We Can Rise – Digital Artistry by Nicky Jameson
Compared to my photography, photo artistry is a very different ball-game requiring a very different approach. Even though I art journal, because ideas can come from anywhere at any time, when I sit down at my canvas I am never quite sure what art I am going to create. Even when I have particular vision in mind it may take some time before it comes into formation. It’s both exciting and scary, challenging and exhilarating at the same time.
With We Can Rise, one of my latest textured art creations I explored my love of the surreal using a Watercolour sketch treatment. The actual photograph is of a very popular part of Toronto, the corner of Yonge and Wellington Streets. From there it’s possible to see one of Toronto’s tallest condos – One King West – which is also a hotel. I created this composite by layering the original photos with textures and overlays and added clouds. I usually have an idea of an end point when I start working on a composition, which so often goes in a different direction. As I worked on this one, came the “magic moment” when I knew exactly what I wanted to say – and to include the right elements to create a story of hope and the unusual. From there my artistic journey into this piece continued,looking for the flowers growing taller than the skyscrapers (they had to be the right flowers) and positioning them in a particular place. One of the reasons I love creating digital artistry (or photo artistry) is that every single layer and every single element means something and is there for a reason. It’s like watching films….you know that every single item in a scene is there for a purpose, nothing is wasted.
It’s been an interesting and rather stressful week, as I write this it’s not yet a week since our momentous #Brexit, resembling, to many, an earthquake and certainly a seismic shift in every possible way. Being British has been… interesting… in a way I’d never quite experienced it before. I’ve never been prouder to be British.
But no matter what challenges life throws our way, we can look up and rise to the occasion. We can choose our thoughts and our attitude and our response, we can embrace opportunity, be hopeful and unafraid of failure, learn who we are and always find reasons to be grateful and ride the waves. This is the way I choose to look at the world – at and beyond the canvas
You can see my latest artwork on my Instagram (follow me there) and on nickyjamesonphotography.com
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