Posts Tagged ‘hills’
Thursday, June 14th, 2007
Maintaining freshness in method and approach
More Warm Hills – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2005
The last digital painting – below – reminded me of this piece as well. Many artists can capture the illusion of 3 dimensionality in a 2 dimensional world. But I think I am like a little kid in this regard and am always pleased when a piece reads that way.
These are also foothills I suppose but not the same ones and I don’t believe the nearby mountains were that obvious. But the way the hills mound up together is a pretty cool land formation and as I have written elsewhere make one feel like you want to hug them.
The connection to yesterday is that the hills have a similar quality although achieved in a different way. Original art – my subject these days – is in many ways an oxymoron (since everything comes from somewhere else) but then again – creating a piece should ideally always feel new to the artist – and as an outcome to the viewer as well.
See Also
More Warm Hills – availability of art prints for above digital painting
About Art Prints – discussion of different types of prints and print surfaces and how broad a term this really is
OxymoronList.com – pretty much the long and short of it all – fun work getting through it – original art is a little too subtle for the list but original copy made it…
Tags: Art, Art Prints, hills, mountains, Original Art, original_art, painting, prints
Posted in Original Art | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007
art builds upon itself
Foothills Anywhere – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007
When I started this painting I was thinking somewhat of the article I had written yesterday and the featured digital painting.
I was thinking about the character of the foothills – not just the Santa Lucia’s but the Rockies as well. I worked on a farm in the foothills of the Rockies in Colorado and the character and impression it made was quite similar.
I had fun with the colors and tried to work boldly and quickly – knowing that part of the results are contingent upon that.
But original like original art will always remain an illusive concept – because there so obviously isn’t any such thing. Even if one borrowed from no one other than oneself – art would still build upon itself.
In truth, we can’t even work in our own vacuum as we are our own audience as well.
See Also
- More Color Than Typical – guess you can tell this is by the same artist too
- Original Prints – no matter how original a piece is or isn’t – prints are always originals at Outhouse Studios
- Transpo Man Photo Blog – I really like the way he set up this notebook – lots of fun – feels like you are flipping pages
Tags: Art, color, hills, Original Art, original_art, painting, prints
Posted in Original Art | No Comments »
Saturday, June 9th, 2007
not hours, but understanding and experience
Color Crossings – digital painting – original prints – Dan Beck 2007
I don’t usually think about how long it takes to create a piece, but I started this digital painting this morning and am printing as I write and just finished uploading the images to website.
It took six hours to paint this – I don’t know exactly where that stands. It would be little for most oil painters – a lot for many, but certainly not all watercolorists; and probably about right for me.
As a rule, I generally complete a piece in two sittings – I like having two perspectives on a piece. But today, I felt comfortable and confident as I rolled the hills and rowed the crop fields.
This original painting has a depth and a material warmth that feels good to me and it is also a bit over the top with the mountains and sky in the background.
See Also
Tags: Art, color, digital painting, fields, hills, mountains, Original Art, original_art, painting, perspective, prints
Posted in Original Art | No Comments »
Thursday, June 7th, 2007
Art Reinforces Relationships
Here 2 There – digital painting / original prints – Dan Beck 2003
When I finished this digital painting a few years ago, I thought it was the cat’s meow. Textures were fairly new to me and I was pretty ecstatic about the stone quality in the mountains, the rocky dirt quality to the plowed fields and the other worldly quality of the rolling hills or fields.
Plus, there is a wave like quality to the foreground fields which I have never done in quite such an obvious manner since. I have always loved the way nature mimics itself – evidenced in O’keefe’s flowers.
I wasn’t thinking about making the hills look like waves – but they do sometimes – I just enhanced it by allowing for it to come through in the process of creating.
See Also
- Original Art – the current connection, motivation for articles in weblog
- artst | Georgia O’keefe Gallery – not the official site – but many good images for quickly viewing the connection and perhaps some of the artist’s understanding
- Human Flower Project – an interesting show that was – plus good explanation of what might not be obvious to everyone
Tags: Art, digital painting, fields, hills, mountains, Original Art, original_art, painting, prints, texture
Posted in Original Art | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007
glimpse can present challenge, difference can be subtle
Gabilan Foothills – original digital painting – Dan Beck 2007
As I start writing today, I realize I was waiting to do a new digital painting before writing again in my blog. My current weblog is focused on original art and I wanted to feature something which was original in the sense of having not been seen.
Obviously, it is not completely different from my other work or art which has come before me – I don’t believe such a thing exists or should exist – continuity is also essential in order to see the newness and distinction.
Someone speaking in a completely foreign tongue would not be particularly interesting barring the shared body language we might have.
So I had particular fun with the weedy ground cover in the front and the greenish sky – and have never painted rudimentary cows before – no reason why – except it isn’t really my thing – but I saw them the other day – and a new challenge is often worth pursuing.
See Also
- Houses on the Hillside – not sure why – but I am reminded of this piece – also a drive by glance and a different sort of challenge
- Green Sky Landscape – I do like this landscape, but more importantly search brought me to a website worth a good perusal – some really nice work here by different artists raising awareness and money at – The Body: Visual Aids Web Gallery
Tags: Art, digital painting, hills, Original Art, original_art, painting
Posted in Original Art | No Comments »
Monday, May 14th, 2007
rendering familiar beautiful scene
Strawberry Alley – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007
Down the road from me is a view – that has been catching my eye since I first saw it seven years ago. It changes through the seasons but always has these overlapping hills through a small window through the eucalyptus trees.
Whether it is plowed and furrowed or actually producing berries – I am drawn to it. For whatever reason – perhaps a matter of the right timing I have not chosen to paint it up until now.
Perhaps I wasn’t ready – a difficult view to give justice to – but I am happy with this rendition. I am finding that this image is translating the kind of pleasure I feel when I look at the actual scene.
I added a couple of extra hills here and the eucalyptus is kind of bamboo like – and so perhaps it is more of a “strawberry fields forever” than the alley that it is.
No matter – I find this to be a very pleasing digital painting and am looking forward to seeing a large art print for a more optimum effect.
See Also
- Checkerboard Valley – an earlier work with overlapping hills and portrait orientation – depth can be a little confusing in this piece but still quite pleasing with the quick figure in the foreground
- The Eucalyptus of California – everything most anyone could want to know about eucalyptus and more
Tags: Art, digital painting, fields, hills, painting, strawberry, trees
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
Monday, May 7th, 2007
Momentarily Captured
Sunset Over Artichokes – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007
Above is my most recent digital painting – on my way home that evening I happened to take the route through the artichoke fields and glimpsed this sight.
It was fleeting – the color, the depth, the folding hills – some from reality, some from memory – but the portrayal worked.
I have shied away from doing artichokes – more jagged and painstaking a subject than I really want to get into – I generally find them other worldly. But in the light of the sunset – they were warm rows – less defined and calling my name.
And I knew I must paint what I had seen -
After one sitting I stopped here – because I really liked it – I worked on it more the next day as you will see later – but I think I captured more of what I wanted in that first sitting alone.
See Also
- Fennel Field & Sky – first day’s stopping point – captures spirit better than successive versions – this is purchasing info for art prints of a different but stylistically similar work.
Tags: Art, color, digital painting, fields, hills, painting, prints
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
Thursday, April 19th, 2007
understanding lives even in abstract
Enlarge – Cloud Cover – Digital Painting 2006- Dan Beck
This seemed like a natural piece to feature directly after the below black and white digital painting. It was undoubtedly created around the same dark and dreary time – which coincidentally or not is a lot like today.
There are certain things, I love about this piece. I love the billowed nature of the clouds. I love the ridges in the mountains – I love the way there is depth even in the midst of nonsensical clues. The line of trees seems to hover in air, yet the hills still look solid.
The digital painting works without confusion even though it probably should be confusing – but our eye reads a lot like we read language – able to switch around words and letters and still get the correct meaning.
This aspect of perception is quite compelling – for it is here that we find the freedom to say things in new ways and still be understood.
See Also
- Cloud Cover – purchasing info and art print options for above digital painting
- Perception – nicely laid out explanation of some of nuances of perception including: Perceptual Systems, Historical Background, Innate And Learned – Classical perceptual phenomena, Broad theoretical approaches, Current research/future developments
Tags: Art, hills, mountains, painting, trees
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
Thursday, April 12th, 2007
color, texture – bumps, bends and growth
Hillside Spin 2 – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007
Thought I would revisit this piece. When I wrote about it last week, all I discussed was the new technique and how much fun or too much fun I had.
But in truth, I think the digital painting is quite pleasing. It is not that representative of my work in general, but so what. I like the playfulness. I like the bumps and bends my eye takes looking at it.
The color I was able to impart is also fun to look out – there is tremendous texture and this was intended to be a double print – so to get a better sense of what it would look like printed – I captured a section at the right size.
Art is always about process and growth -
I used to always say “the more we live the more we die” – an odd paradox, but true. Today I think of youth and growth and that perhaps we are not dying as long as we are growing.
See Also
- Houses on the Hillside – for some reason, the above painting keeps making me think of this one – a drive by moment on the 101 near San Jose – art prints are set up for purchase for this piece
- Exhibit Helps the Creative Growth Process – not a current exhibit, but article shows how art affects both the artist and the viewer – helping us to see ourselves on many levels
Tags: Art, color, hills, painting, prints, texture
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007
new techniques can spin out of control
Hillside Spin 2 – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007
Like many of my digital paintings, I started out playing a bit with the medium. It kind of amazes me that I can keep learning new techniques, but I don’t know why since that is the way most things work. I’ve been playing guitar for years, but I haven’t stopped learning.
So the above started because I was playing around with a curve tool – the tool creates smooth curves but not particularly tight – I had always worked within its confines or used freehand.
I figured out if I stopped and started – I could get a tighter curve – so I went wild.
The above digital painting is fun – but it is probably not a direction I will continue to go in – but the technique I can and will apply – but probably with less abandon.
See Also
- Process – gallery page for work which was clearly about taking a new technique to the nth degree – pretty cluttered small – but pretty interesting enlarged
- Solutions: How do you spin out of control? – found this comic kind of enlightening – since the joy of a new found fun is a lot like these kids – I remember – “Let’s do it again”
- The Painting Environment – just a quick look at some of the tools I use – program was simple to begin and more open ended than I think the appleworks creators even knew
Tags: Art, hills, painting
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
RSS Feed
