What's New

which curve?

digital art - 2 Much 2 Control - Dan Beck 2008

When I wrote about this digital painting before - I focused on the process and the secondary success not conceived of with the original goal in mind.  There are always secondary gains or successes which were not intended - just as in life.

I like to think that my work is innovative art - that I am always pushing the limits of the medium or my own limits - the limits of my audience which of course includes myself.  If I am doing my job correctly, I will not necessarily appreciate some of the things I do right away… a strange paradox really.

All art comes from somewhere else - all music, all dance, all theatre etc. is not created in a vacuum, but is built upon what is already found elsewhere in culture.  A term I have come to appreciate more than even originality or innovation is authenticity - whether the art is authentic or genuine - coming from the place of being done because it has to be - where appreciation and regard are not a thoughtful consideration.

Innovative - I think, is more about being ahead of the curve …

See Also

• Shape of Something New - a previous departure from the art I was doing at the time - but a road I didn’t travel down - and one which seemed too familiar and previously traveled by others - but a piece I like nonetheless
• Ahead of the Curve - this article takes the curve for granted - career with money
• Ahead of the Curve - clips from university musicians - some authentic - some cloning … obviously originality and innovation are difficult to measure - work that is too different has always been poorly received

Weaving Meaning

Hillside Spin - digital art - Dan Beck 2007

I thought it was time to bring out another of the tracks from the Red Eye Recordings last spring - the unconscious mind is a fascinating thing.

The original song is called  “Global Warming” - a joke really - cause there really isn’t a whole lot the song has to do with the topic - just “How come we are sitting in the shade?”  - but as I quickly browsed an image file - looking only at titles - no dates - I thought that the above digital painting rather captures the song - not even sure exactly why - but as it turns out - it was created just about the same time as the song was written - I knew without remembering.

Also interesting - was my own personal quote in the article - something I thought about just yesterday out of the blue -

the dots often connect in conjunction with my life - there is always meaning in the timing - things don’t happen at the speed I expect them to - but when they do - it is always amazing how many things fit together to build a richer meaning.

Writing music works in this same way - a song’s lyrics and music develop like these hills - building until the ending kind of folds into the beginning - spinning back upon itself…

Listen or View

• Global Warming - a song about life - these spinning connections - dog/me/past/future/expectations/potential/timing/ - partner having cigarette withdrawals - me needing to withdraw - and played with a flourish - just one guitar and vocals - and an extra pass for backup vocals - Dan Beck 2007 - Alone and Contagious - written during the recording sessions
•  Price of meaning - every bit as ridiculous as the conceptual creation of an artwork and article entitled “Meaning” - because of the comical implications of doing such an internet search - prices for original art prints of the above referenced work of art

same and new reaction

Salinas Valley 4 - digital painting - image for a song - “Reaction to the Sun”

I believe I wrote this song in the Spring of 2006 - we had weeks and weeks of overcast and winter rain - and the sun came out for a glorious few days - maybe even a week - and everyone seemed so much happier - whether inside or out -

I know I celebrated with an unplanned and impromptu sunburn - and heat rash - which I thought - a “reaction to the sun” and proceeded to write the song.

In truth, I think it is my own version of George Harrison’s / Beatles - “Here Comes the Sun” - because it is the same concept were it not for the new play on words and a completely different melody and chord structure - but this undoubtedlly is borrowed as well -

because we know there is nothing completely new under the sun.

Listen or View

• Reaction to the Sun - recorded Spring 2007 - from  Red Eye Recordings - music, lyrics, performance, recording - Dan Beck | 1danband - Alone & Contageous
• Here Comes the Sun - video of George Harrison performance of (just slightly more famous) song

Times Square Can You?

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

play the way

Abstract 1 - digital art - improvisation - Dan Beck 2008

Creating an abstract painting for me is like improvising music without a chord progression. I start without a plan - just moving and creating shapes - overlapping , building, not so much thinking as observing.

The digital painting is about the process - the movements, the colors, the layering. Whatever form there is happened out of this dance of color - out of the play of comfortable swirls and movements - watching, observing - adding with balance - but not so much that is feels even and symmetrical … these are my rules - my way of doing - one layer of color at a time - occasionally coming back to an original color, but generally adding only new variations.

The black lines were not thought through either - but there seems to be a bit of a tree shape - a common theme right now - not surprising a comfortable motion would yield such a reference.

This is probably the truest dan art - if there is such a thing. All my representational, impressionist, landscape art, or figure art etc. draw from the vocabulary and techniques developed from this abstract play, and if not, it was because I permitted the same degree of looseness in the other work.

See Also

• Abstract Art Gallery - some of the abstract explorations at Outhouse Studios
• Improvisation - Milestones of the Millenium - discussion of how classical composers improvised - though not discussing how communication itself is about improvisation - music and art connect and this connects to something I was thinking about earlier today

change of scene - changing seasons

More Remote Tree - digital painting for original prints - Dan Beck 2008

When I have painted this tree in the past - it has always been by memory and impression - this is no exception - the seasons have been changing - grasses growing and leaf base is quite a bit stronger.

To me the work has an impressionistic feeling with a rather clear digital component - even if the medium is intended to take a back seat to the content of the painting.

Observing the changing tree over time makes for an interesting group of work - or at least an interesting puzzle and interesting in that each one so far has been created without referencing the previous versions until after completion.

Limits are good - my rules are to not intervene with photos and not try to block my own understanding - hoping to impart the feeling which has prompted the painting in the first place.

See Also

• Original Prints - discussion of digital painting and original nature of prints at Outhouse Studios
  
• An Artist Needs Limits - discussion of the importance of limits for the creative process

originality requires rethinking

Sun Blowin Bye - Dan Beck 2003 - digital painting

As an artist and musician and the person that I am - I always want to do things differently - do it my way - lay down my own tracks, as it were, and be a pioneer.

What I know as a teacher both of others and even myself - repetition is a necessity for being able to improve on the execution of the same subject matter or even new subject matter.

My goal for a new piece of music or artwork is to create something to live inside - but even then, I must keep playing the new work of music - keep painting some of the same old things - keep exploring the same ole medium - keep revisiting the same old works …

I need to see how I view or hear them from where I am today. There are never enough hours to be new and be revisiting - so though I am in a time where I have plenty of new work - though not recorded - plenty of old work - not yet shared - I am revisiting a song I have offered and a digital painting that I have had on my website…

because it is the way I am feeling today - and it is worth it for me to revisit it.

Listen or View

• Can’t Stand Still - original song - Dan Beck / 1danband - 2005 - music is a refuge and can take over - no matter what else is going on
• Original Print Options - for above digital painting - Sun Blowin Bye
• On Repetition - Supercharging Your Affirmations - perhaps even more necessary to repeat when what is learning requires some unlearning as well

the timing of finishing - art and reality

Further Along Tree 1 - Dan Beck - digital art painting 2008

This digital painting was finished over a month ago. The previous article showing the version of this painting which felt finished, balanced, and worth saving, - based upon the piece itself and not the original vision; was written over two weeks ago.

I guess it is rather apparent that my writing is not keeping up with my creating. Actually I find everything takes longer than expected - my head is generally way ahead of my physical world - but then that makes sense. How could matter move as fast as thought?

And why do we expect things to take the time we think things will take - even if we have done something before - it might take more or less time - circumstances are always different.

But most of us, including myself, have expectations about how long even things we have never done will take.

The finished painting above matched my concept and vision more closely as well as my expected timeline for doing a painting - there is more texture, more depth, more visual confusion - and more what I had in mind to begin with -

What is wonderful about art and life - is that sometimes the head gets to follow the body - follow the physical world - and sometimes the timetable of the physical world is smarter than the head.

See Also

• Timing Innovative Music - previous article about time and timing and sharing my own creativity
• Time Expectations - though I do not completely share the capitalistic sentiments, I whole-heartedly concur that our expectations affect the timeline of completing a project
• Digital Art Prints - about art prints, digital painting, and what it means for outhouse studios to produce original prints

evolving landscape

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

painting the feeling 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