Thursday, February 19, 2015

Digital Artworks by the Artist Jack A. Atkinson + Food: Boiled Custard

The basis for all of Jack A. Atkinson's art are preliminary monotone, ink and brush works
usually painted in the moment, from life -  then converted into digital outputs as the final presentation.
ART:
"Picturing the 
Essence of Life: Energy!"
Digital Artworks by Jack A. Atkinson

(Editor's Note: Jack A. Atkinson is the Editor & Publisher of ARTSnFOOD.blogspot.com and the subject of this issue. The first person commentary is in quotes.)

Simplicity, ENERGY, Beauty is the test artist Jack A. Atkinson requires of his work before he lets it go. 

Through the artist's computer, he adds scale or color or manipulation to enhance the essence already captured with-in his preliminary ink paintings, his intended subject is always: Life's Energy!


Break-dancer, spinning while doing a hand-stand, down in the subway, NYC.
Ink & Brush Digital Color Painting 1/1 

Atkinson thinks of his digital art as being similar to photojournalism, except he uses his eyes, brain, hand, brush and ink on natural paper for his capture device (in photography, the analogy would be a camera and photo-negatives). He converts these preliminary artworks, with-in the computer's programs, into "unique" (1/1) archival digital outputs. Thus Atkinson transforms, alters or repaints his preliminary prehistoric, ink and brush medium, into bold, twenty-first century digital artworks.

Jack A. Atkinson comments on his art: "The time I have worked on each of my digital painting incarnations, shown below, represents years of exploration with-in each period of time. I'm again enjoying the beauty of my drawings, by showing "one-of-a-kind" (1/1), digital, b/w "blow-ups", similar to the first digital works I created on canvas during my first phase of work. Now the art is flush mounted on aluminum and floated away from the wall."

 Shy Tibetan Boy (displayed on bold wallpaper, with a chair and zebra heels).


Girl on the street in NYC, large output,
flush mounted on aluminum.


Man checking messages on the subway, large output,
flush mounted on aluminum.




Native American Fancy Dancer, large output,
flush mounted on aluminum.


Native American Fringe Dancer, large output,
flush mounted on aluminum.



A Short Professional Bio
for Jack A. Atkinson
Artist • Photographer
• Editor/Publisher • Cook/Chef
Artist Statement:
"The focus of my life has been aesthetics and my adult career has exclusively been devoted to the visual arts. "Simplicity, Energy, Beauty" is the test for all of my projects, visual or otherwise. It has been my privilege to work in the arts, for my entire life and I now embrace what we call "Fine Art".

ARTIST: I was born an artist and also played music professionally for five years during my youth. I worked as an Art Director for most of my professional life in the applied-arts: in corporations; freelance; for regional magazines; major metropolitan newspapers; and national magazines. Today I exhibit my artworks in galleries. I helped to organize and participated in The First All-Digital-Output Art Exhibition in New York City's Chelsea Arts District, titled "5 Digital Artists" at Caelum Gallery in 2007.
PHOTOGRAPHER: As an Art Director, I stood looking over the left shoulder of many great photographers as they took pictures I had assigned to them. Now, I enjoy creating photography myself and have self-published four coffee-table books of my photographs. I would classify this work as fine art photograph, with a photo-journalistic approach.
EDITOR / PUBLISHER: I currently publish a weekly online Arts and Food magazine: www.ARTSnFOOD.blogspot.com. During my print publication career, creating excellent publications was a thrill. When the ability to publish my own magazine materialized through blogging, I jumped on the bandwagon. I am amazed at how widely read "ARTSnFOOD" actually is, hundreds of thousands have read it world-wide. The magazine mostly covers art exhibitions in galleries and museums in NYC, throughout the USA and around the globe. It also incorporates the culinary arts in a weekly food feature and from time to time the publication covers Art Related Shopping and Art Related Travel.

COOK/CHEF: My first full-time job was as the Corporate Art Director for Holiday Inns International, Inc. Our friends became the extraordinary chefs Holiday Inns had brought in from around the world to oversee the H.I. Food and Beverage Department. The experience of eating out with these chefs, in their homes and around their tables with their families, launched my love of great food and entertaining! We now regularly entertain at our home, having many large dinner parties a year, where we prepare and serve gourmet food."

Jack A. Atkinson's Digital Artworks can be divided into five distinct periods
and now he has returned to his first approach, but with a new presentation.

1st Period
Ink & Brush Blow-Ups - Unique Digital Paintings 

Wet Dog, large output,
archival ink on canvas.

Duckling Swimming, large output, archival ink on canvas.


2nd Period
Ink & Brush Altered Monochrome Digital Paintings 

All of Atkinson's art starts with preliminary ink and brush paintings, but his digital works have gone through several periods of experimentation, in an attempt to emphasize the "energy" he seems to capture in his ink and brush preliminary paintings. This second period is "Ink & Brush Altered Monochrome Paintings". These are all digital archival Epson outputs on canvas, "unique" (1/1).


 Dutch Girl


Horse Circus 


Young Couple at the Piano

3rd Period
Ink & Brush Digital Color Paintings 

Starting with the preliminary ink & brush art, in Atkinson's 3rd period of experimentation, he added flat color to the final artworks. All art is digital archival outputs on canvas, "unique" (1/1).




 Alex Katz, drawn from life.



Frank at Festival of Mountains & Plains



Gallery Pup


Pelon & his pet, Kiwi. 


"Rasta Poet" Nuyorican Poets Cafe.


Jack Atkinson Self-portrait (drawn looking in a mirror).


4th Period
Ink & Brush Color Paintings with Abstractions 

From preliminary life drawings done in ink & brush, Atkinson's 4th incarnation of digital painting was again a search to better express the energy he recognized with-in his b/w preliminary paintings. The artist moved beyond his computer generated color paintings by adding expressive alterations and digital painting techniques. The works shown are all digital Epson archival outputs on canvas, "unique" 1/1.


 Buddha, the brush & ink was drawn from life in a Tibetan monastery.



 Drawn during a play about Paris in the 1890s. This scene showing clients at a brothel. Lincoln center, NYC.


 A young woman and a more mature woman on a couch, in conversation.


Caldecott the Cat. A mysterious soul.


Friend of the artist, at an opening in NYC.


Skiers, Copper Mountain, Colorado.

5th Period
Ink & Brush "Color Energy Paintings"

The artist feels the naturally occurring energy in the preliminary art is the real subject of his art and the most interesting aspect of the artworks. Thus the objective of this period of his exploration of color digital painting was to go all in and attempt to visualize the "pure energy" found in his ink and brush paintings. Searching for a name, he called these "Color Energy Paintings", "Spirit Paintings" or "Aura Paintings". They are all digital Epson archival outputs on canvas, "unique" 1/1.

 African Fertility Doll, energy painting.


Chris on stage, energy painting. 


 Guilin Landscape, energy painting.


Girl in a Turban, energy painting.


 Sailboat on the Hudson, energy painting.


Tibetan Boy, energy painting.


Today, the artist has come full circle and refocused on his "one-of-a-kind" (1/1), digital, b/w "blow-ups" this time flush mounted on aluminum and floated away from the wall. The reason for abandoning color for now is because the energy in the b/w art is direct and obvious and the scale adds a contemporary flair and drama. 

Simplicity, Energy and Beauty are all present in the most pure and simple ways.

At an art opening, pictured: "Betty @ 100"



Guilin Landscape

 Legs at a MoMA Art Party

 Two Young Women from Argentina at a museum exhibition.

Dragonfly

For more information 
go to the website:

All art in this issue is © Copyright Jack A. Atkinson, 2015.
Do not copy, republish, or reproduce in any form the images above without written permission of Jack Atkinson Studios.
No Pemission is Required for Links:
Or to the website JackAtkinson.com  

FOOD:
Boiled Custard
A Southern Comfort 
Sweet Treat!

Ingredients:
1 quart of homogenized milk
2 Tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in cold water
3 eggs, well beaten to a lemon color
½ - ¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Place milk in a double boiler.  Heat milk until warm, then add 2 teaspoons of corn starch which has been dissolved in cold water. Next add 3 well beaten eggs (beat to a lemon color), add ½ cup sugar (3/4 if you want it sweeter) to the beaten eggs, stir until mixed well.  Add eggs and sugar to the milk, stirring constantly until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon.  Add vanilla.

If you like a thick boiled custard use 3 Tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in cold water instead of 2 Tablespoons.  Have your beaten eggs and sugar ready to put into the warm milk as soon as you have stirred in cornstarch (this is important).

If you like a sweet boiled custard, add ¾ cups of sugar to beaten eggs instead of ½ cup.  To make ½ gallon, double measurements. Top boiled custard with whipped cream if you would like a rich presentation when served.

Yield:  Makes 2 quarts.
(Source: Mary Boylston Crichton, Atkinson Family Cookbook)

Until Later,
Jack
ARTSnFOOD, is an online publication dedicated to "The Pursuit of Happiness, the Arts and Food." ™ All rights reserved. Concept, Original Art, Text & Photographs are © Copyright 2015 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. All gallery, museum, fair or festival photographs were taken with permission. Images © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.

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