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b5media Artists Showcase: All Things New

by William Lehman on January 14th, 2007

Now over the last few years (before October this year) I have not done a whole lot of art. I went to museums and shows but to actually get my hands dirty and all painted up, well college and career seemed to be getting in the way. So with this year just barely begun, I am challenging myself… no forcing myself to learn some new stuff. So here is my list of new things to try or work with in the coming year:

• To learn to work with Blender and accomplish small animations: No this isn’t some kind of kitchen fantasy. The little magic toaster who could or something like that. Blender is an open-source 3d animation software. It’s surprisingly powerful from what I’ve seen so far. I’ve already downloaded and watched the tutorials and am at the “ummm, need to find someone out there who can walk me through this” stage.

For instance here is a demonstration I found via google video of the real physics operations of Blender.

Pretty cool huh?

Or a full little movie like this (by the way, well done!)

• Next up, I want to learn some basic welding techniques. I mean hey, you can’t limit your creativity of modeling to only doing digital sculptures. I think I’d like to make a vehicle-sized set of flatware and lay them out on a street somewhere. I’ll call it “Dinner is served” and have a car in the middle upside down like it is being eaten. Put a little glazing over it and do it up like one of those fancy dinners. Of course this evolves out of just putting a very large fork upright into a very straight and narrow road and entitling it “Fork in the Road”. Large installation art like this is starting to fascinate me. Metalworking seems to be the next step toward creating some of this myself.

• I would like to get more into some of the abstract stuff that I’ve worked with in the past. Honestly, these have been one of the types of art that has always sold well for me personally. I also enjoy doing it the most. Each piece comes alive in new ways different from any other painting. It allows me the ability to work with raw form and color in new ways while evoking emotion with a fluidic (is that a word?) consistency.

• Do more with photography. Any person who has worked with photography as an art form comes to a point at which they must say “I’ve only just scratched the surface” Maybe spend some time working primarily with just black and white and developing composition better in my photographs. My wife’s dream is to eventually open a portrait studio ourselves. Of course I’ll get my own little studio too (in some back janitors closet). :)

• I also want to work with water. I have a little tabletop fountain that intrigues me. The way the water moves over each of the stones. So I’ve done some research in creating fountains from scratch. Using the flow of the water for expression. To me it’s like living abstract expressionism. So at some point, I want to build a fountain.

So there are five things I want to do or try or just expound upon in the coming year. I’ve never liked to be tied down to a particular type of art. I’ve already started looking at henna lately, so I may add to this list. What I have found is that each type of art I try builds me up a little bit more. Someday, I may settle in on a particular niche of art, but for now I just like playing. It’s easier to create when it’s not about an end result, there’s no one in particular to please but me, and I am free to try new things.

What will you try new this year? (also don’t forget to subscribe to Artist Hideout via RSS)

Tags: art, weld, artist, media, abstract, photography, water, fountain, blender, 3d, William Lehman

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