December 27th, 2006 by admin
capturing the blues and browns - the hurdles of painting after a break
Winter Colors - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2006
This is my first painting in quite some time - a few weeks anyway. It is fascinating how the urge to create works.
On the one hand, one feels a kind of craving than is difficult to describe - but then for lack of practice - it feels enormous just to get started.
Deciding what to paint or what size - all these things seem big. Being creative like most things is about striking a balance - being relaxed enough to not care about mistakes - but still be able to create with the importance a piece deserves.
To create this digital painting, I drew from things I have been seeing over the last few weeks. Today, it is not the piece I thought it was yesterday - but it has captured the blues and browns of winter in the Salinas Valley.
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Relevant Tags:Art Prints, balance, being creative, digital painting, mistakes, prints, Salinas Valley, what to paint, winter colors
April 5th, 2006 by admin
Mistakes can be blessings depending on what comes after
First Stage 3rd(uncertain)Stage Finished Piece
Below is the third point or tip of ten which can be downloaded in full by following the Free Download links at the Outhouse Studios website.
Don’t worry about mistakes - you don’t have to keep what you create and you might well learn to like that very mistake.
One of my favorite parts in one of the songs I recorded, made me cringe the first time I heard it; but after a couple of listens, it became brilliant. Just like life - what comes after can make the mistake the right choice.
So don’t dwell on a mistake or get caught up in its drama, just keep working on your creative endeavor until the total piece feels right.
The above stages of a painting and accompanying articles demonstrate working through the uncertain area. The principles of not being too critical and keeping moving will come up again.
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Relevant Tags:being creative, brilliant mistake, creative endeavor, like mistakes, mistakes, work through uncertainty
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
