Aspects of Painting, World or Both

Valley Sketch - Digital Painting - 2005 - Dan Beck

There are two things which stand out strongly in the above work. First, there is an incredible amount of texture in the foreground fields. It almost looks like stitchery - particularly when one looks at the enlargement. Secondly, there is something quite remarkable going on in the sky. There is this small window of blue in what is an otherwise overcast day.

The aspect of texture, is about how the work was created.  It is a a combination of playing with the medium and creating a world, reflective of what was there, but really its own world.

“Each art work opens its own world… A world opens itself, the earth shelters and closes; both are present in the art work. Furthermore, the work does not refer to something else as a sign or a symbol does, but it presents itself in its own Being and invites the beholder to dwell and while with it.” Martin Heidegger

The second aspect, the sky, was about what was seen that day.  How it is painted is another factor, but the impetus was from what was viewed that day - truly incredible.

Somehow - in this approach, the painting has taken on the feeling of the scene and the area I live in.  As much as I would like, this is something I can’t explain that well. But I know that when I am painting, a stroke either adds to the feeling I am looking for or takes away. If it isn’t adding to the work I remove it.  Or like any painter, add something or change something later to make it right.

See Also

• Finishing Art Quotations
  Interesting across the board quotes of when a peice is done
• Notes on Aesthetics
  Joseph J. Kockelmans quotes how various philosophers have viewed art
• “The Hyperreal Society”
  The connection is the time and space of a work of art