December 5th, 2006 by admin
implementing one’s style - being open to what’s not
Quick digital image - for Forgotten Password
Being creative is both about being controlling and being accepting. It is an interesting mix. For there are many times when accepting the seemingly accidental is the best move.
The creative person by necessity makes his mark on the world by communicating his or her perspective.
In the process of rebuilding the shopping cart database for my website, I have felt the obligation not just to get it working but also to make the stock images be unique.
There are things I need to let be - because of time considerations - but I find myself changing most everything - even if it is quickly.
I just can’t help it - who wants to be the same?
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Relevant Tags:being creative, being open, control, creative, digital image, implementing, mark on the world
April 27th, 2006 by admin
representing creative, positive, community change
Art Start Logo
Salinas, California like lots of places is in need of a renaissance. The image of the city is tarnished by imbalanced reporting of gang violence.
I have recently had the opportunity of working with a group of high schools students - quite creative, quite personable, quite intelligent, and quite determined to rebrand themselves and Salinas.
This group has promoted and curated a city wide high school art show - which is being held at the communtiy college within the city - Hartnell College. They have over and over proved themselves dedicated to the community.
The term artstart is used by many - but it is quite representative of the programs being offered by local non-profit Artistas Unidos - Artists United.
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New artists can display work
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Local businesses become venues for displaying local art
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Youth are mentored and encouraged to development art
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New audiences are exposed to local art
As a vehicle for positive change, art has a great deal of power. The simple logo above is designed to represent this artistic, community movement.
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Relevant Tags:art start, artistic, arts program, community, community arts, creative, logo, positive, youth mentoring
April 15th, 2006 by admin
Savor the creative process - enjoyment comes through
Process tired My Series 12
Full article is available as Free Download at outhousestudios.net. - for it is the process which is reflected in the final work anyway.
Savor the creative process: if you enjoy the process it comes through, if it is tedious and tired, that also comes through. Not all creative endeavors will come out to be something you want to keep - but the process will stay with you no matter how the outcome is.
There are many folks who feel that this is the principal in life - that it is the path and the growth which matter; the rewards are simply gratuitous.
What a great word "
savor" is - savor food, creative process, life itself. In the above works,
Process was about a new technique I was playing with,
tired was what I was and quit - but liked the piece where I had stopped, and
My Series 12 just looks like I was having fun.
Just by having our attention elsewhere, it is sadly, too easy to not savor … life.
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Relevant Tags:attention elsewhere, being creative, creative, creative endeavors, creative process, enjoy process, growth, savor, savor life
March 6th, 2006 by admin
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.
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Relevant Tags:Art its own world, Aspects, creative, digital painting, feeling of art, Medium, texture
September 21st, 2005 by admin
Artist , Musician, Creativity, Listening, and Observing
The question of where the artist sits in relation to his work is an important aspect of the creative process and even the finished work.
I suspect it is different for different artists, but there are similarities that can be found as well. In some cases, people approach their work as the great shaper, not stopping until the piece is formed exactly as they imagined. In other cases, people approach their work with more give and take and find themselves going in the direction that the work or medium directs them.
My personal leaning is towards the latter. I like to start with intention, but am not opposed to going in the direction that the piece warrants and pulls me.
Similarly, in music one finds that the role of playing with other musicians requires that kind of subjugation to the overall sound. In an article in The Australian, renowned guitarist Ralph Towner states: " With a group, you have to find a role in the music … and of course the roles change too. You can be chameleon-like. There’s a lot of three-dimensional play. You have to adjust to the other people’s concept of rhythm and harmony and the way they negotiate musical space."
There are other ways in which one can be immersed. According to Emeka Udemba, in an article about Nigerian art breaking borders in the Daily Independent, “For as long as there have been urban environments, artists have found inspiration in them. Creative people have made meaning from the many layers of culture, changing technologies, sense of accelerated time, changes in the social polity and aesthetic allegiances within the cityscape.”
In short the immersion of oneself either in one’s environment or during the process of creating seems to be a great part of the creative process. This is one of the things which is so valuable about the creative process - it is a place one can be incredibly focused and in the moment. There are many who feel there is nothing more real than this being in the moment.
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September 19th, 2005 by admin
Intention, Artistic Process, Improvisation, & Learning
There are two levels in which we generally talk about the creative process. The first has to do with intentionality - the dialogue of the time or intent prior to doing the work. When one approaches a work, one is bringing in to play that which he has seen and experienced before.
In particular art movements, such as, abstract expressionism, the artists were not only talking with each other but to the art which had come before. The New Nation writes: "In a famous letter to the New York Times (June 1943), Gottlieb and Rothko, with the assistance of Newman, wrote: ‘To us, art is an adventure into an unknown world of the imagination which is fancy-free and violently opposed to common sense. There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing. We assert that the subject is critical.’ "
The point is that having an idea of what one is going to create or at the least a starting point, is essential to the creative process and along with perhaps inspiration is the starting point of creating.
The second aspect of the creative process is the work itself. Since creating is ongoing - it is the process which is what is most important. From my own perspective, it is about being in the flow, not letting oneself get bogged down or stuck, feeling a rhythm and not getting caught in fear of making a mistake. Most errors can be fixed, but stopping will cement them.
In a quote from the Albuquerque Tribune: Visual Arts, the artist creating a lifesize stonehenge of old refrigerators says, "I’ve learned to embrace the process. The process can be more revealing than the completion." The Billings Gazette describes the work of a glass artist and says: "From blank glass to finished work, the process is all-consuming. Burton begins each new piece with a vision." In the Arizona Daily Wildcat, there is a story about an artist who creates sculpture out of books - she is attributed as saying, The artistic process forces you to question yourself, while also learning new things about yourself. And The New Nation writes about the abstract expressionists: "These artists’s valued spontaneity and improvisation, and they accorded the highest importance to process."
It is the journey not the destination - I am obviously not the only one who views the creative process this way - but then like all of us, I am part of a long tradition of different culture, art, and the same shared human race.
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Relevant Tags:abstract expressionism, art, artistic, creative, creative process, intention, learning
