Is it a Photo? Is it a Painting?

Cadenza, originally uploaded by t i m o (a.k.a. Tim Lowly).

So my friend Tim Lowly, husband of our church's wonderful pastor Sherrie Lowly and instigator for the Tim Lowly Ensemble which Ted drums for, also happens to be a talented and well-respected painter. He is a teacher/artist-in-residence at North Park University, where he also directs the gallery. I have been a fan of Tim's paintings for as long as I've known him. His images often resonate with the deepest places of my heart, and someday I'm going to scrape together enough money to buy me one of his works.

Lately, however, he's been making more and more art in Photoshop with photos he's taken. The stuff is pretty amazing. He posted the "photo" above of Cadence on his Flickr stream, and I absolutely love it. I'm not a big fan of drastic Photoshop alterations (I can't even get simple textures down), but the stuff that Tim does just makes my jaw drop. I highly recommend mosing on over there and having a looksy. He also posts his paintings and drawings, which are also amazing.