Archive for July, 2006
Friday, July 21st, 2006
berrying the theme of harvest and bent backs
Pick Aside – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2006
This is the last digital painting I created – one of many with the strawberry picking theme. I am beginning to feel like I am berrying the theme into the ground.
On the other hand, I see workers daily out in the fields close to me and far away. This was not based so much on what I actually saw, but more of an interpretation of what I had been seeing.
I wanted the viewer to feel like he was out in the fields with these two. I wanted the fields to feel like they were swallowing everyone up – that despite the depth and height of the rows – there is still a bent back to harvest with.
For art prints of above digital painting: Pick Aside – please email: specialorders@outhousestudios.net.
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Tags: Art, fields, painting, prints, strawberry
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Thursday, July 20th, 2006
experimentation with unfamiliar leads to work slightly reminiscent of Dali and aberrant to own body of work
Start-lings – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck circa 1999
This piece will in someways always remain an aberration in my body of work. It was an early digital painting and was quite experimental. The style I landed upon was in part because of my limited understanding of the program.
I chose stock color gradients and patterns to paint with – and an opaque color setting which is also the default. What I landed on was fun though – I am particularly partial to the multicolored artichoke looking thing and the floating shapes throughout.
Although not in anyway intended to be surreal, I have always found this somewhat reminiscent of Salvador Dali. I am going to hunt down some examples – see what you think. It is obvious I am not copying him anyway.
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Tags: Art, color, painting, prints
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Wednesday, July 19th, 2006
series develops from the cusp of representation and abstraction
My Series 3 – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2005
Yep – that’s a sun – there is no mistaking it. Even though the sun doesn’t really look like that – we know that is a sun. In fact, it is a rather fun interpretation of one – the rays really extend here.
Is that land or water below? Who knows? This, like all the pieces in this series, sit on the cusp between representation and complete abstraction.
In all of these pieces, there is a smoothness to the color and a textured background. That quality really appealed to me when I first tried it – and therefore I continued those two aspects in the rest of the series.
The series seems to temporarily be on hold. I think that is because my success ratio was not quite up to par – but I still think there was something to it and I anticipate revving it up again.
See Also
- My Series 3
availability of art prints for above digital painting – My Series 3
- ARTTHROB_ARTBIO
Nice work from artist describing his work as being on the cusp between representation and abstraction
Tags: Art, color, painting, prints, texture
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Wednesday, July 19th, 2006
flag qualities and color over texture
My Series 7 – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2005
What works in this digital painting are the colors – there is a creaminess to the blue of imagined sky or water because of the different tones and overlaps. The green is pleasing and underlined by a light shade of red – making what might be interpreted as a flag of colors.
It is a little square, but then again the bit of background texture which shows through the left side of the piece in particular – gives the work an interesting depth.
All of the pieces in this series juxtapose the smoothness of the color gradients over the coarseness of texture. They all created this unique world and hint at something represented while not actually representing anything but the digital painting itself.
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Tags: Art, color, painting, prints, texture
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Tuesday, July 18th, 2006
new work brings up the power of the actual art prints
Pick Aside – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2006
As I am typing, this digital painting is working its way out of the printer in the form of a full to an eighth of an inch of the edge, art print – printed on Japanese watercolor paper.
I can see just the first figure at this point, but I can tell the strawberry fields themselves are going to be quite scrumptious. Doubt one will actually smell the strawberries, but the layers of color and texture make this art print more interesting than even what one can see in the larger version.
Like every image on the net, nothing can do justice to being there. Because this painting was created digitally, it might be more accurate – but I am beginning to think that digital art may not be - every time I look at one of the art prints I see so much more, whatever the piece.
For art prints of the above digital painting, please email: specialorders@outhousestudios.net.
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Tags: Art, color, fields, painting, prints, strawberry, texture
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Monday, July 17th, 2006
writing about digital painting again and its very existence don’t follow the rules
Valley Work – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2005
Just like the creative process itself, there are no rules when it comes to writing about a piece again.
The digital painting itself was about no rules. The hills and the dirt were both created using a lot of cutting and pasting – taking sections already created and twisting and turning them to create the undulations that you see in the work.
It is not my normal way of painting – but I wanted that kind of energy and in some ways I was trying to emulate the success of a previous piece.
I love the yellow and orange sky – I don’t know where it came from – but it creates a feeling I would never have gotten if I chose to be more literal.
The digital painting required working at different levels – in order to create the figures, the digital image was zoomed in close to 400% – and it was also zoomed out to make sure it was a balanced composition.
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Tags: Art, composition, creative process, hills, painting, prints
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Monday, July 17th, 2006
Vantage point and figure in this digital painting
Checkerboard Valley – digital painting / art prints – 2005
When I first completed this digital painting, I was really pleased with how I had captured what I had seen. There is a small section looking down the valley which is near my house.
From that vantage point, one can see four different layers of height until one’s eye finds the mountains on the other side of the valley.
The person carrying the irrigation pipe wasn’t in that particular scene, but it was someone I had seen earlier in the day and it seemed both fitting and helpful for creating a sense of space.
He and his pipe were created in one stroke of the mouse – not that it matters, but I think it is kind of fun to know.
See Also
- Checkerboard Valley
availability of art prints for above digital painting
- About Chamacos
found for its photos – but organization which is studying affects of pesticides on children in Salinas Valley
- Salinas Valley
This photo and next two – for good views of Salinas Valley
Tags: Art, mountains, painting, prints, Salinas Valley
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Friday, July 14th, 2006
positives of simple water and complex interpretation of sand
Monterey Bayish – digital painting /art prints – Dan Beck 2003
In some ways I find this piece a tad choppy – a tad symmetrical – but then again it is also a piece with a wonderfully simple take on the water and complex take on the sand.
The patterns in the dunes, I still find fascinating and even more so when viewing an actual art print.
After completing it, I noticed a figure of a woman or girl laying in the sand – yes it is still a bit abstract – but I see her clearly in pigtails and that gave the digital painting a whole other dimension.
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Tags: Art, painting, prints
Posted in Art Prints | 1 Comment »
Friday, July 14th, 2006
not waiting – just paint or just observe
Just Painting
Just Looking
I was thinking about this topic this morning. I was feeling like starting a new digital painting, but with no idea what I might want to paint.
When one is at a loss for ideas – what does one do? For writers they often say – just start writing. So for people creating art – the same can also be true.
But in my case, I went outside and walked around my house looking – taking in – and thus the article today.
I didn’t end up painting or even end up with a clear specific idea – I sidetracked into doing something higher on my priority list. So much for inspiration.
But I realized, one does not need to wait for inspiration, one must simply look and listen.
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Tags: Art, painting
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Thursday, July 13th, 2006
Just finished digital painting brings up what is also true – attention to little details
Out Field – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2006
Sometimes creating is painstaking or picky-une. I found myself trying to complete the above piece today – and making ever so slight changes but nevertheless seemingly critical ones.
Little things seem all important when one is in the midst of a creation. A digital painting is no exception – one can make mistakes and fix them just like with oil or acrylic paint – one can add or take away to make a form right.
But it never ceases to amaze me that I can frit sometimes as much as I do. Ironically when I set out to do this piece, I was thinking flowing – not too concerned with any sort of accuracy – and as soon as I started creating this valley of work scene what was loose became a work of detail and "just so".
For art prints of above digital painting please email: specialorders@outhousestudios.net.
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Tags: Art, painting, prints
Posted in Promoting the Creative World | No Comments »
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