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