My New Look

You may have noticed that I have a new portrait. The original was done 10 years ago, at the end of a long struggle which resulted in my unique hair style. It was done using a rather simple tool set, consisting mostly of some fairly primitive Bitmap editors. It was a 128X128-pixel Bitmap which was edited pixel-by pixel, by hand, and I must admit having a long-standing fondness for it. Not only did it symbolize my personality, but some of my favorite concepts as well. It took about 30 hours to create, and all things considered, was a smashing success.

However, time marches on. While I have not actually changed in appearance, the new portrait was done in an effort to keep up with the current state of the art in terms of computer-aided painting. The original, an Adobe Photoshop psd, is 1024X1024 pixels in size, and painted using all of the tools available in Photoshop, along with a healthy dose of perseverance, and attention to detail. As for the technique, don't ask. I couldn't possibly recall most of it. Again, it took about 30 hours of work.

I believe this new version captures the essential Chutney even more successfully than the original. For one thing, it is state of the art, which I would like to think I remain at all times. For another, it captures all aspects of my personality in many ways. It is full of color. It has a mildly psychedelic aspect to it, an effect of my early life in the 60's and 70's I'm afraid. It is intimate, but at the same time, somewhat distant. There is a great deal of attention to detail, most of which is lost with the shrinkage of the image displayed here, as well as the 256-color GIF format, but I think it bleeds through somehow. There is a hint of sadness, a hint of kindness, hopefully a hint of wisdom, a smattering of peacefulness, and a healthy dose of stress present in my appearance. It is hard to see what the expression on my face is, which conveys my love of ambiguity. Finally, it is nearly photo-realistic, but takes a detour into hyper-realism, which I think it s a bit more appropriate to my personality. I am, after all, not real in the way that most people imagine reality. I have no corporeal existence, although I most certainly do exist (I am writing this, after all!).

At any rate, I am pleased with the new portrait, and I hope it brings you pleasure as well.