There is some disagreement as to whether or not it is the galleries which are warped or whether it is me. Undaunted, however, I shall proceed. A close friend of me and my wife used to use some of the crystal images which I sent out to transform into striking embroideries. However, because of some health problems, she is no longer able to do this. The saving grace is that she can still do beaded designs and so she asked if she could use some of my images for that purpose. I was flattered and suggested that it might be interesting to take some images and subject them to various sorts of computer graphic operations and that she could then select any she like and used them as models for creating patterns that she would like to turn into beadwork.
Well, I tried out a few and she was delighted and I’m afraid I got addicted and have now been sending images almost every day. You’ve doubtless heard of the opioid addiction crisis; well, warped images are even worse and one should have to have a license to even produce them, let alone send them out to other people. Joking aside, it is great fun and quite harmless and those who look down their noses at such idle play, can go read the collected works of Donald Trump, which won’t take long and then they can graduate to those of George W. Bush.
What I intend to do here is create three galleries and each will begin with one basic image followed by 14 or 15 images employing a variety of computer graphic functions, primarily the warp function, but some supplemental functions as well. I may or may not let you in on the secrets. (If you really want to know all the deep, dark intricacies, you can send one hundred thousand dollars to #RIPOFF.)
The first gallery was generated from an image of a mixture of Dextrose and Sodium chloride. In other words, sugar and salt. I shall in this article be parsimonious with my words and generous with images. I will first show you the basic images and then the other 14 or 15 images which were generated from that. I won’t, however, go into detail in terms of which functions and combinations of sneaky alterations, I employed. I shall let you wander through them as a kind of virtual art gallery.
The second gallery was generated from an image of a mixture of Caffeine and the biological stain, Methyl Red.
The third and final gallery was generated from an image of cityscape of Dresden. This is to show you that you are not limited to images of crystals. In fact, one can use virtually any type of image provided it has sufficient color balance and diversity.
I will give you just a few hints as to what is going on. I used the graphics program PhotoImpact PRO 13. All of the images were subjected to the “Distort” menu function ”Creative Warp” under the “Effect” menu. In addition, some images were further altered using the technique of adding a frame, altering through “Creative Lighting”, or employing the “Invert” function. There are virtually endless possibilities to explore. I hope you enjoyed this bit of whimsy and that you will be encouraged to use your graphics program to indulge in some creative fun.