| I grew up in New York City where it is said people
walk straight ahead and never let their eyes veer in other directions. To
a certain extent this is true. The fast pace forces people to run from one
place to another with little time to stop and enjoy the beauty around them.
I strongly feel there is beauty to be found everywhere,
from a pastoral park scene in the spring time to a grimy, garbage littered
alley behind some building.
All the places which I have painted have jumped
out at me and asked to be painted. I can be walking down a street when suddenly
I will see the image. The composition, the lighting, the colors will all
be presented to me. There have been times when others have been with me
at that moment of inspiration and are suprised when they see the final painting.
"That's what you saw?" they ask.
The desire to capture these visions precisely as
I see them is one of the reasons I was so attracted to the computer. Prior
to the computer, I tried many different media. One that I most often used
to lay the colors down using Dr. Martin's Radient Dyes. They gave me the
powerful colors which I love to use. Once the dyes dried I would then use
Eagle Verythin colored pencils (they were hard and maintained a sharp point)
to bring out the details. The results were never good enough for me. No
matter how large I worked I could never get the detail I wanted.
When I saw the original Mac128k back in January
of 1984 I was struck with the revelation that I had found my medium.Even
though it was just black and white with a low resolution (72 ppi), MacPaint
with it's "Fatbits" feature clicked something in my head. I could
zoom in and create details like never before. I felt I had
to grow with this new medium. As history tells, it has grown.
As the technology gets faster and more powerful,
keeping up with it is an invigorating challenge. It has also opened doors
never before available to me. Animation, video, sound, 3D, all areas of
exploration which add a chill of anticipation like that of a child on Christmas
morning.
Bert Monroy can be reached at: bmonroy@crl.com
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