Donald Diddams
The Art of Digital Art
Colonial-era “Copper”
Posted on April 21, 2009
While enduring a stressful period in one of my other endeavors, it seemed a good time to work on what I hoped would be a peaceful landscape, a pretty picture. This was the result.
Copper - 2009
The object in the foreground is a colonial-era artifact known as a “copper”. These large iron containers were used to boil down the cane juice in the production of sugar during the sugar and slave-trade era in the Caribbean. So even this tranquil scene carries a mixed message from our past, and begs questions about the vestiges of that past that remain.
Ironman
Posted on April 11, 2009
You see, there was this “found object” — an old machine part of some sort laying in an abandoned building that inspired the image in the previous post, and this one, and a few others. So in a way, I’m recycling, without even using anything up.
Ironman - 2009
Even in old trash left behind to rust into the ground, there may be some animus, like the spirit of this ironman bearing his heavy load.
Locked Out/In
Posted on March 15, 2009
Locked Out/In - 2009
The ambiguity of a locked door… Which side is out and which in? Am I locked out to protect what is in, or locked into my world. Or is what is on the other side locked out to protect and keep safe what is on this side? There must be something important behind that door, but I’m not sure I want to let it out… or to get in. Do you?
Mystery at the Water’s Edge
Posted on February 9, 2009
There is a story about zen master Shunryu Suzuki-roshi who was asked to summarize Buddhism in a single sentence. His answer was, “everything changes.” Where the sea brushes the shore is a place of constant change, and sometimes mystery – almost a metaphor for life.
Mystery at the Water's Edge - 2009
This image was inspired by a spot along Davis Bay on St. Croix where the water had carved the sand into soft curves and mounds. That glowing green object held in the shadowed curve of sand emerged as I worked on this image. It had to be coaxed out into the open.
St. Croix — Hotel Caravelle Artwork
Mocko Jumbies
