Still playing around with this screen-print, I couldn’t decide which illustration I liked better so here are a couple of versions. There are a few other colour options actually, but I like these two best.
SU-30 Formation (2024)
Illustration – Scanned screen-print, digital image manipulation
SU-30 Flower (Digital Collage)
A screen-print of a Chinese SU-30, a Russian made fighter jet. I made the print quite a few years ago but I’ve recently scanned the image to manipulate in Photoshop. Trying to make something beautiful out of a object designed for war and destruction.
The first Beech leaves of the year
Crocosmias sword like leaves in the spring
Untitled (dot) 2024
Digital Photograph (10 x 13cm each)
An Illustration I made based on this article about North Korean involvement in using AI for hacking.
(Found images from magazines, newspapers and online search – 1920 x 1080px – 72dpi)
This links with my ongoing project about North Korea – https://halstennett.co.uk/North-South-Korea
And on the same subject an interesting document recently published by Human Rights Watch, you can read it here: The Closing of North Korea 2018–2023
A quick Photoshop illustration using found images from the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. A disturbing situation on all sides that probably isn’t going to resolve quickly.
Installing Raspberry Pi OS on the Zero 2 W model. Its a little underpowered so I’ve added a heatsink and overclocked it a small amount from 1Ghz up to 1.2Ghz, a 20% increase and it seems a bit more responsive after that. The Micro-SD card speed also makes quite a difference, after switching to a newer higher spec card the OS is a bit smoother.
The aim is to set it up as a digital picture frame, so all its got to do is display a slide-show of JPEG files. HDMI output can link up to a small 5in LCD or E-ink display embedded in a wooden frame. The device is so small it can just sit flush behind the picture frame somewhere.
If it works then maybe I’ll try with the more powerful/usable Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 depending on price, then I can display video files as well for an exhibition type situation.
‘Cherry Blossom’ 2009
Acrylic on canvas (50 x 50cm)
I finished these about 15 years ago, but they had damage to the paint surface, from being on display and also from storage. Spent quite a while working on these at the time so gave them a quick refresh, repainted most of the yellow background, and most of the text has been redone/sharpened.
Its a Canadian sweet, quite easy to find out there – Made since 1890.
I’ve just received this amazing book on Vija Celmins detailing a lot of her works over the past 60 years, working in printmaking, drawing, painting and sculpture. Not many good books available that offer such a broad view of all her artwork.
Winter – Fifth Avenue 1893
Photogravure (22 x 15.4cm)
Alfred Stieglitz, an American Photographer and one of the earlier promoters of Photography as an art form. This is the cropped version that Steiglitz decided on, and the full image below. You can see why he cropped the image, both tell quite different stories. Stieglitz was also married to Georgia O’keeffe the American painter.
Second visit with a better Camera this time. Also had a walk around the Leguer River valley basin and then a quick visit further upstream to the location of the 1920’s Hydro electric dam at Kernansquillec. Most of the dam structure was demolished in the 1990’s but a few elements remain.
An abandoned paper mill near Belle-Isle-en-Terre. The mill started in 1856 and was at its peak in the 1930’s after they built a hydro electric dam nearby to power the mill. Using cotton rags and wood pulp they made all sorts of paper, notebooks, school workbooks, print making paper, stationary for the whole of Brittany for many years. Interesting to explore for a couple of hours. It reminded me of the location in Stalker (1979) when they are inside the building and reach the ‘Room’ which is actually an abandoned power plant somewhere in Estonia.
Should have tried this many years ago, a lot of prints that need framing!
A couple of interesting articles about Cosmic Threads –
Hal Stennett 