The macro-photo in Fig E3-4 was taken from a mountain stone. It has a rusty natural colour that suggests time, stability and the roots of the nature. The open window in the photo shown in Fig E3-5 looked like a moment of hope and freedom seen from the darkness. Since I only wanted the window in composing my image, I selected and removed the unwanted dark areas around it and also the view through the window. The layer in Fig E3-4 was then placed over the part of the left window frame and grouped with the underlying layer. Overlay blending mode and shadow were applied to give an authentic look resulting in Fig E3-6.

For me art is a growth process, a living entity in its own right, a process that provides inspiration and excitement, and using digital technology gives me new possibilities for experimentation. I find it fascinating to be able to "reuse" some of my works that I originally created by using other media by digitizing them and incorporating them as elements in a new image.

Manipulated, ink jet on paper, 40 x 80 cm

When an image like Manipulated is finally ready for print, it is transferred to the printing environment with a number of technical considerations and adjustments to be made. The result of the final printed image depends on issues like color management, synchronizing the monitors and printers, substrate and ink decisions that influence both the brightness of the colors and the longevity of the printed image. The quality of the digitized photos and other sources in my toolbox are also part of what decides the size and quality of the printed image. I normally use either canvas or watercolor paper, but there are lots of other alternatives if I wish to impose other effects.

My recent digital works invoke links between technology and emotion, reality and dreams, rationality and magic. Screen Scene was created to explore issues of subjective space through a dialogue between dimensional analogies together with an idea of an object in one dimension being the shadow of an object in another dimension.

Screen Scene, inkjet on watercolor paper, 35 x 70 cm

In my opinion my work today defies categorization. These images are made up of elements from painting, photography and prints, and can be considered as a synthesis of different artisitc media creating unconventional hybrids.

I hope the digital process will continue to stimulate and evolve into something new and fresh. There are endless possibilities for artists yet to be discovered. We should allow ourselves to experiment with digital tools in order to broaden our knowledge. The process and tools through which we achieve the desired work of art is part of the 'art' itself.

Mamta Herland is the author/artist of The Shift Toward Digital Print in Future Art, published on World Printmakers a few months ago, which discusses issues like originality, authenticity, editions and how well digital ink jet is accepted in the art market. This is Mamta's own presentation: "Let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Mamta Baruah Herland and I am from Assam in India, now living in Norway. Currently I am doing my Master in Fine Art - Painting at Winchester School of Art in England. During my studies in visual art at Sydney College of Arts I mostly painted with oil and acrylic on canvas. My interest for photography developed when driving around the beautiful scenery in Australia, and after studying Graphic Design in Oslo, I saw the possibility to combine my computer skills with my artistic expressions."