In bed with Hockney

In bed with Hockney

I have been reading a book by David Hockney called Secret Knowledge the premise of which is thqt from about 1430 onwards artists and painters used mirrors and lenses to help them in both drawing and painting.

Much of his agrument concentrates on the fluidity in the folds of fabrics and carpets, or the intricate details and highlighting on suits of armour or chainmail. The detail on some of these old paintings is exquisite, almost photographic.

I was reading his book in bed and so I observed the folds in the blankets and the bedspead, and the patterns in the patchwork cushions, and I realised how difficult it would be to paint all the folds, and patterns in perspective.

But how easy it is to do that nowadays with a camera. So I snapped off six photos and made a Hockney style composite of them. It was then that I realised that for him to do Pearblossom Hwy with hundreds of polaroids is a phenomenal artistic achievement.

Hockney 4x4 shingle house

Pearblossom is an unframed collage but he also did many framed collages of his mother. This 3x3 collage of mine was hand made in Gimp and quite exacting so I can really appreciate the skill involved in doing a 7x7 framed collage.

But if you don't want to be bothered to do the work yourself then you can let a computer do a Hockney type manipulation on your photo