September 22nd, 2007 by Dan Beck
inspiration, easily done, or disciplined
Hill Mountains - digital art -> original prints - Dan Beck - 2003
I was surprised to find out I had only written once about this piece. For a long time, it was my favorite.
Like most people, I want and expect things to happen faster than they really do. It is rare for things to happen quickly; yet as an artist we frequently value the quicker produced pieces because of the inspiration. When something happens easily we feel like it must have been the right thing - perhaps even divine.
And usually when something happens easily and feels right, it is right. On the other hand, when we see the evidence of the time, discipline, developed technique all thrown into a work of art - we can not help but appreciate the dedication and the pursuit of a long term goal.
Digital art is confusing in this regard, because one can’t often tell the degree of time commitment, just the finished result.
See Also
- Hill Mountains - availability of original art prints for above digital painting
- Opening Your Intuition - Personal Power Through Awareness: A … - Google Book Search - I must say part of this links inclusion is that this pertinent section of a “book” came available as a result of a search - never seen this before.
Relevant Tags:digital art, digital painting, inspiration, mountains, original art prints, original prints
August 2nd, 2006 by admin
digital painting technique used today - theme yesterday
Field of Hoes - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2005
Theoretically, I found this piece by chance today - clicking on gallery chance - which randomly found the Figures Art Gallery - then hitting image roulette landed me at this piece.
My last digital painting was titled “Hoes in the Mist” - its origins similar in that the name was a part of the inspiration - plus similar theme.
The way I portrayed the distance was new at the time - doing a little copying, manipulating and pasting to establish perspective.
I don’t do that all that often - but today I did - and though it is easy to find meaning and connection - this doesn’t seem accidental to be featuring this piece today.
See Also
Relevant Tags:Art Prints, chance, digital painting, digital painting technique, inspiration, meaning and connection, perspective, portrayal
July 28th, 2006 by admin
and crisscross angles of field and fog
Hoes in the Mist - Digital Painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2006
Inspiration is a fun thing sometimes. In the above painting it came in two ways and in pretty quick order.
I spied the gang of workers hoeing - the conditions were fog and mist - and I had that without missing a beat moment - “hoes in the mist” - some of the ramifications of which can be found in earlier article.
I had wanted the workers be to kind of lost in the fog as well - I could only see them for a brief moment and they frankly kind of blended in.
From a painting and composition standpoint, I really like the crisscross angles of field and fog and I guess I am ok with the alliteration too.
For art prints of the above digital painting, please email: special orders@outhousestudios.net.
See Also
Relevant Tags:Art Prints, crisscross angles, digital painting, field and fog, inspiration, lost in the fog, painting and composition, without missing a beat, workers hoeing
July 14th, 2006 by admin
not waiting - just paint or just observe
Just Painting
Just Looking
I was thinking about this topic this morning. I was feeling like starting a new digital painting, but with no idea what I might want to paint.
When one is at a loss for ideas - what does one do? For writers they often say - just start writing. So for people creating art - the same can also be true.
But in my case, I went outside and walked around my house looking - taking in - and thus the article today.
I didn’t end up painting or even end up with a clear specific idea - I sidetracked into doing something higher on my priority list. So much for inspiration.
But I realized, one does not need to wait for inspiration, one must simply look and listen.
See Also
Relevant Tags:creating art, creating inspiration, digital painting, inspiration, look and listen, observe, painting
June 20th, 2006 by admin
observing the lowest point and the artist’s role
Wheel of Fields - digital painting for art prints - 2006
This is a real view from a position just at the bend in the road. I found it amazing that the fields from this angle really look like spokes of a wheel. It is equally amazing that the pattern of the hills finds the lowest point to be the circle - where just as amazing the ever present strawberry harvesters were at it again and only in that area.
A mouthful indeed, but it is clearly the reason why I felt the need to bring the painting to life.
Inspiration surrounds me. I feel lucky that so many things make me want to create. But I am also lucky that I can’t help but look around me.
I have said in other places - that observing is much of the artist’s role - and listening the musician’s.
I don’t see myself as trying to record as a photograph would, but rather as someone more inside the experience - with feelings and confused perception in tact.
For art prints from this digital painting, please email: specialorders@outhousestudios.net.
See Also
Relevant Tags:Art Prints, artists role, digital painting, inspiration, observing, painting, perception
June 14th, 2006 by admin
personal perspective expressed in painting
Foothills Terrain - digital painting - Dan Beck 2006
I have found myself painting quite a bit over the last week. Inspiration and acting upon it are topics I keep coming back to - because I think it is lot of what I need to share.
Someone recently said to me that she had seen work by all these talented people (she included me - thank you) and it made her feel like she had none.
I understand that feeling - there are countless artists who leave me in the dust technically and conceptually and many musicians who make me feel like a hack.
But I have more than enough vocabulary to communicate and no one else can see from my perspective. And this is true for all creative beings.
As for the above scene - I had to do something to express what I had experienced. This area is incredible, no
photo or painting can do it justice, but I did succeed in giving it depth, form, and feeling.
For art prints of the above digital painting, please email specialorders@outhousestudios.net.
See Also
Relevant Tags:Art Prints, creative beings, digital painting, inspiration, inspiration and talent, perspective, talent, vocabulary
May 16th, 2006 by admin
Creativity is about taking chances - sharing an unfinished work
Beginning stage - Grandeur 1 - hopefully new digital painting - Dan Beck
Creativity is about taking chances. It is about being willing to try things new ways and sometimes fail… but also sometimes succeed.
Above is the start of a piece I haven’t finished. Truth is I would rather be working on it right now than blogging - but if that were completely true I suppose I would be.
Actually, I thought I should write about the start of the piece without having completed the digital painting. This is not a step by step painting but rather a glimpse of how I work.
I used the line tool and curve tool of the computer to create the lines of the land - fields and grape rows.
I do a great deal freehand - but my control is not that sure - and the tools of the computer are perhaps akin to a straightedge.
My focus in this piece is about the looming nature of the mountains and the distance which is much further than it seems.
We will both have to see how it unfolds.
See Also
Relevant Tags:creativity, digital painting, inspiration, looming mountains, stage of painting, taking chances
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.
See Also
Relevant Tags:Art Prints, create art prints, digital painting, e canvas, enlargement, focus, inspiration, worry dolls
March 29th, 2006 by admin
Literal Latitude -> Feeling, Process and Intent
Enlarge - Cloud Cover - Digital Painting 2006- Dan Beck
One would never know its been raining here. Sometimes the clouds just swallow the mountains. I look out, I look up… and see this incredible interplay of cloud and mountain - rain blending the whole scene as though the clouds were bleeding into the hills and the hill/mountains(as I like to call them) disappearing below them.
Indeed the inspiration would be obvious if you were living here too. The response I received today was "That looks familiar".
Yet the curious thing is that there are many things going on with the painting which do not accurately portray what is here. There are shadows where there shouldn’t be, groves of trees kind of hanging in space, a slightly exaggerated cloud density, and a play of light which isn’t quite right.
Recognizing these differences is interesting but the point of bringing them up is about how much latitude there is in portraying a scene. I think sometimes that which holds a piece together, which makes it feel like it should, is not found within the physical strokes; but rather in the intent and process.
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Relevant Tags:accurate portrayal, cloud cover, creative latitude, digital painting, inspiration, intent, process
March 16th, 2006 by admin
Painting, Translated World, Artistic Vocabulary
Larger View of Enchanted Sunset - Digital Painting - 2006
The inspiration for this piece came from reality - a sunset with this tent-like window showing some of the sun…and a sky that was multi-colored and magical.
The section of world I chose had this swirling quality. The foreground is the plastic covered strawberry fields which are in person both ugly and beautiful with their reflection.
Painting of any sort is about representing another world - be it the real world or imaginary or the world of the painting itself.
This piece has a flow about it which I like very much - the hilly nature of the fields comes through strongly. And the colored excitement of the evening is also very well translated.
Translated - a good choice of words - indeed the expression of the medium is a language unto itself and the degree to which one can use the medium is one’s vocabulary.
See Also
Relevant Tags:Art Medium, artistic vocabulary, digital art, digital painting, Enchanted, Flow, inspiration, painting, sunset art
