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No Painting Involved – definitively digital painting

The above piece of art used one color gradient and two painting tools – a square shape with adjustable rounded corners and a fill tool.  I stumbled upon the adjustability feature and started playing.

Frankly this is not a style of art which I would normally do. I like to use color and I prefer to create my own shapes – but it was fun and quick and begs the bigger question. How long does it take to create a painting?

I do find myself answering some times in terms of hours for a piece, but it is a faulty sense of time.

In truth, it takes a lifetime – or one’s lifetime up to the point of creating the piece – but I guess that is the nature of any skill – and even in the non-painting above where skill was not so needed – there are years of observation, aesthetic training, and appreciation which go into it.

Plus – time is different when one is creating – it can be faster or slower than other time – even timeless if you will.

If one is watching the clock when painting – one is doing it for other reasons.

In some ways – I think the real answer is “it takes no time at all” for it adds to one’s life not detracts.

See Also

• How Our Sense of Time Flow is Created -fascinating group of articles on how we perceive time and even how to change it
• When Art Can’t Fail – a previous article – with another painting done without any freehand – built on top of some strange symbolic language I unearthed opening a file in the wrong program – I guess.
• Original Art – seems to me – a similar kind of unanswerable question and related to how long it takes – more than one’s lifetime – a whole history perhaps.

Sync Hoes – digital image – Dan Beck 2009

This painting was created in early April.  It is an image which  comes from both what I witness and what I understand.

This is often the nature of how I create – something captures my attention – in this case the in-sync hoeing that looks like a dance to a slow passing motorist.  It was the relationship of the field workers I was focused on and not the location.

There was a place – but again I was more concerned with the color.  Attention is related to understanding because so much of what we see is dependent upon what we are looking to see.

One could see the above art as abstract, as colorful, as primitive, as movement or perhaps none of the above.  It is my understanding which makes it work – I hope it works for yours as well.

See Also

• Hoe Dance – 2005 painting with a similar theme

• Original Art – exploring the meaning

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

Toro Inspired – digital art painting – Dan Beck 2009

The artwork is inspired by Mount Toro – a part of the Santa Lucia Mountains – still Salinas.  There is a particular area I am thinking of in doing this painting, but it is not so particularly literal – what else is new.

Actually – where I find myself today is working on a major website redo – but being more overwhelmed by the prospect than being able to get on with the doing. There is no substitute for just doing – but it is a daunting task to simplify that which has gotten too big to manage.

Since I am painting instead of website building – and blogging instead – the piece undoubtedly reflects this state. If I could take the same approach as I do with art – I will get it done – but I am less inspired by website design than by the beauty that surrounds me – so I do art and hope that the next days will find it easier to get more done in the process.

On the bright side, I have been wanting to paint this area for quite some time – with or without cows – wasn’t sure – but today it felt like it needed a few cows – a digital challenge for a mouse freehander like myself.

See Also

• Taking on the View – Article and only other painting with cows – this one taking from the foothills of the othe mountain chain that creates the Salinas Valley
• Original Art – how can something reproducible be considered original – what does it even mean?

Hillside Fun – digital art – Dan Beck 2008

One of the things I have improved on over the years is paying attention to the composition – so that a piece works both large and small.  With digital art – there is not necessarily an optimum size and certainly not a one and only size.

As I have taken on this medium, I keep trying to do work which utilizes the attributes which are unique to creating art on the computer. Stepping back is done by minimizing the size – and getting up close is done by magnifying.

Once a work is printed, I find they are generally stronger as they get large enough to see the detail found when creating the piece.  Texture and overlap of color come into their own in a way that is really only hinted at by a monitor screen – but yet again – seeing on a monitor may actually be closer than with a photo of a more traditional form of art.

See Also

Original Art – discussion of what it means particulary in the context of digital painting and prints on demand

Changing Landscape of Traditional Art – an internet search yielded an interesting thought but not sure if the internet has changed our access to this degree

Flat Runs – digital art – painting & original prints – Dan Beck 2007

This is my last completed digital painting – finished last week sometime. It was started after the first same themed piece and prior to the last featured piece from more of the true perspective – if there is such a thing.

The work was inspired by a drive-by moment witnessing three field workers racing their strawberry flats to the staging area or truck – I didn’t notice.

It is more about feeling and understanding than actual viewing and therefore a view from above is just as true – but it wasn’t what I wanted and I started another piece before I finished this.

And though I think the other two pieces are more original art for me – I do love the bright color and some of the digital art twists, turns, and copy and paste which are not always utilized in my work.

See Also

• Sea of Backs – perception here is also based on understanding
• O’Reilly — Scott Haefner: View from Above – most interesting results to search term “view from above”

Simple Line Figure Exercise and Tutorial

What the above image demonstrates as much as anything is how unlimited digital art can be. The same figure could have been added on to and finished in an infinite amount of ways.

There are multiple paths, multiple possibilities, and all of them can be true at the same time. It can take the concept of original art and basically give it a whole new twist.

Not only is each print an original print, but each variation – like art itself – is an original – even if part is exactly what is included in a different piece.

What is true for art is generally interchangeable with what is true for life.

See Also

• Image Index to Blog Articles – newly expanded to separate Recent and Not for Sale works at Outhouse Studios – Find articles about and from a specific digital painting thumbnail
• What is an Original Print? – thoughtful discussion on subject – seems to draw line at what is created by hand – but then with which tools – digital art uses a mouse or pen pad interfacing with computer – distinctions are tricky
• William Dobell Quotes – his first three quotes are quite akin to my own thinking about art and have included this reference even though today is the first time I recall seeing a representation of his work

This is not my normal style of digital painting, but I suppose it is not that far removed. I have no qualms about using color – and the intent of painting from a simple line drawing was mostly an exercise – an exercise in approaching painting in a different way.

Just like taking a class – exercises can be valuable. Just as the definition of digital art is rather wide open so are its limits. Many programs allow one to remove something unwanted that was many steps back – programs like photoshop and illustrator which use layers for instance. Even without that, one could save unlimited versions of a piece so that one might not go down the wrong road.

The problem with any of these approaches is that – it is important to hold on to process when one paints – if one doesn’t get that meditative, get lost in the painting – what good is it?

Lesson 3 is about utilizing rules and limits – to have freedom to create inside and create necessity for trying things in new ways.

See Also

• Original Art-chives – page shows development of technique and how technique is not really what determines whether a finished work has appeal or not
• Photoshop Layers Tutorial – you will notice this explains well – but until you do it yourself you probably won’t get it. My personal experience was being shown, but not remembering until I essentially figured it out on my own.

Field Run – original digital art – Dan Beck 2007

I decided I wanted another take on the Flat Racing. I really enjoyed being a witness, but I also wasn’t sure I had said all there was to say on the subject.

The first version and digital painting captured the movement quite well, but the scene around was rather abstract and unknown. Here I have tried to give more of the perspective of looking up the rows of the strawberry fields.

This is a more detailed version of what I had seen. I am not sure if I like it more or less, but it required more time to play with it and more time to convey another aspect … that the other workers weren’t even paying attention to the race of strawberries right next to them.

I often talk of perspective and understanding – both of these takes on the same scene are original art and a unique view – they are just coming from a different perspective albeit both are mine.

See Also

• Related Artwork – some related digital paintings that are set up for purchase of original prints
• A Different Perspective – good article about looking at the positive in life
• A Different Perspective – Dada without Duchamp – for the art historian who really does want to grapple with the questions of original art

Rolling Fields – digital painting / original prints – Dan Beck 2004

I’ve been working on a few different paintings at the same time. This is not one of them. But it is appropriate to feature today for two reasons. It does not follow the rules of how to achieve perspective, but it reads with perspective anyway – and I wrote about it before in conjunction with reasons for buying art.

Having any flat surface read as 3 dimensional is an illusion – the representation is an illusion – but perhaps no more so than what we perceived in the first place.

How often do we see something which doesn’t make sense and assume we have looked incorrectly? We make corrections based upon our understanding … and so it is with an original art piece like this.

Our understanding makes corrections to the perspective even though what we are seeing doesn’t really make visual sense.

I continue to like this piece because it feels like this land and feels good – I know where I am – even though it is not literally even close.

See Also

• Original Prints – understanding the nature of art prints at Outhouse Studios and original digital paintings
• Perspective Drawing – can’t say that I got through the entire show – but this is thoughtful and fun – knew there had to be some perspective rules out there somewhere