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Abstract 1 - digital art - improvisation - Dan Beck 2008

Creating an abstract painting for me is like improvising music without a chord progression. I start without a plan - just moving and creating shapes - overlapping , building, not so much thinking as observing.

The digital painting is about the process - the movements, the colors, the layering. Whatever form there is happened out of this dance of color - out of the play of comfortable swirls and movements - watching, observing - adding with balance - but not so much that is feels even and symmetrical … these are my rules - my way of doing - one layer of color at a time - occasionally coming back to an original color, but generally adding only new variations.

The black lines were not thought through either - but there seems to be a bit of a tree shape - a common theme right now - not surprising a comfortable motion would yield such a reference.

This is probably the truest dan art - if there is such a thing. All my representational, impressionist, landscape art, or figure art etc. draw from the vocabulary and techniques developed from this abstract play, and if not, it was because I permitted the same degree of looseness in the other work.

See Also

• Abstract Art Gallery - some of the abstract explorations at Outhouse Studios
• Improvisation - Milestones of the Millenium - discussion of how classical composers improvised - though not discussing how communication itself is about improvisation - music and art connect and this connects to something I was thinking about earlier today

closeness to finished art - spin of abstract

finger paint 1 - Dan Beck - digital painting / digital art - 2007

Things happen sometimes all at the same time. Discussion of the distance between artist and finished product - how digital feels different than the closeness of paint. I don’t know if this is true - but it is something an artist friend and I have been discussing in relation to different work I have done.

Suddenly - a good wrench is thrown in - a laptop gift - a trade-show prize that was generously given to me by the woman of my dreams. Damn - I sound like I am blogging.

So with the laptop comes art - no mouse - just fingers - finger painting - how fun is that? Plein air to come. So my first adventure as an original print looks better sideways.

At least it seems that way at the time. I am a firm believer in the emotion of the process of creating art coming through in to the finished painting.

Digital art is not nearly as physical as sculpture for instance, but it is not without emotion. Brushes come in different lengths - an artist steps in and steps back - just like a viewer might.

And paintings should work from all directions - so they say.

See Also

• Abstract Art Gallery - examples of other abstract work at Outhouse Studios
• Can Computers Be Creative?- sometimes a related search leads to the crux of the digital doubt - not how close to the finished product - but who is really doing it

controlling what at first seems uncontrollable

My Series 12 - digital painting - original prints - Dan Beck 2004

Simple, colorful, expression - not much in the way of form - not much in terms of movement - but it does have a good feeling nevertheless.

This was not a particularly thoughtful piece. It came from following a concept of being on the cusp between representation and abstract as well as having the smooth colors atop the beige textured background.

Original art, original prints - this has my characteristic comfortable strokes of the mouse - unique to the way I move my hand and wrist - controlling what was seemingly uncontrollable at first.

As a musician, I had to learn how to hear some of the odd scales my fingers had learned how to play - in some ways - this abstract piece is about the same process with painting on the computer.

See Also

• Abstract Art Gallery - other digital paintings from “My Series” as well as other fluid, playful pieces
• Success Express To The Land Of Plenty - while looking for something on the lines of gaining control by being an observer - I found this interesting article
• Fate vs Free Will - again not exactly the angle I was looking for - but a way of integrating determinism and free will in a way I hadn’t really thought of - astrologically

how movement defines artwork

My Series 6 - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2005

We are unique in many ways - but one of the things which clearly makes us different is the movement which each of us finds comfortable. As I look at this piece which is original art - yet number six in a series; I am struck by the distinct shapes which fill the space.

They are my movements using a mouse - they are flowing, comfortable strokes which yield this cross colored digital painting which hints at mountains and clouds, but never quite gets there.

It was meant to be on the cusp - that place that totters in between abstract and representational. It was meant to be done fast and with some abandon. It attempted to have the spontaneity of the first in the series. Everything follows something else and everything is followed - but intention is important - and at least with the original prints from any of these - they maintain the integrity of being original art.

See Also

• Abstract Art Gallery - the best works from this series are found here - examples of other more free form explorations as well
• Types of Sculpture in Stone - Though the main jist of this page is about Stone Reliefs Sculptures & Sculpture in the Round - there is a wonderful paragraph at the bottom pointing out - how it truly is best to not think about these rules or differences as an artist
• Art & Perception - a more scientific look at the evolution of abstract art coming from perception itself

continued exploration of original art

Jazz 3 - digital painting / original art prints - Dan Beck 2005

When I am not sure what I might want to write about, I frequently go to the home page of Outhouse Studios and click on the Gallery Chance card - kind of reminiscent of playing monopoly.

If by chance it takes me to a gallery like the Abstract Art Gallery - I might have to click on Image Roulette - which transports me to an original image and digital painting for that day.

What is fun and probably not accidental about the above piece is that I was thinking about this process in the last day or two. I did a multitude of abstract drawings and paintings long before I ever started working with the computer. They were mostly about trying to convey a feeling - more about the energy and thought I put into the piece than thinking about colors or form.

The piece above - was done listening to some jazz from my collection - I can’t say what at this time - but something I was in the mood for - and simply having fun - being both inside the music and inside the art.

It was done in the style of a meditation - little internal dialogue - observing without judging and being the connection.

See Also

• Jazz Time - other jazz related digital paintings and art prints by Dan Beck - these a bit more obvious
• Monopoly Rules - Chance and Community Chest - in case you don’t remember or somehow missed playing monopoly - Is that possible?
• Changing Places » Blog Archive » Dialogue (Repost) - more about internal dialogue than meditation - I like a lot of the people quoted here - and this gives some good insight into what I am referring

and original blue clouding

Blue Clouds at Evening - digital painting - Dan Beck 2007

Sticking with my theme of original art - I opted to come back to this piece. I don’t know that it will ever reach my all time favorites. In fact, when I saw the blue clouds that evening - I was more struck by the unusualness than the beauty.

Had this been part of an abstract color experiment - or some bizarre reference to a “blue period” - it might actually be more accessible.

But I think because the unreal was actually real - it makes the whole work a bit fanciful - even for myself - who saw the blue clouds that night … and never since, and never before.

So the image will probably always be unique and the original prints - though likely multiples - will always be as intended … and always original art prints.

See Also

• Picasso’s Blue Period 1901-04 | Art Knowledge News - explained well with many images
• CBC.ca - Arts - Joni Mitchell - did not expect to find this article - but notice how hard it is for any artist to transform and have the audience come along
• Abstract Art Gallery - where you might find color experiments or simply play at Outhouse Studios

converting indecipherable language into art

Symbolic Language 1 - digital painting - Dan Beck 2007

Small, it looks like a madras material - I think I’ve had a few shirts like that over the years. If you look at it fuller sized if you didn’t already click on the image, you will see symbols underneath the colors.

I went searching in the browser cache to see if I could retrieve an article which got lost/destroyed. I was not able to find it, but I did open something in a plain text editor which revealed these really interesting sideways, upside down, mirror imaged - what to me are nonsensical but beautiful symbols.

I don’t know if it is decipherable - and I am not sure I care, but I couldn’t resist copying and pasting to make the backdrop for a few abstract pieces …

I have been sadly lacking on my abstract art work these days.

See Also

• Abstract Art Gallery - examples of some of the other abstract art work at Outhouse Studios
• Madras - examples of Madras materials for the uninitiated
• Madras Mountains - an earlier digital painting of similar theme - please enlarge image