August 24th, 2006 by admin
depth of field, workers, limited exposure, and time constraints
Break Line Hoe - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2006
There is a lot of activity in the fields these days - too much to really capture. What I like about this piece is how the line of workers are being swallowed by the field.
For the record is was a field of immature romaine lettuce. What was also interesting about what I viewed was that despite the short visibility due to fog, you could still get a good sense of the depth of this field.
Those were the things I concentrated on conveying when I created this digital painting. The figures are simple, but then I only got a glimpse of them driving by - and time constraints made me need and want to create this more like a sketch.
For art prints of this digital painting, please email: specialorders@outhousestudios.net.
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Relevant Tags:Art Prints, depth of field, digital painting, focus, glimpse, immature romaine lettuce, impression, romaine lettuce, sketch, sketched impression
April 27th, 2006 by admin
Inspiration for piece and creating art prints from it
CrossFields - digital painting - 2005 - Dan Beck
To get to the farm house which houses Outhouse Studios, one must pass a minimum of two treacherous curves. This is the scene from one of the approaches.
I focused on the section where three strips of different crops intersect with a good sized hill. It never seemed that far away driving by. In fact, I was surprised one day seeing a crew walking at the top of hill - just how small they looked and therefore far away.
The people in the top far right corner - they looked like worry dolls - so I didn’t get too involved in making them look like anything more.
From a printing standpoint, I actually printed this very large 32×40" - it worked but there was no significant improvement over what you could see in the 13×19" print. The original e-canvas did not warrant such an enlargement - and I will only offer this as an art print up to 24×30" for that reason.
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Relevant Tags:Art Prints, create art prints, digital painting, e canvas, enlargement, focus, inspiration, worry dolls
October 10th, 2005 by admin
Building on positives, Creating from strengths
Years ago, when I taught tennis and played it competitively; I had the privilege of hearing one of the most well known instructors of the time and perhaps still, Dennis Van Der Meer. One of the stories he told has stuck with me to this day. He relayed the story of a tennis student who repeatedly pounded his serve into the fence on the other side of the court. When asked what he was doing, he replied that he was "learning from his mistakes".
It is not hard to figure out that what he was really doing was reinforcing his mistakes. Furthermore, all he could learn from a mistake was what not to do. A mistake can tell you that is a path not to try any more (at least if circumstances remain the same), but it will never tell you what path to take unless there is only one path left. And sometimes things which did not work in the past will work.
More importantly, it is the success we should build upon. As an instructor of anyone: self, children, pets - the positive experiences are what we try to repeat. A more current quote of the Van Der Meer technique says: "The idea is to create confidence by building on successes and thus minimize the frustration of learning a difficult sport."
Frankly, having just completed a basic training course for my dog - it seems to me, it all works the same way. Getting caught up in the negative only reinforces it, but praising what is good is miraculous. Furthermore, note the parallel in business about focusing on the right things. In the Hotel News Resource, in an article about the best general manager, it says: "The 80/20 rule is amazing in its myriad of applications; 20 percent of everything you do will result in 80 percent of your successes. Finding the right 20 percent takes focus." And note this heading which follows: "The Best Hotel General Manager I ever met looks for small successes."
So in terms of one’s creativity, finding what works is worth building upon - not to get stuck in a rut, but as I said to build upon. If all one looks at is what not to do, one will do nothing. Creating is about not being afraid to make mistakes. Focusing on what went right versus what went wrong will not just make one grow faster, but make the path much more enjoyable as well.
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Relevant Tags:building, create, focus, grow, mistakes, positive, reinforcment, success
