Garden of Venus

by Neko Linda
(Birmingham, Alabama)

Madonna of Ephesus

Several years ago my husband Davey decided to try out our new three-in-one printer (which just happened to come with our new PC "bundle"), by scanning an image of his face. Amazed to see the result and out of curiosity, I began experimenting by arranging various objects on the scanner plate to create montages.

As a self-taught artist in this realm, I credit my total lack of experience and head on clumsiness for allowing me do things that I might not otherwise have done... if I'd known better.

When a friend gave me a Roxio Creator program, I began experimenting with various features to every extreme and eventually transmogrified many of the original montages into completely different images. Something that suggested a fish became a fish, whirling tips of flowers formed a dancing woman, a spoon tip glowed like a quarter moon, etc. I now refer to these pieces as "scanographic montages".

Thus far I've managed to crash two desk top hard drives and ruin, beyond repair, four scanner/printers. So my skills are questionable, but my tenacity is ongoing and my imagination > beyond hope.

Is it craft or art? Derivative or original? As far as I'm concerned, it's the spirit and imagination that matters - whether creating, reflecting or observing.

Be fearless & have fun!

Neko Linda

PS (Much of this includes edited excerpts from an interview about my work featured on: www.thedigitalartist.com - another great website that features various types of artwork.)