I paint on the iPad Pro using the ArtRage Vitae app. Its screen is my canvas and the Apple Pencil stylus is my brush.

 

I've painted most of my life, primarily in oils and watercolors. My results rarely measured up to what I was looking for. After discovering digital painting on my iPad I felt more successful and began to take on subjects I never would have attempted before. In short, I'd found a forgiving but versatile medium that allowed me to concentrate basic concepts of value, hue, and saturation. Watercolorists observe that I finish paintings fast. That's mostly because I can select the precise "color" I want with a single tap of the stylus rather than cleaning a brush and re-mixing. Also, having no set-up or clean-up time, I can sit down to work for short periods wherever I am.

 

My interest has always been realism, focused on the emotive power of landscapes and the texture of old metal and wood as Nature reclaims it. Digital painting allows me to achieve photo realism, leading to the suspicion that I am simply "doctoring" photos rather than painting from scratch (though I'm always looking at one or several reference photos as I work). Hence, I work hard at explaining how I paint on the iPad.

 

Prior to retiring I worked as a database programmer, US Forest Service researcher, sea kayak builder and published author, the latter drawing from my experiences over many years kayaking the coasts of British Columbia and Southeastern Alaska.