Z is for Zinnias

YAY! I've made it through the alphabet, though not yet through the entire month. After 26 days I really feel like I am in a productive and creative zone, and glad to be meeting my own goal of creating and sharing something everyday for this month.

Today's work is based on a photograph of zinnias - it is done in Photoshop.

Once again, setting out to plan a painting, I have combined digital effects that result in an image that reads as a painting, and provides me with the guide I need to move to the canvas. However, once again, I feel like this stands alone as a work of art worth sharing.

I have always loved making computer art. I have decades of experience in graphic design using all kinds of computer art tools - CorelDraw 1 anybody?  But I used to feel guilty about using my tools to create "fine art."  Lately though, the more I experiment, the more images I create, the more my point of view shifts. I think art happens where and how it happens -

For me, using digital tools allows me to build my visual and my technical skills. They also enable me to accomplish another of my goals for this month - to understand how to abstract an image. As I play with Photoshop and Illustrator, I begin to see how to simplify, how textures and shapes combine to "read" as flowers, or seascapes or sunsets. Most of all, no matter where the working takes place,  I am LEARNING everyday and with every piece.

How do you feel about painting in Photoshop or other digital tools? How do you use them in conjunction with your art?