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

Rooted Tree – digital art – finger painting – rendering from memory impression – Dan Beck 2008

There are trees like this at one of the places I frequent with my exercise craving dog – it took me a while to notice them.

But like with most things – once one finally sees something – one starts to see the same thing more frequently. Even though I am an artist and probably more observant than most, I am keenly aware of how much of life I miss, until I become finally aware.

Perception, attention, and understanding are all fascinating subjects – I paint from an impression – a memory – quite frequently – knowing that my understanding plays an even bigger role in what I project when painting.

The intention here is not fantasy, but fun and freedom to portray the essential double rooted nature of these trees on the hillside – blasting with my own color but attempting to convey

the beauty and oddness that strikes me and makes me smile when I see them.

See Also

• Composite Nature: A Conversation with Stan Brakhage – an image search result for double rooted nature – found the work rather interesting
• Celebrated Poets – another interesting search result – the top poem seems to even relate
• Digital Art – a look at the wide definitions and usage for the digital art term – and what it means at Outhouse Studios

Play Print 1 with Dog – digital art painting – Dan Beck 2008

This is a very recent piece of digital art – playing around with a new template – hoping to introduce a new option for sharing art – more interested in the template size and corresponding original prints than the actual painting.

As a result, I have approached this work as the title suggests – from the point of play. Despite the play – and the landscape painted with abandon – it wreaked of a particular area I had been taking my dog, Bogart, to get some exercise.

Though he probably should have been scampering around the hillside – I ended up putting him in the corner pushing my brand or symbol around – kind of indicative of our relationship I guess – teaching him that I am in charge yet him pushing and resisting most of the way.

some sort of weird karma – reminds me of myself when I was adolescent… and sometimes still am

See Also

• Digital Art – ambiguities, distinctions, and open ended meaning of digital art
• Sharing Art – search result finds blog – nice image – traced from a photo – not at all like my work – but creativity needs to be encouraged
• Tour of Youth Arts Collective – art fosters problem solving and thinking outside the box – I have seen the yaksters work and I it points more towards the kind of world we need …

digital art (painting) - 2 Much 2 Control – Dan Beck 2008

I have started work on a new project – which has lead to a new sized template and as a result a more fluid and playful way of creating. Not totally sure where the idea came from – but that is the nature of ideas – if one lets the mind wander and don’t rule things out before you even think about them – you find something even better as you progress.

On the path, one is always trying to take things to the next level – always striving for a new twist. My desire for a new template was one thing – but the resulting play and at least the look of this piece is a bit different and a nice side benefit.

The tree concept is just about as old as I am – one of the first things I ever committed successfully to paper – I find myself painting often when I am playing – and taking walks to give my dog the running exercise he needs has made me notice some incredible trees.

The solidness of the foreground tree – is about how we focus our attention – but also something that worked most successfully in a recently shown piece. The title is both about attitude towards world these days and the nature of trying to paint on an old computer with a template that is a bit too big for its memory. I used two different computers to create this piece because the old one – just couldn’t compute.

See Also

• Digital Art – just proving that the multiple meanings of language are also a bit too much to control
• Frozen PB&J – not particularly related – but part of that creating solutions to problems which don’t really exist – and a fun result for “just couldn’t compute”

On Halloween, I thought for a costume, I would shave and pull my hair back – was planning on putting on a suit too – not my normal look – if there is such a thing. In any event, it is getting to be time to put the beard back – not into the daily shaving routine and my partner likes the less scratchy beard.

So the above is a laptop snapshot – I used it for a model for the finger-painted digital art below

This digital painting – not the way I normally work, was painted using a photo model. Digital art like digital painting could mean a lot of different things. My work starts from a blank page but the field is wide open – it is new and wide reaching in possibilities.

I know many people who might have taken the photo and altered and painted on it in photoshop and quite likely come up with something quite cool. I am in favor of all creativity – but I simply used the image as a model to challenge my abilities to render an image using my fingers as a mouse to paint with – a new challenge for me – and I think a pretty good likeness. But of course I’ve seen myself.

See Also

• Figures Art Gallery – last years innovative gallery – figures
• Digital Finger Painting – article I was emailed today – not at all what I mean by the term – but these are new terms, new technology, and everyone has to coin his own terms at this point