The 77-year-old artist Tatsuo Horiuchi has taken Microsoft Excel graphing software to new, beautiful heights by using it to create detailed digital artworks reminiscent of traditional Japanese landscapes.
Tatsuo lives in Nagano, Japan. During retirement, he sought a creative activity. While painting appealed to him, he was driven to find a unique, affordable and less messy alternative.
"When I started to do this, I had a defiant and experimental mind ... How can I paint with my PC?" he asked himself. In 2000, with his already-installed Excel program and a "cheap" color printer, he began to produce serene natural scenes. Tatsuo implements line and bucket tools intended for spreadsheets and graphs to build colorful digital worlds.
He thinks Excel can be a powerful tool for anyone who feels they are untalented in traditional painting.