Artist on Acid Sees Surreal Scene Behind Easel

A flowering plum tree bursts into a riot of pink blossoms in the background. In the foreground, an artist's easel with the partly painted scene upon it captures the artist's impression. — The painterly scene

No, the artist wasn’t on acid. (Good click-bait title though, don’t ya think?) If anything, that would be the photo editor (that would be me) who would be on acid when I tweaked the landscape with Photoshop to make it all “swirly” while the artist’s easel stayed stone-cold sober.

The effect is not so noticeable when the image is reduced, but you can view (and download) the full-sized image (2560 x 1440) from the lightbox that comes up when you click/tap the image above.

A plum tree in full bloom, Photoshopped to look all swirly — The flowering plum tree, um, flowering.

A Bit of Backstory

Photo shot over the shoulder of plein air painter, showing his easel with a partly completed painting of a flowering plum tree in a garden. — Plein Air Painter, Sterling Hoffman, captures the scene.

Sterling Hoffman, a prolific plein air painter and my next-door neighbor at the time, makes a quick study of the flowering plum tree in my front yard on a glorious, late-February afternoon in 2017.

… and, to reiterate, nobody was on acid at the time. 🙂

Close up showing artist's arm holding paintbrush over oil painting easel. — Close up, showing Sterling’s painting in progress.

The image below is formatted for a 4×6 print or postcard:

A flowering plum tree bursts into a riot of pink blossoms in the background (altered in Photoshop to be all swirly/wavy). In the unaltered foreground, an artist's easel with the partly painted scene upon it captures the artist's impression.

Comments

Artist on Acid Sees Surreal Scene Behind Easel — 2 Comments

Cam De Leon on July 19, 2023 at 10:37 pm said:

Howdy, Ned – Hey, this is quite a magical rabbit-hole you have here. It’ll take me some time to wind my way through it, but I’m certainly looking forward to the time well spent. Many thanks to Robin for getting us all together, and PeaceTown was a real hoot on this particular Wednesday. Cool to get to know you. More soon ~ Cam

Reply ↓
Ned Buratovich on July 20, 2023 at 9:45 pm said:

Hey there, Cam, yes hanging out at PeaceTown was fortuitous. I’d heard you were an illustrator and an artist, so unsurprisingly, you commented on this post: Artist on acid sees surreal scene.

Then I go to your website and am blown away by the imagery, exquisitely conceived and rendered. Dude, you are totally talented and totally twisted (in a good way, i.e. transcendently creative)

Hey, anyone reading this comment thread, seriously go to Cam’s website and browse around. Use this link as a wormhole to Cam’s own magical rabbit hole, deeper, darker and even more imaginative than mine:

https://www.camdeleon.com/

Reply ↓

imagiNed Conceptual Artistry

for entertainment and edification by Ned Buratovich

A Bit of Backstory

Comments

Artist on Acid Sees Surreal Scene Behind Easel — 2 Comments

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