Fine art painting by Denny Ryan — "Breathe"

This painting weighs in at my current typical size of 3 foot wide by 4 foot high. The title is Breathe.

This painting is approximately 80% finished, or so, depending on what day you ask me...

A new and, I find, interesting addition to this piece is the soap bottle nipples that I have attached to the bottom left corner. Occasionally I will enter the 3rd dimension and this is no exception. Many times when I paint my fine art on wood panels I will invent new creative ways to express my thoughts and concepts.

In this case I actually put holes in the substrate at precise points on a horizontal plane and then screwed into the wood panel a few bottle tops from several dish soap containers I had saved; no, I know what you may be thinking — I wouldn't actually consider it hoarding!

My Fine Art on VH1? The OCD Project?

I'm currently in talks with The OCD Project, in LA, to see if my fine art is a good fit for the backdrops and scenes of their upcoming show on VH1.

The reality show is being produced by 3Ball Productions, Redondo Beach, CA. It makes perfect sense to me for my art to be on the show. I mean for the past 10-15 years I have been sketching, drawing, printing and painting about OCD. Google OCD art, phobia art or anxiety art and you will see that I'm usually on page 1—very popular! So who better to add some color to the show?

The terms are far from final and decision is yet to be decided. But one thing is for sure... since the popularity of OCD is on the flare-up, and the interest is high, I will continue to look for these unconventional ways to show my fine art.

Oddly enough, I also recently noticed that a smaller scale OCD type project is currently going on in the Philadelphia, PA area, so I will contact them next about possibly displaying my pieces in their project's promotional materials.

For some reason, it seems like OCD and anxiety disorders are more interesting to people nowadays, and are actually becoming quite popular.

This reality show on obsessive compulsive disorder should do very well with ratings. It all depends on the severity of the disorders and the quirkiness of the contestants though. Reality shows seem to almost have a formula for who they pick to be on their shows that keeps the audience interested.

I will watch it... will you?

Fine art paintings to scale, not to a thumbnail

It recently occurred to me that the Internet represents artwork of all sizes as being very similar in size—as a thumbnail.

Most screen resolutions nowadays give the viewer, or potential art collector, a 3 inch x 4 inch representation of a painting. My fine art, on the other hand, measures in at a typical 3 feet wide by 4 feet high.I was talking to a Lancaster, PA art dealer recently about my drawings, prints and paintings and he said that my art was much more impressive and substantial in person than on screen. So I had this photo taken of me (6'3" tall) standing next to one of my pieces - titled "Mellow Yellow" - to help represent my work in a more relative fashion.

I'm a bit enraged about ArtRage

Hey, want to experience painting with oils? Well then you can try software called ArtRage that mimics painting.

Or...

...you could actually pick up a real tube of oils and a real horse-hair brush and really paint! Don't be lazy. Don't be afraid of getting your hands dirty! You could then really experience it. Painting with ArtRage, I'd image is like taking a shower with a rain coat on; sorry, unoriginal, couldn't resist.

Oh, and after you are done with this great mock experience of painting with oils, acrylics or even drawing with crayons, you can take it into Photoshop and apply an adjsutable width stroked frame with a mimiced wood feel and add a beautiful drop shadow - Then, I guess, we could call it digital fine art.

Why, why, why?

Trust me I'm not one of those anti-technology, old school, people that won't learn a new trick. I learn new technologies every day. I just feel that just because something can be developed doesn't mean it should be. And correct me if I'm wrong... didn't Corel do this with Paint and Draw?

This painting software may be helpful for those with disabilities. It would be a good tool for graphic designers that want to mimic the texture of paint, I suppose. And it might even be good for fine artists that can't touch oils, acrylics, art materials or paint thinners because they developed an intolerance to them over the years from exposure. But even then, until there's a pressure tool that mimics the feel of the brush in your hand and the push back from the flex in the canvas, this software's experience will be lacking.

In my view it is a blessing to be able to feel and paint with real pigments and mediums. And that is something you cannot download!

We can all learn something from Michael Jackson

I think we can all learn one thing from Michael Jackson, besides the Moonwalk, and that is: to not let our inner-demons get the best of us.

It is a bit obvious that what happened on June 25th, 2009 was the end result of a slippery slope that began many, many years ago — probably with "A, B, C".