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teaching experience?

So if it isn’t obvious - this is a continuation of yesterday’s article. And like the lesson before, I will probably give very little technical advice. For even if one is committed to a certain computer painting program, the learning is mostly in the doing.

The first digital art panel above is tinted in color from the previous pane. Not all digital painting programs have this capability - very useful - some use adjustable opacity and that is even more controlled.

The color which follows is done using a freehand tool in Appleworks, which few use these days - and as far as I have seen - no equivalent exists in photoshop, illustrator or other programs I have touched upon.

Lesson 2 - learn to use what you have - use help menu-pop-up descriptions and utmost - don’t be afraid to experiment. All programs have advantages and limitations, there are always work-arounds and ways of doing things which may not have been thought of by the authors themselves. It needs to become your medium - explore it and develop it.

I believe the reason kids get around the new technology so well is that they don’t have the fear of losing all their work or their computers like most of the rest of us.

See Also

• On Being Creative #4 - previous article about approaching a problem from the right place
• Commitment | Fear Of Losing What We Love Most - I liked these examples - pointing out the importance of process and knowledge vs fleeting external results
• Figures Art Gallery - seemed like a good place to link to at Outhouse Studios - the connection at least figures

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

size obscures details, madras colors, and enveloping clouds

More Mountain & Clouds - Dan Beck - digital painting / art prints 2004

The clouds do come in and swallow the mountains. The mountains do not look so madras like. They do have color in them, but not quite so obvious.

The transparent nature of some of the clouds and the blue sky poking through, I know to be true as well.

I know this is representative of what is, but I am not sure it is as strong in the category of beautiful in its own right.

A similar scene was tackled earlier by me as a digital painting and has been tackled several times since - a more recent take. Like many of the pieces from this time, this was intended to be quite large and hard to envision even with the enlarged details.

See Also

• collage-recreation : nouveaux_collages_pr
  in searching for madras found these interesting collages - worth taking a look at
• Twin Peaks Low Clouds
  a fun time lapse watching the clouds roll in
• More Mountain & Clouds
  art print options for above digital painting

compulsory connection and continual challenge

All That Jazz - digital painting / art prints - 2006 - Dan Beck

I happened upon an article today - actually it happened upon me by having ages ago signed up for related stories at googlealert.com.

The story is about how it isn’t enough to be a good musician, one must make oneself heard - creating or developing venues as necessary.

Art is no different I think - it is not enough just to create wonderful art - it must be viewed. By its very nature, all art requires an audience; and even the artist as audience, though sometimes sufficient, views in the context of his own culture.

But having said all that it doesn’t make it easier for an artist to both have to pioneer with his art and with creating his own audience - they are sadly not always compatible.

See Also

• All That Jazz
  art print options for above digital painting
• Cecil Bridgewater: Where to Create Music
  musicians needing to create venue and audience - nothing has changed
• Relationship 2.0: Build Your Audience and Create Fans at Business Performance Coaching
  mostly about creating an internet audience but connected I think

accurate feeling without being literal - appreciating ambiguity

Big Valley 1 - Digital Painting / Art Prints - Dan Beck 2005

What I see today is the geometry of lines - the exaggerated rows of crops or dirt - creating a backdrop both unmistakable and unreal.

I like the way the foreground pokes out of the next layer - making one unclear as to whether everything is at the same height or up a level of hill.

I love the lines which look like a shirt and the tissue like nature of the mountains. It is far from literal - but I know this place…

This is the valley I see so regularly - but also a place of its own.

See Also

• Big Valley 1
  art print options and availability for above digital painting
• Harvesting in Salinas
  Aerial shot of valley and other photos of celery harvest
• Take a Hike with Unlimited Limited - Chimneys West
  Had the type photo I was looking for with layers of mountains - some other nice shots here

elements of a literal time

Winter Colors - digital painting /art prints - Dan Beck 2006

Despite the symmetry of the mountain peak in the center, I still enjoy the feeling of this piece.

The colors are true to winter here, but the curving strips over the land creating a mounded look are from who knows where.

I think I was working towards a more finished look but opted to quit before I got there. Sometimes one likes a stage enough to stop there - I am assuming that is what happened here.

The look is a bit uncharacteristic - though my style typically includes abstract elements.  A digital painting of mine that is this worked is usually more literal. But then again this was more of a composite - pulling the man holding the dirt out of some former memory.

See Also

• Winter Colors
  Art print options and availabilty for above digial painting
• Digital Printmaker and Painter Susan KAPROV
  In doing some related searches - this site came up - a quite different approach and some very cool work
• The Photography collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LACMA
  Because of the “abstract elements” in the first photograph - I stumbled upon this site - interesting images plus the Bermuda triangle image has almost identical colors to above piece

a traditional subject with some prompting

Self Portrait - Dan Beck - digital painting 2007

I was asked to do my self portrait. An artist friend of mine was interested in seeing how I would deal with the face I think. Seeing all the color in my work made him wonder - since (I am guessing) most of his current work is about portraiture.

So there I am - with the obligatory somewhat troubled artistic look - not that I am happy all the time - but probably more than appears here.

But then again, I think this is accurate to how I view myself when I am alone - there is intensity and desire for something better - but there is also a slight smile.

See Also

• About/Contact Page - Outhouse Studios
  Brief bio and couple of photos from a couple years ago
• cezanne self portrait - Google Image Search
  Found this interesting how many images here as well as Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, etc.

movement and color for a field in the hand

Field Hand - digital painting - art prints - Dan Beck 2006

I am realizing that this is the last piece of last year for me. I wanted to take the concept of the man with dirt in his hand to another level.

Obviously, I could not resist the Field Hand pun. I worked on this piece quite a lot - sometimes a mistake as many will attest. But I don’t really care about that today. Suffice it to say that although the piece was fun - it did not come easily.

As a result, I am not sure if I hooked it or not - but I do know that there is a great deal of movement and a great deal of color …

and I think Marc Chagall would be pleased -certainly not the same but quite reminiscent.

See Also

• CGFA - Marc Chagall
  a number of images and biorgraphical information
• Field Hand
  Art print options and availability for above digital painting

transient life, celebratory sky

Sunset for Andrea - digital painting / art prints - 2005

Not feeling much like writing today - sure I am not the first one. I played the random image game and came up with this painting twice.

Since I was thinking about Andrea earlier today - it should not really be a surprise. Her life ended way too young but her presence like the record of this painting continues on.

This painting reminds me of a blanket - it has warmth and texture and covers the viewer in a glow. The sunset was of course more amazing -but then again - it was transient like a life.

Despite the sad day - this was a celebratory sky.

See Also

• Sunset
  photo and poetic words
• Sunset for Andrea
  art print options for above painting

capturing the blues and browns - the hurdles of painting after a break

Winter Colors - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2006

This is my first painting in quite some time - a few weeks anyway. It is fascinating how the urge to create works.

On the one hand, one feels a kind of craving than is difficult to describe - but then for lack of practice - it feels enormous just to get started.

Deciding what to paint or what size - all these things seem big. Being creative like most things is about striking a balance - being relaxed enough to not care about mistakes - but still be able to create with the importance a piece deserves.

To create this digital painting, I drew from things I have been seeing over the last few weeks.  Today, it is not the piece I thought it was yesterday - but it has captured the blues and browns of winter in the Salinas Valley.

See Also

• Mistakes Art Quotations - The Painter’s Keys Resource of Art Quotations
  Many quotes about mistakes - but much agreement
• Winter Colors
  Art print options for above digital painting