A Selection
of Digital Prints
(Click on the image to see it enlarged.)

Digital Kakejiku

From January 2008 to the present I have been working in an entirely new direction, constructing digital collages out of sections of my digital drawings using a creative approach I discovered in Second Life.com, an online virtual-reality environment. The method is similar to process art in that the final image is not envisioned at the outset but emerges as a result of assembling, layering, and composing visual elements.

I discovered the process while making immersive art with Second Life tools, so the inspiration comes from virtual reality experiences, but the bulk of the imagery is derived from clippings from my extensive portfolio of Real Life digitally-drawn landscapes, which I have been making for the last decade (please see www.marthavista.com for more information about this portfolio). The remaining imagery is drawn specifically for use in the wall hangings, for example the goldfish in “Hermione.”

The method of presentation evolved from my interest in Japanese art. Japanese paintings are displayed as hanging scrolls called kakejiku , so I went to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and studied how the scrolls were laid out and constructed.  I consider the decorative material around the central images as akin to the patterned brocade that Japanese paintings are mounted on. They also serve, like a conventional matte and frame, as transitional spaces between the image and the wall.

The collages are printed in separate panels on Epson canvas with an Epson 4000 inkjet printer. The panels are varnished and then glued together to complete the image. The wall hanging is constructed with a pocket for a hanging rod, and the finished art is meant to hang unframed from a wall hook.

The digital drawings that are the source material for these "digital kakejiku" are drawn just like traditional charcoals, lithographs, or pastels except that I use digital tools, including a software program called Corel Painter 10 and a Wacom digitizing tablet and stylus. I create a file of the right size and resolution to produce the final image desired and select a paper texture, a brush-tool such as “Charcoal” or “Flat Pen,” and a color. As I draw, the tablet and stylus electronically translate the motions of my hand into virtual brush, pencil, or pen strokes which I can see on my monitor real-time. I do small, limited editions of the finished drawings using archival inks on fine art rag paper.

Ref: MJB-1
Digital Collage
Size: 21.5x41.5"
Edition: 6
Price: $1,900

Ref: MJB-12
Digital drawing
Date: 2007
Image Size: 30.5 x 45"
Editon: 6
Price: €2,573

Ref: MJB-13
Digital Drawing
Date: 2001
Image Size: 30 x 45 inches
Paper: Somerset Radiant White 31.5x 46.75
Editon: 24
Price: €1925

Ref: MJB-16
Date: 2003
Image Size: 21 x 14 inches
Paper: Somerset Radiant White 25.5 x 18
Editon: 30
Price: €520

Jamaica Pond

Petunia