Outhouse Studios Weblog

Momentarily Captured

Sunset Over Artichokes – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007

Above is my most recent digital painting – on my way home that evening I happened to take the route through the artichoke fields and glimpsed this sight.

It was fleeting – the color, the depth, the folding hills – some from reality, some from memory – but the portrayal worked.

I have shied away from doing artichokes – more jagged and painstaking a subject than I really want to get into – I generally find them other worldly. But in the light of the sunset – they were warm rows – less defined and calling my name.

And I knew I must paint what I had seen -

After one sitting I stopped here – because I really liked it – I worked on it more the next day as you will see later – but I think I captured more of what I wanted in that first sitting alone.

See Also

• Fennel Field & Sky – first day’s stopping point – captures spirit better than successive versions – this is purchasing info for art prints of a different but stylistically similar work.

• Artichokes | Green Globe Artichokes | Pezzini Farms in Castroville – local grower – very close by – not the same fields – but artichoke info and good photos capturing the other worldliness of the fields
• Photography Workshops Photo Gallery by Zane Paxton at pbase.com – I really like this photo – not the same color glow as I saw – but something remarkably similar – click on photo to see index of other work