out if those are the lights of a harbour town across the waves or people with lanterns in boats approaching? If they are people in small boats approaching, are they people who are approaching to help the crescent moon as if it were a beached whale needing rescuing?

The dark rows of thin yet still dark clouds and the flat waves on the water lend to a moodiness that is repeated by the blues of the pallet that the work is done in. It does remind me of some evenings I have spent on beaches with an uncertain breeze on water and in trees.

Pauline Jones puts a lot of feeling into her works and I enjoy what I have seen. There is a lot of variety in her galleries.

~ Darrell

I find this piece of artwork by Pauline Jones to be visually stimulating. My immediate response to this creative inspiration has this luminescent crescent moon fallen from another planet's solar system -- as it looks like it has haphazardly landed upon our shores. Maybe some other planetary creature is missing its home because it has now crashed down here.

~ Mags

Michael Komarck - King Arthur (2005)

This picture screams fantasy all over. In particular the portions that grip my attention are the shield and sword. While the dragon on the shield appears to be heraldic in nature, the overall design on the shield does not seem to be typical heraldic design -- of course it might be, especially applying rules of heraldry foreign to English or Scottish Heraldry. The sword and shield appear to be a bit of an odd couple with the sword being a two-handed or hand-and-a-half (bastard) sword -- judging by the grip.

Looking at the illustration of King Arthur one clearly sees that he is a reluctant warrior choosing the path of war as a last resort. This could be seen as cowardly or gentlemanly depending on your view of history.

It is my hope that you will go and check out the rest of Michael Komarck's potpourri of surprises as it will be like tasting creativity for the first time.

~ Mags

"King Arthur (2005)" by Michael Komarck is an interesting illustration found by Mags on Michael Komarck's own "Michael Komarck Illustration" site.

The style of this piece is what I am used to seeing in game books and on collectible game cards. I rather enjoy the crisp clean style and am a sucker for winter fantasy/medieval scenes. I find they offer much for the artist and for the viewer's eye with the muting and interesting light-scapes that can be created with snow and mists. The combination of cold and armour is also rather intriguing to me. I must admit to having set a medieval fantasy role playing game campaign in an arctic winter setting and having run a number of scenarios in winter storms.

Of course the image is in the "collectible cards" section of the site which fits the style... perhaps Komarck is the artist who has done a number of the pieces of gaming art that I recall and enjoy? The work is labelled as for the CCG Anachronism. CCG stands for Collectible Card Game. I really do like other pieces from that collection as well. Personally I am more interested in collecting the cards than playing the game -- something I have only done once or twice and I think with a different CCG.

I think that looking through Michael Komarck's work will be refreshing and well worth it especially to those of you who are unfamiliar with pen and paper role playing gaming. For those who are familiar I think you will still enjoy seeing this artists work.

~ Darrell

Ravi Vora - The Adventurer

This creative picture is from the portfolio of Ravi Vora found on the Behance Network.

It is an interesting composition with some photographic elements -- apparently from the "Fields" listed on the image's portfolio page "Fields: Photo Manipulation, Digital Art" -- as well as digital artwork. I like the way it is put together and the media seems secondary to the image which might have been done in other media as well as what actually was used.

There is a lovely whimsical sense to the image with the dolphins investigating the boy floating through space holding onto the circus balloons. They are as out of place in space as the boy. The whole is under a near total Solar Eclipse -- which might also be either a total one about to occur or one that has just occurred. These eclipses are rather magical to any who have experienced one first hand.

There is an interesting balance in the image between warm and cool colours with the warmer colours of the moon and solar crescent above and the cooler blues of the earth below. I wonder if the boy is still rising and if the dolphins will follow?

~ Darrell

On first inspection of this latest artistic find; one wonders whether the dolphins and the boy can understand one another's uniqueness in language or whether they have to take a quick crash course in cohabitation.

~ Mags

Chris Becker - The Hanging City

The second I glanced at Chris Becker's "The Hanging City" I could not take my eyes off the links in the chains. The thought came to me -- What would happen if just one single link snapped? A great analogy as we as humans have forgotten what it means to stick with one another in all kinds of weather. We need to get back to sticking with one another for the long haul. We are all important and often a single link can break a chain.

~Mags

This image makes me think of the flights of fancy I take when I let my imagination run a bit daydreaming. I'll lay back and look at normal objects and they will cease to be normal objects... in this case I am reminded of a hanging light fixture. I might transform such a light fixture into a hanging city in my imagination. Of course there might be a part of my mind wondering just what the city would be hanging from. Still, the city is beautiful and has an airy oriental feeling to it. The composition is interesting with the highlights of the metal and misty shadows in the distance. I wonder how the composition would work on a dark and stormy night...

~ Darrell.