"Deep Blue" (© Westley Nash 2017)
I've always been very art minded and creative. I like to try my hand at many different mediums and styles where possible. A few years ago I first ventured into "digital art" when I picked up a copy of Sketchbook Pro that was for sale on Amazon. I must confess it was quite a steep learning curve because I was more familiar with actual paint and physical brushes, whereas suddenly this software with all of it's virtual brushes and effects seemed extremely complicated by comparrison. But none the less, a few months of perseverence (and numerous lost works due to me forgetting to save correctly) I eventually began to produce images that I could loosely call "art works".
In all honesty, the majority of my best art pieces came mostly from experimentation or mistakes rather than planned methods. As I explored the program more and more it's many features started to become somewhat familiar; with the most significant of these being the Smudge Brushes. For those unfamiliar with them, they are basically clean brushes that you use to spread or streak the paint already on the canvas, rather than adding more fresh paint. They are really useful in creating a very effective blending of colour. So seeing as Blue has always been my favourite colour and I like to use it as much as possible, then it's no surprise that Deep Blue itself was the artwork born from out of this experimentation of blending.
The form of the painting wasn't necessarily deliberate, but I noted how it kind of reminded me of the "Twilight Zone." Now I'm not talking about the cult TV show that enthralled and terrified us in equal measure growing up, but about the Disphotic Zone, which is the part of the ocean that sits between the bright blue waters above (euphotic zone) and the darkest depths below (aphotic zone); essentially it's the place where the blue fades out to black, and where the light dies. To hit you up with the facts: on average, the Twilight zone extends from 200 to 1,000 meters. It was around the time that video of the largest Great White shark caught on camera had gone viral and the name Deep Blue just stuck in my mind; so there you have it.
I know many artists will avoid digital painting because it tends to hold less accolade. It's sale value is typically much less due to the artwork being a save file that can be copied a gazillion times, rather than a single canvas and paint that serves as the original. But I have really come to appreciate the free flowing fun that comes with it. My advice to any artist or creator is to venture into the unknown or various styles and mediums because you truly never know what amazing things you could create if you were to dare :)
The picture above is a low resolution version of the orignal which can be found on my DeviantArt page here if you want to take a closer look (prints are available)
Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and view my content, I am most honoured indeed and hope you have a really great day :)
Best wishes
Westley xx
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