Filtered Findings

About a year and a half ago, I started using the filters on my phone to adjust the paintings I’m working on, allowing me to create discoverable layers with their own stories.

It’s not like there’ll be a Hello Kitty hiding in the sky, and I'm using values to indicate certain viewable options.

Filters pluck at the edges of things and alter what you see. I've used filters while painting to construct an alternate view inside the composition - an alternate universe just a tiny step out of sync.

Diving Deep

Filters show me that the values are right, and allow me to see the depth I'm creating clearly.

I use greyscale filters on every composition. And I use a variety of filters to find and highlight things that are not visible to the naked eye. Shadows leap at you, or light becomes tiny hands that reach out to warm you.

Some of them are very subtle, and some are very obvious within the right filter.

So far, nobody has noticed!

My goal is that I want to encourage people to take selfies in front of my art, adding filters, and seeing what they can discover. My hope is then they will share the experience with me.

I plan to build a board online that is accessible to people who go and physically see my art, to create a way for people to post their selfies.

That way, I can finally see my art reflected in other people’s eyes.

Eventually, I’d love to make my art viewable by the public around the world. Or to create a collaborative project with other artists who have to isolate like me. If I can't go anywhere, at least my art can!

To me, that’s everything. It fuels my desire to create. And as an extrovert who is forced to isolate, I’m excited to take steps that allow me to connect more with the folks who experience my art.