Imagician: Visionary Painting and Photography by Carl Lyle Jenkins

Artist’s Statement The 70 images found in this book include some of my original oil paintings, photographs, and digitally created artworks produced over the last 20 years. Most people have at least some understanding concerning painting and photography. But some folks may still consider the digital imaging process a bit mysterious. For the uninitiated, a little explanation concerning how the process works may help. When using a computer, the artist is literally painting with light, with the electrical energy that is visible on the monitor. I find that working in this medium stretches my imagination and creativity to their outermost limits. All tools used with more conventional mediums—and many that are unique to computers—are available to the digital artist. Using a mouse or a graphics tablet and stylus, I select from a wide variety of types, shapes and sizes of brushes, airbrushes, palette knives, pencils, pens, and erasers. The colours with which I paint are selected from an infinite palette and mixed within the computer. Some of my digital paintings are created entirely within virtual reality. Other images incorporate paintings and drawings I create outside the computer—as well as my original photographs--which are imported into the computer from the camera or by using a scanner. The imported art and photography are then incorporated into the digital painting using a layering process. Layers are stacked one on top of another like sheets of glass. They are then digitally manipulated. Opacity, color, hue, and saturation may be altered in the individual layers. Various filters may be used to create special effects. The layers are then blended with one another using a variety of digital techniques. The original final digital image is then rendered using a Giclee (inkjet) Printmaking process. I truly hope you enjoy the selections from my work found herein. Carl Lyle Jenkins Santa Fe, New Mexico January 2015