Makers Place Art Challenge: Fragile Balance. Online Digital Art Gallery and Collections.

Makers Place:
A totally new Art Gallery concept.
A source of delight, amazement and inspiration.
~Ally.
In my last article: Be Open to Sacred Space, I described how I came to set up my Makers Place Store and the delight I felt after someone bought one of my pieces from there.

Just to avoid any confusion, I like to call my Makers Place Store my Makers Place Art Gallery because for me this is a place where I can showcase a selection of my images, all together in one online Gallery.

My Makers Place Collection.

Since joining Makers Place five months ago I've won three digital art pieces from three different artists at Makers Place. These pieces are now in my Makers Place Collection.

I understand the gratitude a creative feels when someone likes their work so much that they actually buy it. And I have always loved the idea of supporting artists by buying their work. I don't always have the resources to do this in a big way, but over the years whenever I've been able to, I've acquired/exchanged some small art and craft pieces.

Makers Place enables artists to become Collectors/Investors of Art by purchasing digital images at Makers Place with USD or Ether or participating in some of their ongoing Art Challenges and being awarded digital pieces as a prize.

And now I'd like to share with you the three artworks in my Makers Place Collection.

Kristoffer Hyde.

The first piece I won was by Kristoffer Hyde. I was just at the right place (Makers Place Discord General Room) at the right time to become the recipient of this piece. It was a wonderful surprise as I had only just joined Makers Place.

Kristoffer is a 3D visual artist living in the small town of South Lyon in the suburbs of southeast Michigan who likes to dive into the surreal, unreal and intangible. ~Source.

A majority of the work I create has deep influences from dystopian landscapes often depicted in late 90s grunge type animes. Robots, monsters, and nature are often what drive my works to completion. I have also created a large amount of album art for various underground artists as well as music videos ranging from raw visual displays to real footage spliced up. ~Kristoffer Hyde. Source.

Atop an unknown mountain plateau exists a staging grounds where great warriors converge to battle.Inspired by and using edo era architecture this image was created in Cinema4D using Octane. Each element has unique materials created within Substance Painter aside from the floor, which is a 3d scanned surface. ~Kristoffer Hyde. Source.

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Indrani Mitra.

The second piece I won was by Indrani Mitra.

Indrani is a self-taught artist inspired by the shapes, colors and form of natural objects. She is especially moved by the engaging simplicity of illustrations created for children and how Vermeer’s treatment of light can bring out the ethereal beauty of a simple moment in time. ~Source.

Indrani has now entered a more experimental phase with digitized works and the use of digital tools paralleling her discovery of blockchain technology which she sees as an open door to a whole new world of possibilities. ~Source.

Indrani was the winner of the Makers Place 3rd 5-5-5 Art Challenge: True-to-size Disguise with her work: Emotional Masks.

The Makers Place Art Challenge 5-5-5

Some of the incentives to participate in the 5-5-5 Art Challenge as a creator are to:

• Optimize one's storefront and gain an understanding of why art collectors buy art.
• Attract more traffic and increase exposure to one's storefront.
• Increase engagement on one's storefront.

Some of the incentives to participate in the 5-5-5 Art Challenge as a collector are to:

• Win an edition from the winning creator.
• Build your own art collection.
• Establish a connection with the creator behind the work you are collecting.
• Directly support the artist that you are a fan of.
• Gain an understanding of different styles of digital art.

There is so much art out there that it's important to identify a focus for your collection. To help determine your collections’ scope, set up some filters that art must pass through in order to be considered. ~Artwork Archive: How to discover your taste as a new Art Collector.

Creators were asked to both submit an artwork every week with a given theme/prompt that was uploaded to their Storefront in a limited edition of 5 and respond to any comments as well as sharing their work/s through any of their social media channels.

One creator has been chosen every week based on their work and its associated story and also how well they fulfilled the requirements ie engaging with people who commented on the work and their social media promotion/s.

The winning creator will keep their first Limited Edition of 5 to do with as they wish. They are then asked to choose 4 participants who they feel best engaged with their submission, to receive Limited Edition 2 through 5.

And that's how I came by having Emotional Masks in my Makers Place Collection. I was one of the fortunate 4 participants chosen by Indrani to receive an edition of this piece into my Collection.

 

The emotions that are portrayed that are contradictory to the feelings and thoughts that happen inside.
That happy face we put on even though we feel differently, that stoic expression that hides storms raging inside.
For some, this is a lifelong exercise and for some it is sudden and for both, it is a struggle to keep up the mask.
~Indrani Mitra: Image Source.

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Mike Butler.

The third piece I won was by Mike Butler. As I only found out about this today, it's not in my Collection yet, but I'm looking forward to its arrival within the next day or so.

Shortly after graduating from the Ontario College of Art in 1980, Mike began using digital technology to create generative art. As the technology became more sophisticated, he found that it was possible to restate his traditional art training, reframing and extending it into a new media context. ~Source.

The luminous, abstract, alien worlds that unfolded on the computer screen were an endless source of fascination. These were new worlds that had never before been seen by the eyes of man. ~Source.

Mike's work is inspired by classical or jazz music with compositions that develop a complex, energetic theme with an improvisational process. At the same time, he looks for ways to make the image hang together ~ He keeps working with the image until a stream of variations on the original theme flows. ~Source.

Mike was the winner of the Makers Place 4th 5-5-5 Art Challenge: Whale of Fortune with his work: What Androids Dream No. 137: In the spirit of Jabberwocky. And I was one of the fortunate 4 participants chosen by Mike to receive an edition of this piece into my Makers Place Collection.

On the glitchie sea of fortune, Mutant whales frolic and sing.
The risky murmurs fake the tune,
And Mockery Philbert flaunts her bling.
~Mike Butler. Image Source.

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The 5th 5-5-5 Art Challenge.

The Makers Place 5th and final 5-5-5 Art Challenge has the theme/prompt: Fragile Balance.

Some of the requirements are a little different.

Creators are requested that it be a Limited Edition of only 2 and not to set a price for these editions.

Edition 1 of the winning piece will be bought by MakersPlace for 50 USD and then added to the 'MakersPlace Gallery.'

Participants are also asked to not accept a bid for much less than 50 USD.

The theme: Fragile Balance was provided by artist and collector Reinhard Schmid. You can see Reinhard's Gallery HERE and his collection HERE

You may recall having seen this very distinctive painting by Reinhard: Benign UFO here at Steemit as well.

 

Benign UFO was produced for the project 'Ange Exquis' ('Exquisite Angel') by the international artist group 'Libellule' in 2008. It was painted with the mixed media technique of egg tempera and oil, used by the old masters.
Image Source

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I love the theme of Fragile Balance. It's one that I'd like to continue working with, even after the deadline of the 5-5-5 Art Challenge.

I've made some VERY rough thumbnail drawings of a few ideas ~ Like a small flame burning brightly in the middle of a still lake/ocean/landscape, but with a sky that heralds the approach of a wild storm. And a new ephemeral piece similar to Remembrance with circles of small rock piles but in water/the shallows of the seashore. And magical wands arising from the ocean in an 11:11 formation.

I could always produce the image/s in Photoshop but I'm SO rearing to go with drawing now.

I won't have any drawing time over the weekend and Monday is the deadline for the Art Challenge. But Monday in the US is still Tuesday in Oz ~ And I'm setting aside Monday ~ So you never know.

 

Remember: You are the creator of your own 'Sacred Space.' ~Ally. Remembrance.

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These are just two of the submissions for Fragile Balance so far.

Nicolás Leas-Celyn.

Nicolás Leas-Celyn is a published professional dreamer & note taker living in Wales.

Nicolás knew that he was creative from an early age. Experiencing life differently to most people led to the development of the unique style of his art, poetry and writing of science fiction. His work invokes a passion and empowers people to seek the unimaginable, the impossible ~ The dream. ~Source.

This is Nicolás' entry for the Makers Place 5th and final 5-5-5 Art Challenge: Fragile Balance with his work:
'Rain Gives Life.'

There is always hope this new day be grateful we are alive, Stop cast away fear angels are here for you this rain gives life.
Life comes to you your spirit is free witness yourself of love.
~Nicolás Leas-Celyn. Progressive Poetry, Fragmented: We are nothing without water. Source.

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Jarid Scott.

Jarid is a digital artist and photographer from Minneapolis and currently living in Salt Lake City. He has a BFA in Digital Art/Photography from the University of MN Duluth. ~Source.

This is Jarid's entry for the Makers Place 5th and final 5-5-5 Art Challenge: Fragile Balance with his work: Ying Yang Vibes.

 

A nice departure from the usual Ying/Yang symbol. Love the waves of energy and the (what is for me a) meteor shower bringing waves of energy to the balance. Love the white background area too. Looks very painterly. ~Ally.

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A heart that is holding infinite possibilities.
A creative who is learning to trust the mystery of what will be.
A spirit that is willing to fly into new creative realms and share the journey. ~Ally.

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Photography: ©Alison Lee Cousland.
SONY Mark2 A7.

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Posted from Earth ♥︎ Sand ♥︎ Water ♥︎ Ice with SteemPress : http://www.allyinspirit.info/2019/08/16/makers-place-art-challenge-fragile-balance-online-digital-art-gallery-and-collections/

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