Seeing a painting evolve – Artichoke Warriors – 2009 – digital painting – Dan Beck

In my experience, most creative processes require stopping, stepping away, and starting up again – sometimes a number of times.  The changing piece above shows the three major places I stopped in creating this work of art.

A friend of mine once remarked that as a child he thought that all music was just one song.  I don’t discount that view. Although it is easier to see one’s own art or music as a continuation of the same self expression – it is equally true that we are all part of the creative fabric of life.

Bringing it back down to this particular painting – all three versions are valid – but I didn’t feel like I was done until I felt like I had completed my task.  Songs are like that too – I can keep working on them until I am ready to move on.  They can be faster, slower, better, or worse each time I might play them, but they don’t tend to fundamentally change.

In the same way, viewing a painting can change each time we look as well.

Listen and View

• Feet on the Grass – since I don’t have any new recordings since 2007 – I figured I would share the last song written during recording at that time and what seems to have been my personal favorite – odd because it seemed too easy to write and too much like other songs – yet once recorded quite a different matter.
• Continuing the Original Painting – previous article and only other time I tackled artichokes – so to speak – interesting it also has multiple versions – I don’t generally save my stopping points.

Harvest Depth – starting image for music/art video – Dan Beck 2008

Exactly 1 year ago today, I posted a video which contained both a recording of one of my songs with corresponding images from my related paintings. The original article linked to youtube. The visual and audio quality was pretty poor and I didn’t do much to promote or share it.

Today I am sharing the video on what has been a hidden page on my site until today.

As for the content of the video – I think it speaks for itself – the song is entitled “Nothing Is Equal” – it is really a tribute to how people can make the best out of their situation – it is loaded with respect and I suppose some shared guilt for life being so unequal.

It offers not just a five minute tour of my digital art and music, but also two PDF files which anyone can print and get a better idea of what this work really looks like.

Even printed on a standard letter paper will reveal details and a feeling which cannot be appreciated by just looking at a monitor image.

See Also

• Play & Print – art and music combined for a true Outhouse Studios Tour and flavor
• More Music from 1danband – another hidden resource – my undeveloped MySpace page – just not much of a social net-worker as of yet

Eucalyptus View – painting – Dan Beck 2009

This is the most recent finished painting I have done.  I am no longer particularly current on my blogging and am not sure if or when I will become so again. I’ve done a lackluster job of trying to engage people -

A blog is supposed to be a place for people to comment and interact and create something more than what is written by the author. I suppose my tendency is to write a little too much to myself – or write in a way that doesn’t invite comment – and of course – it probably would help if I tried to create an audience by actually inviting people to read my articles and then to comment… by the way – please feel free.

I chose the subject above because of the drama of looking through the giant Eucalyptus trees to the fields beyond – a scene I viewed driving as a passenger on the 101 south of Salinas before you get to King City.

I think on a deeper level it is also a metaphor for how we see ourselves – on what should we focus? – expressions that come to mind :  one can’t always see the forest through the trees … it is hard to see through the growth…

I don’t care where you are in life – it is next to impossible to see oneself the way others see us.

My biggest fan was always my mother – today would have been her 90th birthday – had she lived that long. Eucalyptus was a favorite of hers – I thought of both these things only as I finished this article.

Listen or View

• Digital Art – since this is an example of painting on the computer, get a further understanding of how non descriptive this term really is
• Has Life Turned a Corner – written a couple weeks after my mother died (almost seven years ago) and the eve of having to put my dog down – damn – Sure glad I don’t feel this way now! – but I do still like the song  and do still miss those who are gone
• Forest Through the Trees – found this silk painting by some search results – don’t know the artist but I do like the image of the silk painting – perhaps you will too

digital art – 2 Much 2 Control – Dan Beck 2008

When I wrote about this digital painting before – I focused on the process and the secondary success not conceived of with the original goal in mind.  There are always secondary gains or successes which were not intended – just as in life.

I like to think that my work is innovative art – that I am always pushing the limits of the medium or my own limits – the limits of my audience which of course includes myself.  If I am doing my job correctly, I will not necessarily appreciate some of the things I do right away… a strange paradox really.

All art comes from somewhere else – all music, all dance, all theatre etc. is not created in a vacuum, but is built upon what is already found elsewhere in culture.  A term I have come to appreciate more than even originality or innovation is authenticity – whether the art is authentic or genuine – coming from the place of being done because it has to be – where appreciation and regard are not a thoughtful consideration.

Innovative – I think, is more about being ahead of the curve …

See Also

• Shape of Something New – a previous departure from the art I was doing at the time – but a road I didn’t travel down – and one which seemed too familiar and previously traveled by others – but a piece I like nonetheless
• Ahead of the Curve – this article takes the curve for granted – career with money
• Ahead of the Curve – clips from university musicians – some authentic – some cloning … obviously originality and innovation are difficult to measure – work that is too different has always been poorly received

Hillside Spin – digital art – Dan Beck 2007

I thought it was time to bring out another of the tracks from the Red Eye Recordings last spring – the unconscious mind is a fascinating thing.

The original song is called  “Global Warming” – a joke really – cause there really isn’t a whole lot the song has to do with the topic – just “How come we are sitting in the shade?”  – but as I quickly browsed an image file – looking only at titles – no dates – I thought that the above digital painting rather captures the song – not even sure exactly why – but as it turns out – it was created just about the same time as the song was written – I knew without remembering.

Also interesting – was my own personal quote in the article – something I thought about just yesterday out of the blue -

the dots often connect in conjunction with my life – there is always meaning in the timing – things don’t happen at the speed I expect them to – but when they do – it is always amazing how many things fit together to build a richer meaning.

Writing music works in this same way – a song’s lyrics and music develop like these hills – building until the ending kind of folds into the beginning – spinning back upon itself…

Listen or View

• Global Warming – a song about life – these spinning connections – dog/me/past/future/expectations/potential/timing/ – partner having cigarette withdrawals – me needing to withdraw – and played with a flourish – just one guitar and vocals – and an extra pass for backup vocals – Dan Beck 2007 – Alone and Contagious – written during the recording sessions
•  Price of meaning – every bit as ridiculous as the conceptual creation of an artwork and article entitled “Meaning” – because of the comical implications of doing such an internet search – prices for original art prints of the above referenced work of art

Salinas Valley 4 – digital painting – image for a song – “Reaction to the Sun”

I believe I wrote this song in the Spring of 2006 – we had weeks and weeks of overcast and winter rain – and the sun came out for a glorious few days – maybe even a week – and everyone seemed so much happier – whether inside or out -

I know I celebrated with an unplanned and impromptu sunburn – and heat rash – which I thought – a “reaction to the sun” and proceeded to write the song.

In truth, I think it is my own version of George Harrison’s / Beatles – “Here Comes the Sun” – because it is the same concept were it not for the new play on words and a completely different melody and chord structure – but this undoubtedlly is borrowed as well -

because we know there is nothing completely new under the sun.

Listen or View

• Reaction to the Sun - recorded Spring 2007 – from  Red Eye Recordings – music, lyrics, performance, recording – Dan Beck | 1danband – Alone & Contageous
• Here Comes the Sun - video of George Harrison performance of (just slightly more famous) song

My dog symbolically pushing me around.

It has been too blogging long since I have last contributed anything to the blogosphere – the unwritten rule I hold is to write at least once a week – once it was more – and may well be again.

Not too long ago – I wrote I would only write when I had something to say – something new.

So today I say – rules are often meant to be broken – meant to be changed – meant to be pushed against – meant to be rewritten and revitalized – until they need adjusting again.

Complacency is not a good thing – as my dog keeps reminding me.

Listen or View

• Red Eye 2 – introduction to part 2 of the Red Eye Recordings – original music, lyrics, and all performance – Dan Beck @ Outhouse Studios
• Unwritten Rules Fun – and the oxymoron of having them written down
• Other Music Projects – listen to tracks and clips of previous Outhouse Studios’ cd’s not found in Innovative Music channel of blog

Abstract 1 – digital art – improvisation – Dan Beck 2008

Creating an abstract painting for me is like improvising music without a chord progression. I start without a plan – just moving and creating shapes – overlapping , building, not so much thinking as observing.

The digital painting is about the process – the movements, the colors, the layering. Whatever form there is happened out of this dance of color – out of the play of comfortable swirls and movements – watching, observing – adding with balance – but not so much that is feels even and symmetrical … these are my rules – my way of doing – one layer of color at a time – occasionally coming back to an original color, but generally adding only new variations.

The black lines were not thought through either – but there seems to be a bit of a tree shape – a common theme right now – not surprising a comfortable motion would yield such a reference.

This is probably the truest dan art – if there is such a thing. All my representational, impressionist, landscape art, or figure art etc. draw from the vocabulary and techniques developed from this abstract play, and if not, it was because I permitted the same degree of looseness in the other work.

See Also

• Abstract Art Gallery – some of the abstract explorations at Outhouse Studios
• Improvisation – Milestones of the Millenium – discussion of how classical composers improvised – though not discussing how communication itself is about improvisation – music and art connect and this connects to something I was thinking about earlier today

music and digital art project

(Tip: select “watch in high quality” link)

Slowly I have been releasing tracks from a cd of music I created last Spring -
Previous articles have included tracks 1, 2, 3 and 4 and one out of order track to be written about again I suspect.This particular track (#5) seemed very conducive to having a visual accompaniment from my art. I have wanted to take on a music and art slide-show movie project for a few years but never gave myself the time or perhaps the permission to try.

I don’t quite understand timing in life – one can contemplate doing something for years and then one day you do and wonder why you waited. Although having said that – I don’t wonder – my life has other priorities and I always have more projects and ideas than I have time to carry out.

Listen or View

Quadbliss.com – thoughts on life – incredibly detailed paintings and partial inspiration for the song

Nothing Is Equal – music track by itself – neither music quality or video quality is particularly good with youtube – will post again after I can figure out the best alternative

Sun Blowin Bye – Dan Beck 2003 – digital painting

As an artist and musician and the person that I am – I always want to do things differently – do it my way – lay down my own tracks, as it were, and be a pioneer.

What I know as a teacher both of others and even myself – repetition is a necessity for being able to improve on the execution of the same subject matter or even new subject matter.

My goal for a new piece of music or artwork is to create something to live inside – but even then, I must keep playing the new work of music – keep painting some of the same old things – keep exploring the same ole medium – keep revisiting the same old works …

I need to see how I view or hear them from where I am today. There are never enough hours to be new and be revisiting – so though I am in a time where I have plenty of new work – though not recorded – plenty of old work – not yet shared – I am revisiting a song I have offered and a digital painting that I have had on my website…

because it is the way I am feeling today – and it is worth it for me to revisit it.

Listen or View

• Can’t Stand Still – original song – Dan Beck / 1danband – 2005 – music is a refuge and can take over – no matter what else is going on
• Original Print Options – for above digital painting – Sun Blowin Bye
• On Repetition – Supercharging Your Affirmations – perhaps even more necessary to repeat when what is learning requires some unlearning as well