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ahead of myself

Self Portrait - Dan Beck - digital painting 2007

Multiple meanings are to me as much fun as multiple solutions - and generally more obvious than all the different ways to get to a solution to a problem…

and yes I believe there is almost always more than one way to solve any problem.

In most cases, I find myself thinking through all the things that need to be done in a project and try to foresee the obstacles. Somewhere along the line, I got the idea that the most efficient way was the best way.

I am no longer certain that either that is true or that there even is such a thing as the best way. Sometimes the longer route is the better - and most of the time we can not see our way around all the obstacles anyway.

In art and music - I seem to know this. I start and work around the problems as they come up; but in life - I sometimes think I can no more teach myself than I can anyone else …

such is life.

Listen or View

• Don’t Get Ahead of Yourself - track 4 of the Red Eye Recordings | Dan Beck | 1danband - they say “you can’t see the forest through the trees” but if one is only focused on the forest one can’t see the trees either
• Listening - outhouse studios commentary on what this means and the recording process- although it does not touch on my recent assertion that listening is one of the most important things separating music from noise
• Where teaching oneself and listening coincide - this sounds like some young question and answer session - but a good answer and pertinent I think

Art and Music - Music and Art - Music and Art Together

Developing-a-Rhythm - art prints from digital painting - 1999

This is another piece which doesn’t really look like much until viewed a bit larger. Like a lot of my abstract art - the piece is multi-layered without a great deal of form - but is left with the process exposed.

An early digital painting, it felt that I had reached the point I was getting the hang of the medium - developing a rhythm as it were.

It is also not a big stretch to view the artwork as being musical with a great deal of color - like the changes in music - and perhaps a way of representing rhythm itself.

See Also

• Developing-a-Rhythm
  Gallery page for above digital piece - can “enlarge” piece from here or view Art Print options by clicking “buy”
• BEAUTIFUL MUSICAL ARTWORK in Roanoke Virginia
  found a couple of nice pieces searching for musical artwork
• Woodstock Music and Art Festival - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Had know idea this would come up - what a web of cross referenced nostalgia - not that I was there - but I can hear music just looking at titles

are art and music meant to be proprietary?

Jazz 1 - Digital Painting and Art Prints - 2005 - Dan Beck

I noticed an article about music piracy today. Actually to be more accurate it was noticed by Google Alert.

When I started blogging, I was advised to write on topics of my interest that were showing up in Google news or Yahoo news or as mentioned above. Actually, I now have real time news for both, but specifically for art prints and digital art.

So now that you have both the background and the link-fest - I can get to the point.

The truth is that all art and music are borrowed and/or stolen in some fashion. In most instances, the artist is not fully aware of all the influences, but can’t help but reference others by the nature of living in a culture.

Stealing outright is on the surface quite wrong - but the proprietary nature of an artistic work is a direct result of capitalism and only exists because of the money making nature of our world - people profiting off of someone else’s work.

My understanding is that Latin American authors use each other’s fictional characters - no one gets sued - it is cultural. Stealing of course, is wrong - and the article is about reselling, not creating something new with the music. But it prompted me to thinking and sharing these thoughts along with the above work which was obviously not created in a vacuum.

See Also

• Abstract Jazz Color
  Previous article on above digital painting - Jazz 1
• Recording Industry of America
  Article - this article is referencing
• Picasso’s Musical Instruments
  About above - but even Picasso took ideas from elsewhere

image searches indicate piece should be featured

Jazz 1 - Digital Painting and Art Prints - 2005 - Dan Beck

People who don’t own a website probably don’t realize that there are statistics available as to what site referred a visitor or what search engine and even what was being searched for.

I have recently noticed a large number of people coming to my site based on one of a number of Google image searches showing this piece.

Unfortunately, Google refers image searchers to the main page of the site and the original article was written in November and not easily found.

So I have done a couple of new pieces along this line All that Jazz and Vertical Jazz - to try to put some kind of music and art connection that is current.

The above piece was the first piece like this I did and I have to say it has stood up well since I created it. I have an an art print of it framed and matted above my piano.

See Also

• Jazz 1
  Purchasing options for Art Prints of Jazz 1
• Principles of Art and Music
  Middle school lesson idea on the connection between art and music
• TeacherArtExchange (Education at the Getty) - Re: [teacherartexchange] Art/Music Connection
  Another commentary on the connection that some people see

Less abstract vertical jazz landscape in a portrait setting best viewed large

Vertical Jazz - digital painting - Dan Beck -2006

This is a new piece. I created as a possible piece for a show - which may or may not happen. But that is neither here nor there.

Sorry, I just couldn’t resist saying that - it was too much fun.

Anyway, I felt I needed to do an abstract jazz piece with a different orientation - portrait rather than landscape. In my mind, I immediately saw this sax extending down the page.

And I imagined stark - sax, drums - bass maybe, maybe not - reminiscent of Ornette Coleman or perhaps Eric Dolphy.

I created a new template - so that this likely could be enlarged up to 28×36″ comfortably - but definitely look sharp at a 24×30″ size framing.

How many pixels determines how big the piece can go - but also how small. Digital painting and printing options are quite open but not without limitations - there are optimum sizes for all pieces.

Since “Vertical Jazz” is a new piece - you will have to email specialorders@outhousestudios.net to order an original art print.

See Also

• Art and Jazz Overlap
  Other recent - abstract jazz piece by Dan Beck
• Amazon.com: Out to Lunch: Music: Eric Dolphy
  Includes samples of classic album and links to Ornette Coleman
• Pixels
  Some basics about pixels and RGB - kid and adult friendly

Art prints improve upon digital image - experimentation improves even more

Jazz 3 - digital painting and art prints - 2005 - Dan Beck

I just printed this piece today. I had printed it once, but for some reason not large - 13×19″ watercolor paper.  I printed it today because I was considering hanging it in a show with some other pieces which reference jazz.

I have already written more extensively on what went into the creation of this piece, but I did not talk about the printing.

Today, I find this art print to be surprisingly nice. I am printing a little differently than I was at the time of painting this piece. I have found that if I save the image as a photoshop document instead of a bitmap(bmp), I get richer results - tiff files tend to be too crisp and take away from the painting and jpg’s are compressed by their nature. 

I have experimented a lot with this medium and I am really proud of the printed results I have been able to achieve - results which are always much better than the monitor image.

See Also

• Jazz 3
  Purchasing options for art prints
• About Bitmap Images - Two Types of Graphics - Vector and Bitmap
  explanation of bitmap - seems bitmap is more inclusive than I had understood

building on strengths and approaching in fresh ways

Foot Hill Views - digital painting - 2005 - Dan Beck

My hunch is I have already featured this piece in a blogsite article. In fact, perhaps it is even fortuitous that I should choose a piece that I have already written about.

Almost always, an artist tries to do something new - at least this artist does. Working in a series - a group of work all wrestling with a similar problem - such as Picasso’s blue period - is one thing, but still the hope is each work will tackle it a new way.

It is a logical way of having work hold together and also looks better when hung in a show. Some of the oddest shows I have seen are works from artists over decades of time.

My creative tip or contribution today is that sometimes what has already been done is worth doing again.

Every time I write a song, I want a new chord progression, but sometimes the same things come out. Sometimes they warrant being changed, but sometimes it can work just by bringing in a fresh attitude. I think it is all about how you believe in or sell it.

Accepting what you do well is a good thing for anybody.

See Also

• Foot Hill Views
  Options for art prints
• Pablo Picasso Blue Period
  More extensive exploration of this period of his art
• Random Thoughts from a CTO: Strengths Hunting
  Utilizing individual strengths in business and individually

Musical conversations are portrayed visually

All That Jazz - digital painting - 2006 - Dan Beck

I love music - if you’ve been on my site, you might have noticed, I write music and play a number of instruments.

There are many similarities in the creative processes for music and for art. They are there even when one is not taking on such an obvious reference to the other - as in the above.

When I created the above piece, I put on some jazz and referenced instruments I was hearing and the kind of interplay that the instruments might have. I could probably make it out to be more thoughtful than it was - but in truth I didn’t think that much.

Having said that, I am well aware of my own education in jazz and music.  Improvisational music is a conversation - not an idea I invented - but it is.  The vocabulary changes with musician and background - but it is about listening, conversing and offers one’s take or perspective.

As a brand new piece - All That Jazz has not yet been set up with a way to purchase the original art prints - please send inquiries to specialorders@outhousestudios.net .

See Also

• Jazz 1
  Earlier piece with similar theme
• Improvisation
  Quick synopsis of conversations in music
• from The Age of Intelligent Machines
  similarities in art and music from new technological perspective - completely different angle but interesting

Improvising Flipped Out Printing Options

Flipped Out Jazz - Gallery Page - Digital Painting 2005

I wrote about this piece once before closer to when I created it.  As I am glancing back at the article, it is quite remarkable that I was experimenting with a piece about Jazz the way a musician playing jazz would experiment with the music - improvising.

I had actually forgotten that it was the first time I had flipped portions of an image both horizontally and vertically - thus the title "Flipped Out Jazz".

The reason I write about this today, is that I had a recent inquiry about buying this piece.  There are a lot of options with a digitally created piece. And like I’ve been saying numerous times in different ways - too many choices aren’t always a good thing.

But then again - that is one of the cool things about this medium - it is different depending upon which size one prints it. They look great at the smallest size I will sell a piece - that is the size that can be printed at Outhouse Studios proper 13×19".  The color is well controlled and the ink archival.

There are pieces which don’t look as intended that small and they are not being sold any smaller than what would fit in a 24×30" frame. But this piece - happens to look wonderful framed 16×20"over my piano.

See Also

• FLIPPED OUT JAZZ
  Enlargement of digital painting above
• Artist Print Shop
  Printing and Marketing Digitally Created Art

Creating Art from Concept and Pleasing to Look At

About Time CD Cover - Fall 2005 - Hear Clips

So above is another example of art designed specifically for a musical CD.  This was for a production last fall. The title has multiple meanings, but was important to me to convey that the subject matter was indeed time itself.

The tree theme is also laden with references to family to time span to stretching in space; and the tree is one of the first images I ever drew or painted.

The sky reflects the seasons as well - going from the bleak gray pallor of Winter to the crisp blue color of Fall.

As I have previously discussed, creating art from a concept provides a wonderful guideline - a limit which in many instances is welcome. But it is every bit as important to me that in whatever concept or impression I try to convey it is also pleasing to look at.  That is always my hope and intent.

See Also

• Listen to Music at Outhouse Studios
  Info and excerpts from 3 musical Albums/CD’s
• The Genealogy Home Page
  Extensive resource for developing Family Tree
• IStockphoto.com: Seasonal Skies
  Many photographic examples of sky seasonality