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

Flat Racing – original digital art -Dan Beck 2007

Always a good feeling to create a work of art which not only captures what you are trying to communicate, but feels like it is original art – particularly in the sense of standing apart from other peoples’ work.

Not sure which day, yesterday or the day before, that I saw the three workers running with their flats – not so much a competition since they clearly had not started running from the same place – but they were boogieing up the rows of berries. Don’t know if it was a pick and run event or just an impromptu breaking up the monotony of the day.

I don’t think I would personally last too long out there picking berries – long hours bent over picking – but this looked more like a fun race rather than the piece work shuffle. This was camaraderie not rushing to get paid.

I am glad I got to witness the strawberry flat racing – it lifted my spirits too.

See Also

• Base of the Mountain – another light look at strawberry picking – but more the way it looked than the way it is
• Strawberry Ricotta Fool – not sure how my parallel searching arrived here – but just makes you think how far a distance from field to table

Furrowed Field – digital painting – Dan Beck 2007

When I started adding the patterned colors in the dirt – the green, red, and blue; the contours of the dirt flattened out a little – but I liked the digital painting more and found the addition a nice addition to the enjoyment of creating the painting.

The furrowed field in question did just start getting irrigated and I did see two workers in yellow slickers with wrenches cranking on the water.

There was no posing and no pretense of a world in scale -but hopefully fun nevertheless. The figures do seem a bit cartoon-like to me and the representation of water – I have certainly done a few times.

Since to me, one of the key aspects of creating original art is communicating one’s unique perspective – this piece works. It is neither completely new or completely redone. The prints are always original and always as intended by the artist.

See Also

• Rainy Halloween Harvest – first digital painting with figures – actually painted through the window – on location as it were – and first painted yellow slickers
• Good Communication Skills – not advocating a course here – but good points about communication also apply to the conscious part of art
• Original Prints – definitions and distinctions – understanding what is being offered at Outhouse Studios

Checkerboard Day – unfinished digital painting

If I work this direction – meaning create a landscape and then add figures, I generally save the painting before moving on.

I like the piece where it is above – the checkerboard of light and dark and the clouds are strong enough to carry the painting. Plus the hills have the warmth and at least my eye is pulled in enough to want to move around in the composition.

But frequently, the case with art is about solving a problem or carrying out something one has conceived. I always think there should be some give and take with the painting itself as it is created. But I also think it is important to at least try to say what one intends (a take on Original Art – I had not thought of before).

The checkerboard mountains and the two irrigation workers hoisting their pipes in unison were witnessed on the same day – and the connection made sense to me when I saw them and created the finished original digital painting.

See Also

• Original Prints – catalog of prints starting at $95 – some of my favorites – many current paintings are on hold as far as prints being set up for easy purchase – email if determined – changes are coming
• The Art of Problem Solving – good tips here – concise and clear – even if my take is more about art honing such skills
• The Art of Complex Problem Solving – I think this may actually be about “the Art” – as it is the changing views as one rolls over with the mouse that makes me appreciate this – the puzzle about puzzle solving is more complex than I have patience for at the moment – but a nice complex diagram nevertheless

My Series 12 – digital painting – original prints – Dan Beck 2004

Simple, colorful, expression – not much in the way of form – not much in terms of movement – but it does have a good feeling nevertheless.

This was not a particularly thoughtful piece. It came from following a concept of being on the cusp between representation and abstract as well as having the smooth colors atop the beige textured background.

Original art, original prints – this has my characteristic comfortable strokes of the mouse – unique to the way I move my hand and wrist – controlling what was seemingly uncontrollable at first.

As a musician, I had to learn how to hear some of the odd scales my fingers had learned how to play – in some ways – this abstract piece is about the same process with painting on the computer.

See Also

• Abstract Art Gallery – other digital paintings from “My Series” as well as other fluid, playful pieces
• Success Express To The Land Of Plenty – while looking for something on the lines of gaining control by being an observer – I found this interesting article
• Fate vs Free Will – again not exactly the angle I was looking for – but a way of integrating determinism and free will in a way I hadn’t really thought of – astrologically