What's New

composition for a non-specific subject

Quick Study 2 - Dan Beck - digital painting for art prints - 2007

The process of creating is almost always interesting. By the time I got to this stage, this digital painting was no longer a quick study… but it did start out that way.

I have had enough of an absence from painting - that I did not want to retrieve a subject - this is no place in particular - something I do from time to time - but it definitely is here.

I am happy with the composition - the eye-flow - the richness of color and the feeling it evokes.

See Also

• Filming In Monterey County - Location Library - Location Photos, Listings
  photos of Monterey County from the Film Commission
• No Particular View
  art print options for a different but similar piece - have not yet created purchasing options for above piece

Relevant Tags:Art Prints, composition, creative process, digital painting, evoke feeling, eye flow, prints, process of creating

 

creative process, making things one own

New notifications image

Well … this is not an example of fine art - rather a quick piece of play to replace a stock image for the Outhouse Studios shopping cart.

I am sure whoever created them meant well - they aren’t all bad - in fact, I left a couple a bit enlarged - and altered a few others.

Like most creative folks, I don’t like to just leave things alone. I like to make adjustments, I like to leave my mark, I like the process of getting something to look and feel right.

The above digital piece was fun … and that of course is a big part of being creative and why it is such a big thing.

See Also

• Digital Fun
  a different kind of fun no doubt - but right name for this kind of creativity
• New All Works on Sale Page
  beginning of the new catalogue - soon to house blog works too.

Relevant Tags:being creative, creative process, digital art, digital fun, digital painting, digital piece

 

screen shot shows texture, detail, and working title

Mound 2 Mountain - screen shot digital painting in progress -

This is a detail of digital painting Mound 2 Mountain before it was finished, but not by much. In fact, I ended up changing the title after I was finished - the working title is above.

I hear they do that with movies sometimes - though it isn’t my normal practice - more bother than it is worth.

I do think this gives a bit more insight into how the piece looks close up and particularly when I am painting a section.

There is no great insight here - just sharing how this stage of the creative process looks.

See Also

• Impressionist Art Gallery
  a place of some similar works
• Working title - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  explaining the term I used to explain the different title for the same piece
• Working Title Films
  I didn’t explore this site much - but my hunch it is to give the low down on new films before they have totally hatched

Relevant Tags:creative process, creative process stage, digital painting, digital painting in progress, digital painting screen shot, looks close up, screen shot, working title

 

viewing and processing life - creatively

In my mind the three images above of digital paintings were created around the same time. Whether it is true or not, I am not going to research.

Promoting the Creative World is about observations particularly in regards to the creative process, but it is also observations about viewing and processing life. How could it not be?

Associations are more real than the way things happened. Our memories and how we categorize what we have experienced take on a life of their own - truth is they become our reality unless they are shattered. And many folks won’t budge from their reality even when confronted with facts.

There is no critique here; but just like "hindsight is 20/20" and "the older we get, the better we were" so much of what we perceive is wrapped up in our own perspective of the world - worth mentioning I think.

See Also

• Landscape Art Gallery
  where above pieces can all be found
• Hindsight Perspective
  How film and literature changes with plot information - further insight into how informed we are when we already know

Relevant Tags:creative process, creatively, digital paintings, hindsight, images, memory, perspective, processing, viewing, viewing and processing life

 

observations and benefits of the creative process

Beyond the Mirrored Veil - digital painting - Dan Beck 2005

Lucky me, I took a vacation. I didn’t paint, didn’t blog - just toured and visited. Back - I’ve found it very difficult to begin any sort of routine and therefore decided to write a song - about what I learned on my trip.

I am not sure I learned much that is new, but I did observe a number of people I know holding on to hurt, holding on to grudges, holding on to the past. I am illustrating, if you will, with a painting of different dimension, but the closest I have to this subject.

It is easy to resist change and difficult to let go - I am a firm believer that the creative process can help us to do so.

See Also

• Beyond the Mirrored Veil
  availability of art prints for above work
• COPE visitor page - Don’t Hold a Grudge
  well written document on what happens when we hold a grudge
• Article on holding on to grudges
  Take your hand off the hot stove - quick read and good analogy

Relevant Tags:creative process, digital painting, grudges, illustrating, let go, observations, painting, resist change, resisting change

 

writing about digital painting again and its very existence don’t follow the rules

Valley Work - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2005

Just like the creative process itself, there are no rules when it comes to writing about a piece again.

The digital painting itself was about no rules. The hills and the dirt were both created using a lot of cutting and pasting - taking sections already created and twisting and turning them to create the undulations that you see in the work.

It is not my normal way of painting - but I wanted that kind of energy and in some ways I was trying to emulate the success of a previous piece.

I love the yellow and orange sky - I don’t know where it came from - but it creates a feeling I would never have gotten if I chose to be more literal.

The digital painting required working at different levels - in order to create the figures, the digital image was zoomed in close to 400% - and it was also zoomed out to make sure it was a balanced composition.

See Also

• Valley Work
  availability of art prints for Valley Work
• Rules Art Quotations from The Painter’s Keys Resource of Art Quotations
  quotes of all sorts - rules and no rules
• No rules. Just write.: Is it still good art if nobody likes it?
  Comentary on NY Times article - but right in pointing out selling and good are not necessarily the same

Relevant Tags:balanced composition, creative process, different levels, digital art, digital image, digital painting, figures, no rules

 

Second level of completion gives better idea where piece is headed

Unfinished digital painting - Grandeur 2 - Dan Beck

Like the previous article, I am sharing a piece before it has been finished. Unlike the first offering, I do know the outcome today and perhaps you will also.

The program I use has a color fill tool - most do. Because I had stretched in outlines, it was generally pretty easy to fill between the lines and create a second level of completion to the piece.

I chose a mix between gradients and personalized textures - ones which I adjusted manually or pulled from a section of a previous painting. I can paint using sections of my own painting - a startling realization - which gives me a never ending palette - but like most tools can be easily overused.

So far my steps seem rather obvious. You can not develop a piece without the basic composition and without the basic color scheme. I don’t have a mystical way of doing things, but where I choose to go from here is what makes things more interesting to me -

because the process of art is one of going down any number of possible paths.

See Also

• Process
  First piece to be painted by using a section of piece as paint
• Apple - Appleworks Tips
  Doesn’t even touch the capabilities of creating palettes with this program - not sure they know

Relevant Tags:art process, color scheme, composition, creative process, digital painting, gradients, process of art, texture, unfinished painting

 

Tackling same problem, interpreting the world differently

Day Scene - digital painting - 2006 - Dan Beck

I think I was just saying how I always want to do something new. Tackling the same problem, but solving it in a new way is what I think the creative process is about.

There are many solutions and many paths and the viewpoint from being creative is taking the different paths - savoring the trip - and interpreting the world a new way each time and as a result of the journey.

The road I live on is winding.  There are hills with fields, in front of hills with fields - and down to the right most recently was a crew harvesting strawberries - slowly, painstakingly, harvesting - I know this not because I saw it, but because it has been so wet.

After the fields have been harvested, there is a sea of fruit in between the rows.  When you drive by fast, their work does not appear tedious, if it even appears at all.

See Also

• Figures Art Gallery
  Previous works of similar theme
• Writing.com: Less is More
  A different angle on savoring the journey - and a quick read

Relevant Tags:creative process, digital painting, harvesting, interpreting new, painting, savoring the trip

 

Be accepting - regardless of results

Hills, Fields, & Sunset - unshared digital painting - 2006

Be accepting of finished or unfinished piece - it is a microcosm of the world you inhabit - no matter what it reflects, it is part of you and is illuminating.

One never likes everything one creates and even if one did, it would not be with equal admiration. The key here is to accept the whole gamut of one’s work - not necessarily show it all , but not quickly discard because you see a flaw.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t see ways in which even the best of pieces could be better, but it is an advantage to be comfortable enough to get beyond one’s own prejudices.

---

I am sharing the above work - because it just never seemed that great to me. I was done - didn’t want to work on it anymore, but never quite felt like I pulled off what I wanted.

I probably should have dug down deeper - but this is the most recent ho-hum work. Having said that - I guess I walk the talk - cause I rather like the piece today.

In any event, the rest of this series - at least the points can be downloaded at outhousestudios.net - free downloads.

See Also

• Origianl Art-chives
  There are many gems in the archived works
• Gamut - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Had forgotten about the color angle of gamut - when I chose the word
• Only a third of employees ‘walk the talk’
  Related by the phrase - but worth noting

Relevant Tags:be accepting, being creative, creative process, digital painting, gamut, illuminating artwork, walk the talk

 

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.

---

See Also

• Still Processing
  Another piece in this spirit - good but not great
• The Hindu: As Their Attention Lay Elsewhere
  On television distracting from life and learning - an example of not savoring

Relevant Tags:attention elsewhere, being creative, creative, creative endeavors, creative process, enjoy process, growth, savor, savor life