about
A little bit about myself,
how I got into making art and my processes
Hi, I am dahleea!
About me
I am a digital creator based in Central Europe.
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I have no formal training in the arts (hence hesitant to call myself an 'artist'), but I am very visual, and love to create, whether it is pencil drawings on paper, paint on canvas, digital designs or photography. And all this with some good music playing in the background.
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Whilst art and creating have always been in my life, I have only been creating digital art for the last 5 years or so.
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When asked what my influences are, I shrug and admit that I don't draw inspiration from any particular artist. genre or style. Similarly, I don't feel circumstances (such as mood, location, music, weather etc.) influence my work either. Instead, I allow the process of creation to take a life of its own. Perhaps influences are subconscious.
My work ranges from simple, organic, fluid lines and shapes, to very structured, hard geometries and arrangements. I cover the spectrum of colours, from muted to vibrant. Still, monochrome has a special place in my heart and I especially love to play with shadows to create the illusion of depth. I enjoy variety and experimentation, and this is clearly reflected in my work.
How it started
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It all started with...work. I had high pressure corporate job, with lots of responsibility, which brought me to the brink of a burn-out.
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On my commute back from work one day, I downloaded an app, Mirrorlab, with which I could make kaleidoscopic patterns. They always fascinated me. Watching the kaleidoscope reveal new patters with each turn, I relaxed. and I discovered that switching from strict rational thinking to creating helped me to calm down. Art saved me.
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Creating kaleidoscopic patterns was just the start. I soon discovered that the app had a big variety of functions and led to a huge potential of creations. I started experimenting and really enjoyed the results. So much, that I decided to set up an instagram to start sharing my outputs.
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With doing so, I discovered a community of Mirrorlab users and was inspired by the different outputs they were achieving. I soon became addicted to creating and sharing with the community.
Why "dahleea"?
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The first images I was creating were kaleidoscopic, many of which resembled flowers. Involutes, symmetry and other mathematical relationships which are used as a basis for my designs are found abundantly in nature. The wondrous petal arrangements of dahlias, based on the Fibonacci sequence, are a good representation of those early designs, which are born out of mathematics and bloomed into delightful patterns.
My tools
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Mirrorlab, by ILEXA, was my entry into digital creation. As I experimented and practiced, I moved onto the pro version and downloaded other similar apps such as Glitchlab, Chromalab and Mosaiclab.
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Involutes, spirals, symmetry, sequences and other mathematical relationships which are used as a basis for my designs are found abundantly in nature. Seeds and flower heads in particular, obey a particular genetically determined pattern of growth, which apparently maximises the amount of sunlight and rain they receive. This pattern is described by the Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci effect can be seen in flowers with as little as 3 petals, but is much more visible and impressive in those with more, such as flowers belonging to the asteraceae family. Dahlias are such an example. The wondrous petal arrangements of dahlias perfectly capture the essence, or at least the intention, of my designs - born from mathematics and blooming into delightful patterns.
Cryptoart
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The word 'crypto' comes from the Greek, which means 'to hide', which is why when I first heard about 'cryptoart', back in 2020, I thought it was some illegal underground scene for exchanging art. Terms that surrounded the crypto scene such as 'ethereum' and 'Superrare' also gave an air of intrigue and a feeling that it was all out of reach.
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Until someone I'd met through instagram announced he was leaving to pursue sales in cryptoart, as the scene was starting to burst with rich investors.
I became curious and started discussing with fellow instagrammers, becoming more and more intrigued by what I thought was an underground scene. A wonderful man from LA I had become friends with, let's call him the Ambassador, urged me to move into NFTs with my art.
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With my friend making a small fortune and solving his financial issues and then Beeple selling his NFT for $69.3 was definitely an incentive to learn more about the scene. I spent a whole month, researching and learning every day. What is the blockchain, what is cryptocurrency, what is an NFT, what are the different platforms available. All the jargon was starting to get decoded and what was an out of reach underground scene was becoming more familiar and tangible.
In April 2021 i bought my first cryptocurrency. I set up my account on OpenSea and I minted my first collection, which was called 'ETHEREAL'. In the meantime, I got a very sought-after invite to the exclusive Foundation platform, where sales would yield thousands of dollars.
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he art being sold as NFTs was all digital, a litAnd then, all of a sudden I was seeing cryptoart and NFTs everywhere. The majority of which was incredible 3D .
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Then came Pepe, CryptoKitties, CryptoPunks, Bored Apes,
