45. Duff Park in Winter, 12 x 16, digital photograph, 2011

This was taken in Duff Park in Murrysville, Pennsylvania close to where I live.  The original photo lacked any color and while it looked just fine as a standard black and white image, adding a sepia tone to the picture, I think, definitely makes this photograph stand out.  And yes, it was very cold when I took this. Click on the image to enlarge.

Edited on April 14, 2012:  After looking at this image for a year, I have decided that yellow snow is not all that appealing after all and I like my black and white version much more, especially when mounted in a nice modern chrome frame.  So here it is.  What do you think?

Duff Park in Winter by Bob Bickers, 2011, photograph

44. Winter Fences, digital photograph, 2011

Winter Fences by Bob Bickers, 2011, digital photograph

One of the things I like about living in Murrysville, PA, is the fact that I am never very far from the rural countryside. This view is not far from my house. I digitally altered my photograph in order to make it resemble an impressionist painting.  Click on the image to enlarge.

43. Sun and Shadow, 9 x 12, digital photograph, 2011

Here's another photo I took from the highway in Ohio which I managed to salvage.  Besides the tree catching my eye, I really liked the contrasts in the sunlight and shadows on the winter grass.  Click onthe image to enlarge.

42. Branches, 8 x 10, photograph, 2011

This lonely tree was photographed from the highway while I was traveling through Ohio last month.  Click on the image to enlarge.

41. Acadian Sailing, 12 x 16, digital photograph, 2011

This is my interpretation of a scene taken in the waters off of Acadia National Park in Maine the summer of 2009.  I have many more images from Acadia that will be a source of inspiration for me for many years to come.  Click on the image to enlarge.

40. Cody's Catch, 18 x 24, oil on canvas, 2010

Cody's Catch by Bob Bickers, 18 x 24, oil on canvas, 2010

I begin this New Year by wrapping up a bit of business from 2010.  At right is an oil painting commissioned last year, Cody's Catch, 18 x 24, oil on canvas, 2010.  The person who commissioned the painting had accompanied Cody and his father on a fishing trip to a remote area of Canada a few years ago.  While there, Cody had caught a huge Northern Pike with an ordinary fishing line.  He struggled with it for a long time before bringing the exhausted fish to his kayak.  Unfortunately, the fish got away before any pictures could be taken, thus the desire to forever re-create the moment in oil.  I used photos of Cody taken on the trip, as well as pictures of the lake and I pulled reference photos off the internet ont he fish and the type of kayak Cody was using.  I then had my daughter pose for Cody's body holding a fishing rod and kneeling in a sled.  Eventually it all came together for a complete painting.  I have a page on my website showing the steps I took in creating this painting here.

I had a good time working on this painting and I hope to get more commissioins this year.  Meanwhile, I plan to post each new painting I do right here on this blog.  Most will be a bit smaller than this one, and each will be for sale.

A couple of years ago I tried to post a new painting every week, but stumbled a few months in as I got involved in other matters.  I am going to try to do the same again, although I may need to post one of my photographs once in a while.  I am hoping 2011 will be the start of a wonderful new decade of art!  As always, click on the image to enlarge.

39. Yellow Flowers on the Edge of Darkness, 18 x 12, digital photograph

Yellow Flowers on the Edge of Darkness by Bob Bickers, digital photograph

I read that the original Tron movie was excluded from consideration for an Academy Award for animation back in 1983 because any use of computers was considered by the Academy back then as "cheating", even though most of the movie itself was animated by hand.  Now we view computer-generated images (CGI) as an art form all it own, one that incorporates the skills and talents of hundreds of individuals during a major production.

Given that apparent shift in people's attitudes, I present you with the image at left.  Is it a painting?  Is it a photograph of a painting?  Is it "true" photography?

It is a computer-altered digital photograph made to resemble a painting.  Is it art?  It did take some effort to set up, photograph, and work out my vision on the computer.  It is not an accident or a random creation, like throwing paint at a canvas, but is the end result of an idea or image that first existed in my head and with some effort, was made into a form that could be seen and shared with everyone.  From that perspective, it clearly is art and I am the artist.   

Still, if I were take a brush and painted the exact image by hand instead of using a camera and computer, how would you feel about it?  It is obvious that while we may admire the technical and perhaps even the artistic skills of photographers, and to a lesser extent, computer geeks, we still have a prejudice for the painter who uses his own two hands to create a beautiful image. 

Perhaps it has something to do with the miracle of a person transforming blobs of mere pigment into something that can not only be recognizable, but even move the human heart.  In that sense, and as the late television artist Bill Alexander often said, being an artist is probably as close to being like God as mortals can ever come. Maybe.  And if that is true, then maybe all that comes with being an artist, the ability to acutely observe, see, appreciate and express all the beauty (and the ugliness) in the universe around us, maybe that is a unique and special quality in God that we all should seek in ourselves.  Click on the image to enlarge.

38. Snow Trails, 12 x 18, digital photograph

Snow Trails by Bob Bickers, digital photograph, 2009

This was the inspiration for the painting of the same name posted below.  Images like this make me want to go outside and paint all winter, or at least take my photos and run back to the studio to paint in warmth and comfort.  Taken in Export, Pennsylvania last January.   Click on image to enlarge.

37. Fallow Field, 12 x 18, digital photograph

Fallow Field by Bob Bickers, digital Photograph, 2010

Like the photograph in the previous post, this too is a digital photograph altered to resemble an oil painting.  This was taken in a field in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.  I was originally drawn to the tangle of limbs and roots in the tree in the foreground, but later discovered the fascinating tree that appears in the center background of this image.

This photograph is also currently on display at the East Suburban Artists League's annual exhibit at the gallery at Penn State New Kensington, Pennsylvania through the end of December, 2010.  Take a look at it and other fine artwork while you are there.  Here is the article that appeared in the Valley News Dispatch on this show. Click on the image to enlarge.

36. Gold Vision, 12 x 16, digital photograph

Gold Vision, by Bob Bickers, digital photograph, 2010

This is one of my photographs I have altered to resemble an oil painting.  Since many have created paintings to resemble photographs, I though turnabout was fair play.  I am not really sure how I feel about the idea of altering a photograph in this manner, but I figure that as long as I am not trying to deceive anyone, there should be no problem.  Is it art?  Well, it looks good to me, and it didn't exist before I went to the trouble of making it, so I say yes, it is art, and maybe a sub-category of art from altered photographs, something that has been with us since cameras were first invented. What do you think?

This photograph is currently on display at the East Suburban Artists League's annual exhibit at the gallery at Penn State New Kensington, Pennsylvania through the end of December, 2010.  Take a look at it and other fine artwork while you are there.  Here is the article on the art show that appeared in the Valley News Dispatch.  Click on the image to enlarge.