In the Details

Despite the second demise of ArtExercise the list, the articles shall live on, because it's the little things that matter and keep up going. Which is perhaps why this article is on details. Details in many respects, because a detail can be a physical detail or a detail can be a point of interest in out artwork, or a detail can be the whole artwork.

Remember back to my prior article on textures. While a texture can be a cloud pattern or a field of fallen leaves, generally we consider a texture to be something close up. A texture is that smooth surface we run our fingers over and if we pay close enough attention and concentrate on what we are feeling we discover it's not so smooth at all. Those close up textures that become even more interesting the closer you are able to get to them, are the details to which I am referring.

But they are not alone in the definition of details. Sometimes we see a work of art from a master or a skilled modern day craftsmen and beside that artwork, as it is depicted in a book, we sometimes see a detail. That small image is often selected from several other details in the artwork, not because it is convenient, but because that small detail is in itself a work of art. The detail is balanced and attractive and is expressive of the entire artwork.

However that is not the artwork and should not stand alone. There are photographs out there however of details in our everyday lives that are artwork unto themselves. The grid of an old car, a gnarled and withered tree stump, or the nose and whiskers of a cat are all examples of details in our lives. These are things that normally get overlooked but as an artist you have the chance to make someone stop and realize a part of their everyday lives in a new way. These details can range from fairly large to microscopic.

Below I have inserted an image that you will not be able to identify. You will not be able to do so because I have zoomed in and manipulated the image so much that it has been abstracted beyond recognition. Some time back I took a picture of a field of leaves. From that picture I cropped the image down to a couple of leaves and blew up the picture. From that blow up I cropped the image down to a small part of a leave and blew that up many times. From that small part of a leaf I cropped a tiny spot from the image and blew that up many times. That final resultant image is simply an expression of movement. It's not recognizable as being related to the original image or even a leaf at all.

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