Appstrax - 'Adult Child’s Play'

Rudy Vogel has just sent us his next article for his wonderful Column with us, Appstrax. In this feature Rudy inspires us all to bring out that childhood creativity and excitement that was definitely in all of us at one stage and perhaps it just needs resurrecting, don’t miss this, over to you Rudy. (foreword by Joanne Carter).

As a preamble to my column I would like to wish all my readers a happy and healthy New Year. Traditionally, new years are filled with resolutions that we make to try something new or, to change. The inertia we have for the pending metamorphosis is filled with gusto, bravura and, often a certified delusional commitment. We say to ourselves: “This year I am actually going to do it! I will keep my promise.” And, unfortunately, most of us within a few days time fall right back into the same comfortable groove. After a momentary lapse of reason, we ultimately croon “Precious, you are fine the way you are, change be damned” and, off we go trundling down the same course we always have, failed commitments and all. Well, this year must be different, for a change. I am beseeching you, fine readers, to actually take the plunge and embrace an alternate course. You can do it! Pull up your shirtsleeves, readjust your app-finger and repeat the following manifesto with me: “I like change, I will change, because when I was a child that is what I did. I changed from being a youth into an adult.” See, you can do it, change does happen and often times for the better. No, I am not talking about the physical transformation I am referring to that youthful exuberance that life sometimes colors out of us for whatever the reason. This year, act like a child once again, when practicing your craft.

So, where am I going with this you may ask? The point is, that zeal you had as a child for inspection, embracing the curious and, tasting mud pies (well, maybe not all of us), can be rekindled in the art you produce. And since this column is all about creating in the abstract, I am asking you the reader, to slap a mud pie onto your virtual iPhonic canvas. How? Here’s a way! Recently, I learned of a new bundle of creative juiciness that was developed by a tech company called Griffin and one of the ultimate purveyors of all things childlike, Crayola. You know who they are: the company that manufactures those lovely, colorful sticks of waxy goodness that some of us colored on our mother’s refrigerators. No, not on the papers stuck to them by magnets – the actual refrigerators. Anyway…….Griffin and Crayola partnered to create some amazing peripherals (i.e., DigiTools Ultra Pack, Color Studio HD) and apps (i.e., DigiTools FX, Paint&Create HD) for the iPad. I, who am a lover of all things childlike, of course had to sample these treats and, I was not displeased.

Now rest assured that I am not actively plugging products here in this column, although implicitly I may be giving you a nudge to explore. My point is, what better way to try your luck at the abstract this year by reigniting the excitement you felt as a child when you received a new toy under that green tree that by now, no longer occupies a space in your living quarters. I am asking you to replicate that same exuberance and transfer it into the production of your art. Because in the end, isn’t it truly about having fun? Actually enjoying the art you create and its process? I know I do. So, in ripping the box open, squeegeeing the playful peripherals and styli out of the plastic, downloading the original apps, and beginning to play, I discovered some amazing attributes and techniques that could be realized through these new artsy toys. A sample of which is included with this column. If, after having read my last columns, you still have not taken the plunge until now to live and create within the world of the abstract, well then certainly with these new magic tricks you can. You will find that by playing with these art-creating tinkering toys you will actually be able to create some serious art. Thereby, resolving the fact that change has indeed occurred this New Year and that all will be well…..until….next year, of course, when you’re back to old ways. Hopefully, NOT! Happy apping!