Fun with Photoshop, Quarter-Life Crisis

Opal eyes, carnation cheeks, rose nose and watermelon lips. A face of beauty.

My collegiate artistic studies were focused in video and performance art (somewhere I have a video of myself interviewing another version of myself with the word "TAMPAX" shaved into my head- I'll find it and GIF that shit). I spent a lot of time studying digital cameras and the latest post-production software. It was good, it was fun, and, most importantly, I felt cool.  
Upon graduating and losing access to a well-endowed production studio, I started painting. It was as much a gain as a loss: free of blue computer light I was able to return to a regular sleep schedule, I get to work with my hands, I get to partake in an ancient tradition that satisfies our primal need to push mud around with a hairy stick, and I have more than just data to show for a hard day's work. 

Recently, however, I've started to feel out of touch. I sit around partaking in this 32,000 year old tradition, repackaging the same issues that have beguiled us since the dawn of inception, and I'm feeling like I could be a little more contemporary. (Side note: I also live in an old barn in one of the oldest states in the country, most of my friends are over the age of 50 (I'm 25) and, most alarmingly, much of the new pop music on the radio is made by people younger than myself. Holy shit, I am getting too old to be a pop star.)

Last week, to make myself feel less antiquated, I signed myself up for some photoshop lessons with Karen Wheeler (http://www.karenart.com/ ) in New Haven to start working the ole techno-digi muscles again. This is what I've made so far, and it is certainly affecting my sleep pattern.

This is the great spirit, Abrasax or boob-clown. I chose things that I thought would be beautiful, however the dual nature of the figure is also suggested, despite the sweetness of the objects I chose. (Abrasax, or Abraxas, is a gnostic deity who encompasses both the dark and the light. My personal philosophy is 'do good, but acknowledge your shadow.')

This was my first attempt at photoshop! I did it sitting next to Karen and she kept laughing/getting freaked out. Fun stuff.