Jay Ressler • Artist

Jay Ressler • Artist

Artistic Images and Sometimes Commentary

  • Poole Forge Red Bridge solarized. Solarization (AKA the Sabbatier Effect) uses purposful over-expossure of some color channels to reveal details hidden in the shadows, often alters colors in interesting ways, and may darken areas over-exposed in the original capture.
  • Poole Forge Main House
  • Fisherman in Faux-fall, manipulated Photograph
  • Red Bridge at Poole Forge Oil on Panel. 9 x 12
Lancaster County Landscapes Landscapes Oil Paintings Pennsylvania Plein Air Solarized Photographs 

No. 22. Poole Forge, Five Takes

Jay M. Ressler 0 Comments , , , ,

Poole Forge is a beautiful little park in Lancaster County, just over the line from Berks County. I joined several other painters there for an afternoon of Plein air painting. Naturally, I used the opportunity for some original photographic work. Hence, the disparate collection of images from the day’s work.

Jay M. Ressler

Jay Ressler Composite Photography, Encaustic Art, and Oil Painting He is an outstanding location photographer and painter, with an eye that can capture the soul of a Havana back street as beautifully as the sip of a hungry hummingbird, often with compelling black and white images. Jay Ressler is best known for artistic expression that lives in layers between opposites. “I like to explore boundaries,” he explains. “Boundaries between consciousness and the unconscious, between reality and imagination, between certainty and skepticism.” He does this by compositing his own photography in multiple layers to produce stunningly original, interleaved images. Using Photoshop, other image manipulation software and a variety of digital effects, he paints one photographic layer on top of another. He takes advantage of textures he's captured along with an array of processes for manipulating light, contrast, and color to tell the story. “Distorting and reinterpreting the literal 'machine moments' captured by the camera is as old as the art of photography,” he insists. Jay occasionally extends his multi-layered approach to encaustic mixed media creations. Based on ancient techniques, the process begins with cooking his own recipes of beeswax and damar resin and applying this medium between the layers of photographic images, along with various pigmented compounds and materials to add color, texture and expression. Either way, the results are riveting. The viewer is drawn into an unfolding, dreamlike scene that might be heart-warming, haunting, gritty, poignant or magical. Sometimes, within the various layers, all of the above. The award-winning photographer/artist has many dimensions himself. He studied advanced digital photography at Pittsburgh Filmmakers and advanced encaustic techniques with leading instructors in the field. He worked as an underground coal miner, steelworker, machinist, labor and civil rights activist, copywriter and commercial printer. He has a BS in Psychology from Albright College.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *