A Journey Through Art: From Canvas to Digital

I’m an abstract artist. About seven years ago, I decided to set aside my brushes and use the computer as a tool for creating art.

A little backstory: In the early 70s, I was a full-time painter and sculptor. It was one of the happiest times of my life, but also a challenging way to make a living. I was starting to gain recognition, and in late 1979, I was notified that I would receive a six-figure grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to create a public sculpture. However, the grant was contingent on the presidential election, and since Reagan had vowed to cut funding, I was concerned. When Reagan won, the grant disappeared. I was devastated and furious.

Realizing I couldn't continue down that path, I was determined to find a new way to support myself. For the next two or three years, I explored various opportunities until I landed a job selling computers. It was the dawn of personal computing, with companies like IBM, Texas Instruments, Apple, and Microsoft providing free education for retail salespeople. I loved it and immersed myself in learning. Eventually, I specialized in Computer-Aided Design software and later in 3D modeling and rendering.

After several years in that field, I transitioned into the advertising industry, where I spent over 30 years using computers to create 3D animations, edit video productions, and design graphics. During that time, I painted whenever I had downtime. When I (semi) retired at 62, I was eager to return to art for art's sake.

However, I quickly realized that painting full-time required more than I had remembered. I needed a space where I could not only create art, but also an incredible mess, just as I had in my youth. I found myself spending a lot of time maintaining brushes and paints, and cleaning up afterward. That’s when I thought, why not use the digital tools I had mastered over the years to create my paintings? I could still express the same abstract thoughts and impressions, just using a different medium. Since I had been using Photoshop almost daily since 1990, the computer became my new painting studio. Thus began my experiment—a creative journey that I find fascinating and plan to pursue as long as I can.

I’ve explored AI tools extensively, but I prefer not to use them as a painting medium. I do find them useful in other areas of my life, such as writing and research. However, I have concerns about AI's impact on public perception as it relates to painting. The reality is that anyone can create stunning images with AI and label them as "art." This, in general, is my issue—it creates the perception that digital painting isn’t a valid art form, and that the imagery originates from an artificial source. I couldn’t disagree more.