Reality Bytes

I created "Reality Bytes" in 2004 although the computer modelling was started some 3 years prior to this video.
I was not altogether happy with the background music that I had created for this piece as it was a bit "rushed". I have subsequently remixed another soundtrack for it which I hope you will enjoy.

Hi my name is Stephen Shepherd and I am a multi media artist based in Hull, East Yorkshire. In 2007 I set up "the painter's collection dot com", to enable me to market Limited Edition artist reproductions of my artwork.

The website was set up in order to market my product to both galleries and the general public and provides the highest quality of reproduction that complies with standards as defined by the Fine Art Trade Guild for artist's reproduction, and each piece is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

Please visit http://www.thepainterscollection.com

"The Home of Quality Artist's Collectables".

Butchers Row, Coventry, circa 1890

When I was a lad, my father gave me a book about the S.O.E. (special operations executive) in WWII a section of which dealt with the Enigma machine and the code breakers of Bletchley Park. The book explained that we (the British) were actually accurately deciphering German military codes as early as 1941 and further explained that one of Winston Churchill's hardest decisions was a decision to put up no defence to the extensive bombing by the Germans of Leicester and Coventry as to do so would have alerted the Germans that we were reading their codes and would have jeopardised the planned outcome of the war.

Years later I came across an old photograph from a glass plate negative and realised that this was one of the areas referred to in this story. I was compelled to create this drawing of it, which was no easy task as I had to find a number of different reproductions taken from the original glass negative in order to piece together the detail which was not present as a whole in any of the reproductions themselves.

High Quality Limited Edition Artist Reproductions of my pen and ink drawing are available and can be found by visiting "http://www.thepainterscollection.com".

Beverley Barge, the Syntan

In 2004 I was lucky enough to take a river journey on the then newly restored Beverley barge, the Syntan after receiving an invitation from Mr Iain Campbell of the Beverley Barge Preservation Society.
In 1999 Mr Campbell and his friends had discovered the Beverley barge Syntan as a wreck near Doncaster and had brought her back to Beverley to begin a "restoration" project and to this end had formed the Beverley Barge Preservation Society in order to raise the necessary finance to accomplish the task.
As Mr Campbell had been of considerable assistance to me, I created 3 small animations of the Syntan as a thank you to him for his assistance. To learn more about the Syntan or to contact Mr Campbell and his friends visit "http://www.syntanbarge.org.uk".

Christophers Dream

"Christopher's Dream" 2001 was created from a jumbled collection of computer models that I had created some time previously. The helicopter was my first real computer model, a Wessex Lynx modelled in around 1999. I felt very "accomplished" as I had worked out the setup for the independent rotations that needed to travel with and match the movement of the helicopter body. I also remember how at the time the demands on computer memory drove me to be in a continuous upgrading mode with my hardware in order for me to create this animation, which was my first attempt to "tell a story".

Dockland Illusion 1983

The above painting was painted using "Humbrol"enamels above a sheet of well "primed" 6mm sheet steel mounted upon a hard wood frame.
The central image is the same as my painting "River Mosaic" that is utilised as the "Banner" for this "Blog".

At the time that I created "Dockland Illusion" I was fascinated by pattern and realised that it could be used to form an image, as in the principle of "mosaic" that utilises small coloured cubes to represent more complex forms, but that also pattern could be used to distress or disrupt an image as with for example raindrops on a windscreen or that indeed it could also be used to integrate multiple images into a single "whole"..

This idea became the underlying principle in the creation of this piece as at the centre pattern is used to form the image (in the form of tiny squares of colour) whereas in the surrounding "outside" areas pattern is used to disrupt and also to form the idea of a dockland surrounding (integrating a number of seperate "images" into the illusion of a singular "whole")..