What's New

availability for purchase timeline will soon be current

Works from Art Prints starting at $95

From the digital paintings done between 2004 and the end of 2005 - these are definately some of my favorites.

The work done in the last year is visible throughout the blogsite - articles and enlargements can be found by digital image. They are a few weeks away from being set up with purchasing options, but it will happen.

My hope is to be able to offer prints for purchase at the same time of introducing a digital painting online or shortly afterwards.

If you like the work, but haven’t found the piece of your dreams - stay tuned.

See Also

• Digital Painting - Wikipedia, the free encylclopedia
  descriptions change over time - communtity changed understanding - but still useful to grasp possiblities
• IOnOne art | painting
  The blurred line of digital - painting can be altered photography or 3D computer effects - but some good images mixed in
• Art from $95 at Outhouse Studios
  section of catalogue of art prints - good viewing of work - access to all works on sale

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?

See Also

• Quick-draw
  another quick image - a little more artsy perhaps
• NLP, OODA, Creativity, Mastery, And Other Magical Stuff - Sketchpad
  Image of “making mark on world” is how this applies - but rather fun blog
• It?s time to make your mark on the world…
  it’s the saying - clever advertising - not advocating the advertisment though

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

perspective, vivid primary colors, and subject

Two Pick 2 - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck - 2006

When a piece works well both small and large, I really feel like I’ve hooked it. To me, this digital painting is quite strong.

There is a boldness to the image which is quite iconic. As though the piece was practically clear enough to be a logo.

The perspective is incredibly clear and straightforward and I think that is part of the reason it reads so clearly. The colors are also vivid and primary - nothing confusing about the immediate perception. Even the two figures are immediate.

In the spirit of double talk - there is complexity but it is masked by simplicity.

Art prints for this digital image are available by request - please email: specialorders@outhousestudios.net.

See Also

• Field Play
  same size template - similar sized art prints - strong iconic image as well
• Depth Cues
  basics in clear depth perception

never a substitute for seeing or being there

Tall Side Mountains - digital painting - art prints - 2006

I completed this piece yesterday and already shared the work and wrote an article about the digital painting. But because I really like the way it came out, I thought I would write about another aspect.

The piece is obviously a portrait orientation. It is, however, a first in doing a digital image with these exact dimensions. I have done numerous pieces now with these dimensions reversed - a wide horizon of a piece.

I am sorry I cannot show you the actual print. There is something really luxurious about the colors and the way it fills the page - less about an eighth of an inch around.

In some ways, I look at this piece and see nothing going on, but I also look at this piece and am so strongly reminded of the lush green mountains of the Santa Lucias - this from a lingering impression from the gorge called Arroyo Seco.

See Also

• Grandeur from the Gorge
  another article an piece insprired by Arroyo Seco
• Santa Lucia Impression
  Earlier work capturing the feel of these mountains
• Arroyo Seco Canyon, Monterey County, CA
  Between these photos and other digital paintings - almost like being there - where are those 3d glasses?

digital painting template changes for different size art prints

Sunset for Andrea - digital painting - 2005

On this particular night the view of the sunset sky was so wide that I felt I needed to fill the length of the paper - making the original digital image fit the length and width perfectly when printed.

This was not the first time I had done this, but this template was different - in the hopes of the digital painting looking complete printed at 13×19".

If the template is too large - too many pixels - some of the intent and image will be concealed until printed larger. If it is too small, it will not be possible to print very large. In fact, I made the template larger right after this piece for that reason.

So getting the right flexibility and versatility in a digital image has been almost as important as the digital painting itself.

I don’t think any image can be printed at any possible size, but it is nice to have many good options.

It is also kind of nice that this piece as well as its template will remain unique - as it was dedicated to the memory of a friend - Andrea Moore.

See Also

• Gordo’s Sunset Gallery
  Nice shots and links to other sunset photos
• Ryan’s Photos: Sunsets
  Gallery of Sunset Photos
• Landscape Art Gallery
  Outhouse Studios Gallery with most Sunsets

digital image size and art prints results - specific to piece

Day Scene - digital painting and art prints - 2006 - Dan Beck

Yesterday’s article discussed tackling of similar problems in new ways and the general creation of this piece above.

Today, I hope to talk about it from a different angle. But like the previous article, I will be looking to take on a topic I have touched on before.

The art prints from this digital painting are special in several ways:

1. they fill the 13×19" sheet of watercolor paper - leaving a very tiny margin of white
2. they look complete at the 13×19" size, but also look enhanced when printed larger
3. they are printed with archival pigment inks and will last for generations
4. each print is an original - as it is not practical to frame the digital image
5. each print has color, depth, and texture which surpasses the digital image.

If you have interest in this piece or any others on the blogsite, please email specialorders@outhousestudios.net and indicate the artwork of interest.  Thanks.

See Also

• Experimental Fields
  Options for art prints - would be similar to work above
• PCWorld.com - A Photo Printer for Generations
  Admittedly an old article, but ink longevity has not been surpassed - results compare to newer ultra-chrome inks

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

qualities of piece and size of digital painting shape final art prints

Cloud Over Sprinklers - digital painting - 2005 - Dan Beck

I might have featured this piece already. I have it as the first image of my work on the current version of my website.

I don’t know that it is one of my all time best pieces, but I love the color of the sky, the way the clouds hover over the the sun, and the color and texture of the hills. As a digital image it also works quite well at the size shown above.

When I’ve shown a finished print to people, they have all commented on how nice the colors are. It is simple and pleasing - and does capture some of the beauty of the irrigation from a distance.

Another thing I like is that this piece looks so good at the most affordable 13×19" art print size. It will enlarge up to 22×28" well. However, the size of the original digital painting does not make it conducive to being printed super large.

The positive side of this, is that everything is easily visible in the smallest sized print.

See Also

• Clouds Over Sprinklers
  Gallery Page - Enlargement - Art prints and framing options
• Don Villarejo - Consultant :: Photographs by Bill Gilette
  Looking for Irrigation photos, I found this page - very interesting b&w photos of central valley 17 years ago

original art prints and the impression of a situation

Base of the Mountain - digital painting for art prints

Over the weekend, I was looking at some block prints done by high school students in the area and I got to thinking about their process and the definition of a print.  

A print requires a transfer - perhaps an "impression", mold, carving, stone, matrix, etc. to impart an image onto paper or cloth.

In the case of digital art  and the resulting art prints, the digital image - painting in my case, is that "impression". I find this even more apt since so much of my work is from an "impression" I might get from a scene.

Such is the work above. I drove by quickly - glancing back to take in the field workers picking strawberries. It frequently looks like a dance one when one goes by quickly, but I seriously doubt they were having anywhere near the fun of the what I portrayed. In fact, I know better particularly on this "Day without Immigrants".

And though I tout my art prints as being originals(the monitor image can’t practically be hung)- they are impressions of an original scene - and are removed from the original inspiration just as any art might be.

See Also

• Base of the Mountain
  art print options for above work
• WebMuseum: Monet, Claude: Impression: soleil levant
  Impression - some history and examples of the term