The visuals here are products of an image-editing method I contrived for my own use back in 1997. Its purpose was to allow me to multiply the pixel-count of files made with my new but under-powered 4 megapixel camera. My finished files could then produce 16x20 inch and even larger prints.

The problem was that my enhancing process radically changed an image's character from a literal one, into a peculiar, rationalized representation of the original.

I quickly realized my method wouldn't work for making realistic copies of my photographs. But it did succeed as a pixel-multiplier - meaning I could potentially achieve house-sized prints of ultra-high-resolution quality. That was about the time I decided to test my mettle as a digital artist.

I am a practiced photographer, but I have a big pinch of art in my background and lots of computing too. I also suffer from having been a professional filmmaker for a number of years. I was later a desktop software programmer, a database engineer and eventually, a web developer, too.

It is now 18 years since starting on my digital art-trek and interestingly, I now find myself rationalizing images in three different digital mediums - digital painting, drawing and photography too - all using my old editing technique.

And slowly too, my old system has become a philosophical tool for me - a means to shape my images into something closer to designed statements. I have mastered its fickle moments. I can lately tell where the process will take my image and I can act accordingly to steer it to where I like. Perhaps the artist in me is finally showing through.

The following image titles are included here:

"A Line Rumble" -digital drawing rationalized

"Brooklyn Bridge Fans" -from a photo

"Brooklyn Heights" -from the same photo (as Brooklyn Bridge Fans). This image is doubled for display in the MOCA layout

"Level Six - Paris Metro" -from a single photo

"Morning Rush - Paris Metro" -from the same single photo (as Level Six)

"Red Road in Scotland Variation #10" -from a photo

"Smoke For The Eyes" -from a photo, then painted digitally

"Stairs at Palm Beach" -from a photo

"Storm King Mountain Concert For Rocks" -Top is an insert from the original panorama below it. Reformatted here to fit your screen.

"The Clock at d'Orsay" -from a photo

"The Cranes of Hamburg" - a panoramic design from a photo

"Weeds In The Gallery #6" -from a photo overlayed with drawing

Fred Rowley's art on the Web