Today's technology opens a whole new world for artists to expand upon their age-old techniques.

Rochester artist Richard Harvey presented a gallery talk Saturday at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, sharing the techniques used in his latest exhibit, "Face It: 'Tradigital' Imaging Inside and Out."

Harvey's images are predominantly human faces or full figures and follow a process that combines traditional, as well as digital techniques.

"This technology has given me the outlet that I have needed to take my images further," Harvey said. "I just really enjoy the process."

After receiving a Bachelors degree in fine arts from Rochester Institute of Technology, Harvey enjoyed a career in graphic arts - a career from which he recently retired.

"I enjoyed art while growing up, and drew a lot while in high school," Harvey said. "I then went on with life, joined the army and had my family, but art has always been a big part of my life."

Harvey has been a working artist in the Rochester area for more than 20 years.

He currently maintains a working studio with the Anderson Alley Artists Group, and is an active member in many art clubs.

Harvey's images are deeply expressive and feature diverse techniques using drawings, found objects or digital photographs.

After importing the original grey-scale image into the computer, Harvey then manipulates the image using a computer software program.

He uses Adobe Photoshop CS, siting that it has the most options for his chosen method.

He then prints the piece and applies several traditional hands-on material, such as acrylic paints, pastels, colored pencils and encaustic finishes.

"I have always been interested in caustic painting," Harvey said. "It has always been a very toxic art, but they have recently come out with new products that are very safe. They are non-toxic. I use this technique quite often. I just love the texture it creates."

Encaustic painting is an age-old technique of using melted wax in place of traditional paints. It is known to have been practiced by Greek artists as far back as the 5th century B.C.

Yet with the long labor involved in the process, it had become a lost art by the 12th century.

Today, the art of caustic painting is once again being explored. Advanced technology has helped to solve one problem that had made encaustic painting so laborious and expensive.

To further explore his artistic nature, Harvey has recently begun the art of artistic welding - an art he has always been interested in but has only recently begun.

"I enjoy many forms of art," Harvey said.