I started wondering if I could do something a bit more visually structured , that still had energy to the surface. I reached back into my textile design roots to create this. It started with rolling out color on the base level, mushing it around, then adding the surface texture.

This one is created with the ArtRage app.

Vi Hart has been making videos about the relationship between doodling and math by drawing fractals in a variety of shapes and forms. They are amazing, and I immediately wanted to go off with my sketchbook and rulers to map out all sorts of things I could them spend may hours coloring in a variety of ways.

Then I remembered I don’t really have time for that right now.

So back to the iPad. I decided to continue to play with the various brush types in ArtRage, but allow myself to be inspired by the fractals.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the way visuals activate different parts of the brain. Exploring ideas around seeds the portals that open up that offer a new possibility. As I play with the iPad, I find imagery related to these ideas are flowing out. I think I’m just playing with a new art app, but I’m seeing the ideas I’m talking and writing about elsewhere affecting the marks on the screen.

This one is created using the ArtRage app.

This starts my playing with another app, Art Rage. It has a real world media metaphor, which makes it easier to understand what the various brushes might do. This one uses the oil paint quite a bit, and the palette knife to mush it around.

I’ve also started using a Stylus Sock Pro. Makes a big difference when I’m trying to get a sharper line or shape. It’s a piece of conductive fabric sewn onto a paintbrush handle. It still has a blunt end, which the iPad needs to register the touch, but it offers more control than fingers.

I’m liking the energy I can get in the marks on iPad. The computer can’t keep up with really fast movement, so I’m working to understand the speed of movement over the surface that captures the energy but doesn’t get ahead of the processor. It’s  affected by a number of factors; brush type. size, zoom.

The exploration of a new media is part of my fascination. Discovering how it works and what it can do.

This one uses the Procreate app.