Posts Tagged ‘mountains’
Saturday, March 3rd, 2007
whimsical, architectural, and speculative
Over the Top – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck -2003
My son Clif has a birthday today and that is enough reason to feature this piece. Though never one of my all time favorites, it spoke to him – not sure if it was color, the mix of abstract and representational or what – but I know this to be a favorite of his.
For me, I have mixed feelings about it – I like the looseness – the quality of the hill-mountains in particular and even the way the sun is squished up into the top of the digital painting.
The piece is both whimsical and architectural somehow – reminding me of the opera house in Sidney or a bandstand shell. And the colors are quite pleasing.
See Also
- Sidney Opera House – take a virtual tour of the opera house – complete with tennis ball sounds and graphics with each click of the mouse
- Original Art-chives – pieces moved to make room for others – much of the earlier work – but some real gems here – gallery where above piece is located
Tags: Art, color, mountains, Original Art, original_art, painting, prints
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
converting indecipherable language into art
Symbolic Language 1 – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007
Small, it looks like a madras material – I think I’ve had a few shirts like that over the years. If you look at it fuller sized if you didn’t already click on the image, you will see symbols underneath the colors.
I went searching in the browser cache to see if I could retrieve an article which got lost/destroyed. I was not able to find it, but I did open something in a plain text editor which revealed these really interesting sideways, upside down, mirror imaged – what to me are nonsensical but beautiful symbols.
I don’t know if it is decipherable – and I am not sure I care, but I couldn’t resist copying and pasting to make the backdrop for a few abstract pieces …
I have been sadly lacking on my abstract art work these days.
See Also
- Abstract Art Gallery – examples of some of the other abstract art work at Outhouse Studios
- Madras – examples of Madras materials for the uninitiated
- Madras Mountains – an earlier digital painting of similar theme – please enlarge image
Tags: Art, color, mountains, painting
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
Monday, February 26th, 2007
drive by landscape – fields, sky, and texture
Valley Colors – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007
There is a spot which this is loosely based on – I drive by it fairly regularly and it has a good view of the valley extending to the Santa Lucia Mountains and Mount Toro.
Like a lot of my work, it is more of a drive by impression – I saw color, and a few barns or houses, a few trees – but mostly the colors of sky and fields.
This is not a piece which knocked me over when I was finished – I wasn’t really sure about it – but there are many things I like: the short field growth in the front, the way the cloud twists like a ribbon, and the beautiful texture in the green field.
My eyes and mind move around the landscape well – so I guess I did ok.
Like all but a couple of my pieces – I started with a blank page and painted and created the digital painting by the strokes of a mouse.
See Also
- Big Valley 1 – another digital painting taken from an impression of pretty much the same spot
- From the ground up – an image of the Salinas Valley brought me to this site – good article about small organic growing in the area and the group ALBA
Tags: Art, color, fields, mountains, painting, Salinas Valley, texture, trees
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
Saturday, February 24th, 2007
painting a scene one’s own
Sky Over Mountains – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007
No it doesn’t look like this and yes it does look like this. A couple of days ago when the sun was setting I glimpsed the most magnificent sky over the mountains – I couldn’t really position myself correctly to see it fully, but I know…
The sky was streaked with pink. Portions of the clouds were incredibly bright white; and a blue sky was still apparent in places. I didn’t make this up, I just made it my own.
Like when a musician takes another person’s song and takes it to his own place; it is my goal as an artist to take a scene or portion of a scene and give a feeling and twist that only I would give it.
I am very pleased with this latest digital painting – hope it works for you too.
Happy Birthday
See Also
- Valley Sketch – similar sky – not quite as intense but a good example of a somewhat similar piece
- All Along the Watchtower – video form the Isle of Wight – Jimi Hendrix plays Dylan like it’s his own song – even if you are not a Hendrix fan, it is worth checking out the colorful outfit
- Butterflydancing: Photo’s - site with the “magnificent sky” photo also has some other shots worth taking a gander at – pretty fun really
Tags: Art, color, mountains, music, painting
Posted in Digital Paintings | No Comments »
Monday, January 22nd, 2007
size obscures details, madras colors, and enveloping clouds
More Mountain & Clouds – Dan Beck – digital painting / art prints 2004
The clouds do come in and swallow the mountains. The mountains do not look so madras like. They do have color in them, but not quite so obvious.
The transparent nature of some of the clouds and the blue sky poking through, I know to be true as well.
I know this is representative of what is, but I am not sure it is as strong in the category of beautiful in its own right.
A similar scene was tackled earlier by me as a digital painting and has been tackled several times since – a more recent take. Like many of the pieces from this time, this was intended to be quite large and hard to envision even with the enlarged details.
See Also
Tags: Art, color, mountains, painting, prints
Posted in Art Prints | No Comments »
Monday, January 15th, 2007
accurate feeling without being literal – appreciating ambiguity
Big Valley 1 – Digital Painting / Art Prints – Dan Beck 2005
What I see today is the geometry of lines – the exaggerated rows of crops or dirt – creating a backdrop both unmistakable and unreal.
I like the way the foreground pokes out of the next layer – making one unclear as to whether everything is at the same height or up a level of hill.
I love the lines which look like a shirt and the tissue like nature of the mountains. It is far from literal – but I know this place…
This is the valley I see so regularly – but also a place of its own.
See Also
Tags: Art, mountains, painting, prints, Salinas Valley
Posted in Art Prints | No Comments »
Thursday, December 14th, 2006
the color of rain
Hill Mountain Fog – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2005
Gray – drizzly – overcast day here in Salinas. The clouds have been sensational – the fog looking like a beard around the mountains.
But since I haven’t been painting for the last week or so, I have to sit on my laurels. This was the first piece that came to mind.
As an artist, I am very pleased with this digital painting. I was able to do everything I set out to do. The piece feels like the overcast area. It looks more like Spring than the way things look now, but nevertheless it carries the color of rain.
See Also
Tags: Art, color, mountains, painting, prints
Posted in Art Prints | No Comments »
Monday, November 20th, 2006
portraying strange light in its own way
Another Lightness – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2004
There are times when the mountains seem otherworldly – particularly I have been fascinated by the light that emerges on the mountains seemingly right under the overcast.
It is about perspective and distance – that creates the illusion – but than again – seeing is about seeing – not about what is scientifically there. And in this case, it is also about an impression.
This piece captures the strangeness of light and abstractly portrays a phenomena that would be less real done a different way.
See Also
- uzilite.com
“light obliterating every shades” according to Google – nice photos and very slick the way they are displayed – quite fun
- strange light pictures
spirit in the lens – truth is not the issue for me – but the strange light irresistable
- Another Lightness
gallery page – enlarge/details – art print options
Tags: Art, mountains, painting, perspective, prints
Posted in Art Prints | No Comments »
Monday, November 13th, 2006
monitor can’t take the place of framed artwork
River Run 1 – digital painting / art prints – Dan Beck 2005
As with many pieces I like, I have already written about this digital painting. It probably comes up in my psyche because I was at the Gallery at the Blackstone Winery over the weekend – and this piece had hung there in a group show last fall – with a wall to its own – it looked really spectacular and made me proud to have done the piece.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to convey that kind of feeling over the internet. This piece does look good small – but it really comes alive large – and of course there is nothing quite like the simplicity of having a simple framed piece on a light colored neutral gallery wall.
This is much the way the Salinas River feels like in places – but the mountains are never quite so close – major liberties were taken – and I don’t even know why – but I do like the piece.
See Also
Tags: Art, color, mountains, painting, prints
Posted in Art Prints | No Comments »
Friday, November 3rd, 2006
Art prints & fields of color more pleasing large as intended
Yellow Field Green Hills – digital painting / art prints – DB 2005
Like most the pieces in the Impressionist Art Gallery, the digital paintings were intended to be printed large – yielding art prints at a minimum size of a 24 x 30" framed print.
Although I don’t see this as one of my all time best, I do find it remarkably pleasing – particularly since it also seems a bit imbalanced in some ways.
The funny thing is that there are certain perspectives where the mountains feel this ludicrously tall and the fields were indeed this yellow.
Nevertheless, the piece is about impression not a snapshot of reality.
See Also
Tags: Art, color, fields, hills, mountains, painting, perspective, prints
Posted in Art Prints | No Comments »
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