Open Fields – digital art painting – Dan Beck 2009

This was painted approximately two months ago – the colors of everything have changed a bit since then – more brown in the fields – more blue in the sky – the change of seasons is subtle here in the Salinas Valley, but still noticeable.

This was a remarkably loose painting – my recollection was to capture that quick glance of field workers – in the distance – in multiple groups upon the backdrop of very open fields.  Looking at the painting today, I feel I captured these undulating and exposed fields.

The workers are more colors than people – probably hinting of the way the workers blend into the scene and are not seen or even thought of by most people. There is a tremendous amount of back bending work that goes into our being able to eat produce – and there is meant to be a kind of vulnerability from the open vastness of these picking fields.

Is the power in those floating electrical towers or in the people, clouds or hills?

See Also

• Composition of the Bend – a somewhat similar piece from a different time and curiously mentions three paintings I just hung up in a rather impromptu exhibition at a local coffee shop
• Digital Painting – never hurts to check out a little explanation and process

Harvest Depth – starting image for music/art video – Dan Beck 2008

Exactly 1 year ago today, I posted a video which contained both a recording of one of my songs with corresponding images from my related paintings. The original article linked to youtube. The visual and audio quality was pretty poor and I didn’t do much to promote or share it.

Today I am sharing the video on what has been a hidden page on my site until today.

As for the content of the video – I think it speaks for itself – the song is entitled “Nothing Is Equal” – it is really a tribute to how people can make the best out of their situation – it is loaded with respect and I suppose some shared guilt for life being so unequal.

It offers not just a five minute tour of my digital art and music, but also two PDF files which anyone can print and get a better idea of what this work really looks like.

Even printed on a standard letter paper will reveal details and a feeling which cannot be appreciated by just looking at a monitor image.

See Also

• Play & Print – art and music combined for a true Outhouse Studios Tour and flavor
• More Music from 1danband – another hidden resource – my undeveloped MySpace page – just not much of a social net-worker as of yet

Toro Inspired – digital art painting – Dan Beck 2009

The artwork is inspired by Mount Toro – a part of the Santa Lucia Mountains – still Salinas.  There is a particular area I am thinking of in doing this painting, but it is not so particularly literal – what else is new.

Actually – where I find myself today is working on a major website redo – but being more overwhelmed by the prospect than being able to get on with the doing. There is no substitute for just doing – but it is a daunting task to simplify that which has gotten too big to manage.

Since I am painting instead of website building – and blogging instead – the piece undoubtedly reflects this state. If I could take the same approach as I do with art – I will get it done – but I am less inspired by website design than by the beauty that surrounds me – so I do art and hope that the next days will find it easier to get more done in the process.

On the bright side, I have been wanting to paint this area for quite some time – with or without cows – wasn’t sure – but today it felt like it needed a few cows – a digital challenge for a mouse freehander like myself.

See Also

• Taking on the View – Article and only other painting with cows – this one taking from the foothills of the othe mountain chain that creates the Salinas Valley
• Original Art – how can something reproducible be considered original – what does it even mean?

Eucalyptus View – painting – Dan Beck 2009

This is the most recent finished painting I have done.  I am no longer particularly current on my blogging and am not sure if or when I will become so again. I’ve done a lackluster job of trying to engage people -

A blog is supposed to be a place for people to comment and interact and create something more than what is written by the author. I suppose my tendency is to write a little too much to myself – or write in a way that doesn’t invite comment – and of course – it probably would help if I tried to create an audience by actually inviting people to read my articles and then to comment… by the way – please feel free.

I chose the subject above because of the drama of looking through the giant Eucalyptus trees to the fields beyond – a scene I viewed driving as a passenger on the 101 south of Salinas before you get to King City.

I think on a deeper level it is also a metaphor for how we see ourselves – on what should we focus? – expressions that come to mind :  one can’t always see the forest through the trees … it is hard to see through the growth…

I don’t care where you are in life – it is next to impossible to see oneself the way others see us.

My biggest fan was always my mother – today would have been her 90th birthday – had she lived that long. Eucalyptus was a favorite of hers – I thought of both these things only as I finished this article.

Listen or View

• Digital Art – since this is an example of painting on the computer, get a further understanding of how non descriptive this term really is
• Has Life Turned a Corner – written a couple weeks after my mother died (almost seven years ago) and the eve of having to put my dog down – damn – Sure glad I don’t feel this way now! – but I do still like the song  and do still miss those who are gone
• Forest Through the Trees – found this silk painting by some search results – don’t know the artist but I do like the image of the silk painting – perhaps you will too

Hillside Fun – digital art – Dan Beck 2008

One of the things I have improved on over the years is paying attention to the composition – so that a piece works both large and small.  With digital art – there is not necessarily an optimum size and certainly not a one and only size.

As I have taken on this medium, I keep trying to do work which utilizes the attributes which are unique to creating art on the computer. Stepping back is done by minimizing the size – and getting up close is done by magnifying.

Once a work is printed, I find they are generally stronger as they get large enough to see the detail found when creating the piece.  Texture and overlap of color come into their own in a way that is really only hinted at by a monitor screen – but yet again – seeing on a monitor may actually be closer than with a photo of a more traditional form of art.

See Also

Original Art – discussion of what it means particulary in the context of digital painting and prints on demand

Changing Landscape of Traditional Art – an internet search yielded an interesting thought but not sure if the internet has changed our access to this degree

Times Square 2 – digital art – Dan Beck 2008

I felt good about my first take on Times Square – but wanted to try to tackle the feeling again – a little more focus on the TV nature of the advertisements – still the bright color and overwhelming show – but hoping for the shape of the over the top media bombardment that is part of the fabric of life in the big city.

My life is normally situated in a more bucolic west coast – rolling hills – and farmland setting – so this is a departure from what feeds my art generally.  But what an incredible scene – the East Coast in general has such a great mix of old and new – quaint and over the top sensory bombardment – it feels like there are artistic touches everywhere.

In the Salinas Valley I am fed by nature and quick scenes which grab my attention – in the East – I was bombarded by lights – by life – by urban frenzy – and this for someone who lived back east (love that expression) for a major portion of my life.

See Also

• Digital Art – explanation of different meanings and more about what it means at Outhouse Studios
• Beautification or … the death of Times Square Eye Candy – stumbled upon this discussion about banning advertisement in San Paulo and a question of when have we gone too far…

Times Square Canyon – digital art – Dan Beck 2008

Visiting the East Coast this week …

I had been asked a couple of years ago to do a digital painting of Times Square – I thought about it – even googled some images but knew I hadn’t been there in so many years I couldn’t do it justice.

In general I like to work from my own impression and feeling of a place and then use the language and vocabulary of the digital medium which is at my disposal.

In this case, it is using the mouse pad and finger painting in an abstract manner to capture the feeling and enormity of the show of technology ads and bright lights of the city at night. In particular – looking up Broadway in what feels like a canyon of buildings and lights – jagged, beautiful, and bustling with moving lights and people.

It is a couple of days (or a couple of years) later – but this is also sometimes my custom…

See Also

• Digital Art – what does it mean – and the outhouse studios interpretation
• Other Artists’ Takes – some New York artists’ impressions of Times Square

Further Along Tree – Dan Beck – unsigned – unfinished? – digital art painting 2008

On April fool’s day one should hope for a joke – if I have one for the day – it is unfinished like the piece above – stopped at this point and saved because it looked balanced, finished, and pleasing – but I knew I was not done because I had not portrayed the essential aspects of the tree and background from the impression on that day.

This is also based on the same tree and the same tree – but further along in the season – as well as the pun of further down the road.

As with the other jokes – one might not get that the three trees are one and the same – but then they are not anyway – each day different – changing like us -

if we trusted our senses and not our minds – much if not all, would be unrecognizable when we view what with our minds we consider to be the same thing -

That came out so convoluted sounding – I think the joke may be on me.

See Also

• Digital Art – wide range of definitions and meanings for the term
• Digital Painting – more info on the process of creating at Outhouse Studios
• The opposite conclusion – search result and examples of the slipperiness of perception

Pinnacles 1 – digital art | digital painting – Dan Beck 2008

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of seeing the Pinnacles up close – I have only gone once, only done the one digital painting – and did it in my normal fashion – based the piece on some of the views I saw which left an impression – combined them a little – but mostly painted from the impression they left upon me.

I painted it that afternoon, the images were fresh in my inner view.

The color of the sky – though not remotely real to the day – somehow helped to convey the feeling that these incredible rock formations had on me. The different depths – the incredible tone of colors and the massiveness probably can’t be conveyed in photo or painting, but my intent has always been to capture something more intangible.

It usually works for me – but I am triggering my own memory and I couldn’t possibly know how it reads to someone never having experienced something similar.

See Also

• Digital Art – discussion of the broad meanings of the term and the process at Outhouse Studios
• Impressionist Art Gallery – other works based on glimpse, visual memory, understanding – plus discussion of impressionist art
• Pinnacles National Monument – U.S. Parks service site with most information on this incredible rock formation

Horizon 4 - Digital Painting 2006

Having posted the first two tracks of the “Red Eye Recordings” – a music project that is intended to be listened to in order (for the most part) because there is a story to be told; it is time to introduce the third track with some explanation.

The song – “Money is too important” is about the necessity and the change it brings about – the nature of seeking satisfaction from things or consumerism – How much is enough? – always more than one has – and my observations on how often having money changes people.

And of course, having said that – it is my need as well, to have money to live on and continue to produce my art and music.

I am offering these tracks free – and will continue to – but eventually plan on making it possible to contribute to the outhouse studio fund -

The songs are about my observations – about life – about capitalism – about equality – about sickness – about letting go -

It is both too personal and somehow improper to put a price on -

Listen or View

• Money Is Too Important – Dan Beck  2006- to quote the song “I’d like less worrying, though I am not at all bad off, I’d like less worrying, like everyone I’ve known”
• Credit to Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman – for MASH melody and lyrical reference – nothing is created in a vacuum and I kept hearing their lyrics and melody in the music
• Horizon 4 – current art print availability for above digital art and its original prints