Maybe it's because I grew up in the 80s (where I'm pretty sure some of the worst and stupidest band names ever come from... 'cats can fly', 'flock of seagulls', 'men without hats', to name a few), I often see or think of odd word combinations and imagine that they would have made great band names.

In most cases it seems to be these strange 3 word combos... off the top of my head -> Destiny of Dirt, Lovers before Trout, Life of Excuses, Desires with Fisticuffs, okay, that's enough of that... but it is fun to think about.

Lynnie must do the same because while flipping though the Lee Valley Tools gardening catalogue, she came across 'Crack Weeder', and mentioned that she thought it would be a good band name. I have to agree.

For those curious....
Our Guitar Hero band name was "Martha's Poncho", followed by our current RockBand2 super-group - "The Bump Muffers". We rock :-)

"Cast off those lines. Weigh anchor and crowd that canvas!"

...to quote Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm not chasing down renegade pirates (are there other kinds of pirates?) , but I am rather excited that my CANVAS order has arrived. I order all my giclée canvas from the USA, and my regular 'brand' was back-ordered. Knowing about the delay I decided to try another manufacturer. WOW. The colours weren't as vibrant or true to the original images, and the UV protectant spray didn't look right either. It's amazing what a difference having the right materials makes!

A 'happy to have my canvas' Christopher.

For those that don't know... (part I)

Hello new people to the world of my artwork. It just occurred to me that some of you out there visiting and reading this blog (btw, thanks! :-) may not know much about my life and the artworks that I've created. Rather than write a huge long post, or try to include this info in my 'about me' section, I thought I would write a series of smaller messages talking about a single piece of artwork, part of my history, or a little about how/why I work the way that I do.

Let's get things started with a rather popular digital painting that I created a couple of years ago...

"Unexpected First Move"

Playing with the isometric view of the chess board, I tried to create an image that is both eye catching and fun. I have always enjoyed optical illusions and this is certainly theme/style that I plan to continue in the future.

I thought that putting the chessboard onto a cliff face would help to add to the artwork and give it more depth (further enhancing the illusion). While painting the cliffs below the chessboard suddenly faces began to appear in what I was creating; rather than dismiss this or try to hide it, I decided to keep them, add more, and make them less subtle than they originally were. It always interesting to hear people reactions when they first notice them.

There are two comments that often get passed along to me about this image are: 1. It reminds people of M.C. Escher (something that I always take as a great compliment, being a long time fan of Escher myself - more about this in the future) and 2. That they've seen it before, sent via email, and that I must just be selling a copy of somebody else work. This 2nd one always seems very odd to me.... I created the work, but I've never had it accidentally come across my inbox (but one day, that would be great :-)


Hand signed, 11"x14" stretched canvas giclée prints are available direct from me via my www.digitalartist.etsy.com website. They are $60 each.

Thoughts towards....

Ideas and mental processes are going toward mirrors & photographs and how the two can be combined to create really interesting images. hmmm..... gears are turning.

Welcome to my world....

I hate it when I twist an ice cube tray and [to my horror] the cubes aren't completely frozen yet. Nasty air bubbles rush into each and every one. Damn you bubbles... evil, evil bubbles.

Latest Artwork - New Series...

Introducing the "Worlds of..." photo series. Panorama landscape photos with a difference. We all live in our own little worlds - here's a new way of looking at the areas that we each know well.

#1. "World of... the High Level Bridge"

Full details and more images coming soon.

Market Day

Tomorrow is Market Day! Every Sunday I'm at the Callingwood Farmer's Market displaying and selling my artworks.

There is also fruits, veggies, crafts, jewellery, sausages, pirogies, and much more. Sunday 10am - 3pm, until October.

Welcome

Well here it is, the first official post on my new digital artist blog. Welcome. I'll be updating the blog with information about new artworks, ideas for art, works in progress, and just my random ramblings about whatever comes to mind.

Thanks for stopping by,
Christopher Bailey