ROB WILSON: Light Out of Darkness

About the Work I call these PHOTO-PAINTINGS. I take pictures in camera raw, I edit them in Adobe CRW and I import them into Photoshop at the highest possible resolution. I make many layers, I use many tools, I "paint with pixels," all in the computer, using a Wacom tablet and stylus. I print on high-end Epson inkjet printers, giclée on canvas. I sometimes augment the print with acrylics. A few have been sold in art competitions and through galleries. I do not consider myself a fine artist, nor am I trying to delude with fake paintings. I have great respect for painters who can create an image entirely with their eyes, brain, and hands, using brushes and paint. I cannot even draw. I have been a director, I have a good eye, I see meaningful moments (when I am calm and focused) and love the play of natural light. The gallery is called "Light out of Darkness" as an homage to the metaphor of the darkroom, where I used to spend countless hours. It was my refuge. I once got to spend time with Ansel Adams in his darkroom, watching him plunge his famous hands into the fixer, teasing out a perfect range of blacks, whites, and grays. I was sorry to see film give way to digital, and I miss the magic of developing a great print. But I started dabbling with this hybrid medium in 2003, and it became a creative diversion from a very dark passage; "Light Out of Darkness." I have pretty much stopped this since I recovered and our art business crashed in 2008, and I have been distracted by the necessity of survival. I also just felt like a charlatan, since so many people thought I had painted the works, despite my attempts at explaining the process. This work was very absorbing, was a sanctuary from care. I became lost in the process; I forgot my troubles. I went past the photograph, into a surreal space the camera cannot reach. I gave each image some added dimension, subjective, impressionistic. I tried to create enticing, whimsical, mystical and uplifting imagery that affected people positively, more than the original photograph might. It is complete self-expression, through the collaboration of my mind's eye and some amazing technology. I enjoyed it. It took me away, to a quiet, blissful place. And every now and then, someone wanted to go there with me and paid me money for a fine inkjet print. That was very nice of them.

ROB WILSON Light Out of Darkness