Posts Tagged ‘mountains’
Friday, June 29th, 2007
remaining original – referencing original
Mountain Sails Again – digital painting / original prints – Dan Beck 2004
Pulled this piece up today – again following the concept of even how all original art comes from somewhere else. Way prior to this piece, I did a very fluid mostly abstract painting which conjured up this lake, sea, mountain, and sail look – entitled Mountain Sails.
That original digital painting seemed quite unique to me and was the first painting I ever printed on a larger scale. Like life, we move on to new challenges and develop new ways of doing things – sometimes we long for the innocence of yesterday.
There is nothing original about trying to capture the feeling of a previous work – and yet it is original – the approach is different because it has the advantage of having seen what has come before.
Experience is built upon – the above piece though a bit stylized still works but doesn’t have that quality of having found a new place.
See Also
Tags: Art, digital painting, mountains, Original Art, original_art, painting, prints
Posted in Original Art | No Comments »
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 »
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
Santa Lucia Impression – digital painting / art prints – 2005
As I continue to write about different aspects of original art, I keep trying to feature digital paintings which are either brand new or archetypal or both.
When I finished this piece, I wasn’t sure about it – but a couple of artist friends were. They knew I had captured something dramatic, bold, and special.
It is definitely original in that sense – my attempts to create something with a similar flow – Feeling of Rain and Tall Side Mountains were not nearly as dramatic.
I have done plenty of other bold pieces – ones in which I worked fast used deep colors – but the above piece does both so well – plus there was this element of chance in the way the fog came out – that I am not sure I could repeat even if I wanted.
To me – good original artwork – is not easily followed – even by the same artist.
See Also
- Santa Lucia Impression – art print options and availabilty for original prints of above digital painting
- Visionary Art – the art might be a little more interior design oriented than fine – but I like the concept – particularly the printing surfaces. Searched for “good original artwork” figuring on finding pretentious – some links lead me here
- What’s Visionary Art? – compare definition and website of American Visionary Art Museum – another original difference
Tags: Art, color, digital painting, mountains, 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 »
Monday, April 30th, 2007
picking the moment to share
Glowing Sky – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2005
I just finished a painting with a sunset – but am not ready to share it on the internet – haven’t even printed it for myself yet. But I had a quick opportunity to write and I thought of this digital painting.
I love the colors of this piece – the angles – the glow of the clouds and sky – the way the mountains almost float themselves – begging the question are the clouds moving or the mountains or is everything still?
This is an incredibly fragile moment as anyone and everyone who has ever seen a sunset can attest. Deciding the moment and look I wanted to capture that evening was probably as much of a challenge as painting.
I don’t paint from photos – nothing adamant here – just don’t want to – it is about capturing the memory – capturing the impression the particular moment leaves – and giving that impression back.
As always (and forgive me here), I hope I have not given the wrong impression.
See Also
- Glowing Sky – current purchasing options for original art prints of above digital painting
- Impressionist Art Gallery – see other images from Dan Beck and Outhouse Studios and information about impressionism
- Claude Monet’s Impression Sunrise – this was the first art related site I could find on Google – looking up simply “impression” but turns out to be kind of fun adjusting the brightness of the sun on Monet’s work
Tags: Art, color, digital painting, mountains, painting, prints
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
Saturday, April 21st, 2007
transcending the confines of canvas stereotypes
Sky Over Mountains – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007
I wrote a page for my website in which I go into detail about what digital painting is and how it differs and is in many ways the same as other types of painting.
Much of my focus was in pointing out the painterly similarities. Composition, color, and form as well as a clean canvas to start with are all the same. The above is a good example, because it too is much the same as traditional painting in its gradations and intensity of color – but it differs as well in the way lines and texture are created.
To me the computer connections and origins are rather apparent. I am not out to hide the nature of these works, but I am more concerned with what they are trying to communicate than the language of digital or even the language of art.
Feeling and beauty are meant to transcend technique and for that matter transcend the art – their success is not something which can luckily or easily be measured.
See Also
- Digital Painting – discussion of how it is same and different – insight into how it is viewed at Outhouse Studios and part of why it is such an exciting new medium
- What is Art? And why does it Matter? – open house questions – Yale University Art Gallery – thought these quotes rather enlightening as far as some across the board thinking
Tags: Art, color, composition, digital painting, mountains, painting, texture
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 »
Friday, April 13th, 2007
recent experience affects creativity
Typical Mountain Color – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007
Well yes – this really isn’t typical mountain color – but is more a case of saving a piece with a title before knowing exactly where it is going.
The mountains are beautiful here and they have this look and feeling which I try to communicate frequently. They change a lot, but there is always this wonderful patchwork of color.
When I started painting this piece – I was drinking out of a pseudo Van Gogh mug. I approached the painting with more abandon and colors than I might normally – it felt like the right thing to do.
The figures came in to play because 1) I wasn’t done painting, 2) I felt it would make the piece more interesting (colorful), and 3) because I caught two men resting on their hoes recently (even though these are shovels) – something I don’t normally see.
The third figure seemed necessary with the rest of the composition. His posture will be discussed at another time.
See Also
- Field of Hoes – how could I not think of this piece – a number of people have said it looks like a band of musicians out in that field – plus original art prints are set up for purchase
- Van Gogh – an interesting take on his use of color – with imbued meanings throughout – perhaps even more credit than the spontaneous style we can all see – but such a lovely image to make the discussion come together
Tags: Art, color, composition, creativity, mountains, music, painting, prints
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 27th, 2007
looks done versus being done
Grape Rows & Mountains – digital painting / art prints- Dan Beck 2005
Irrigate 1 – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2004
There is a quality that both of these digital paintings share. They have a similar amount of detail, a similar amount of translucence, a similar amount of simplicity in conveying what was there.
Looking at my work, I tend to take things further most of the time these days. Adding texture and shading and whatever else I can think to throw at it.
Every artist knows that knowing when to quit is probably as important as beginning – but part of creating art is being true to oneself and one’s vision. You have to feel like you are done as well.
With the two paintings above, I knew they were done – sometimes I know something looks done, but I am not done – so I must continue. I am sure there is a life lesson in here somewhere, but since I am not seeing it, I must continue.
See Also
Tags: Art, mountains, painting, prints, texture
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
RSS Feed