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change of scene - changing seasons

More Remote Tree - digital painting for original prints - Dan Beck 2008

When I have painted this tree in the past - it has always been by memory and impression - this is no exception - the seasons have been changing - grasses growing and leaf base is quite a bit stronger.

To me the work has an impressionistic feeling with a rather clear digital component - even if the medium is intended to take a back seat to the content of the painting.

Observing the changing tree over time makes for an interesting group of work - or at least an interesting puzzle and interesting in that each one so far has been created without referencing the previous versions until after completion.

Limits are good - my rules are to not intervene with photos and not try to block my own understanding - hoping to impart the feeling which has prompted the painting in the first place.

See Also

• Original Prints - discussion of digital painting and original nature of prints at Outhouse Studios
  
• An Artist Needs Limits - discussion of the importance of limits for the creative process

priceless necessity

Horizon 4 - Digital Painting 2006

Having posted the first two tracks of the “Red Eye Recordings” - a music project that is intended to be listened to in order (for the most part) because there is a story to be told; it is time to introduce the third track with some explanation.

The song - “Money is too important” is about the necessity and the change it brings about - the nature of seeking satisfaction from things or consumerism - How much is enough? - always more than one has - and my observations on how often having money changes people.

And of course, having said that - it is my need as well, to have money to live on and continue to produce my art and music.

I am offering these tracks free - and will continue to - but eventually plan on making it possible to contribute to the outhouse studio fund -

The songs are about my observations - about life - about capitalism - about equality - about sickness - about letting go -

It is both too personal and somehow improper to put a price on -

Listen or View

• Money Is Too Important - Dan Beck  2006- to quote the song “I’d like less worrying, though I am not at all bad off, I’d like less worrying, like everyone I’ve known”
  
• Credit to Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman - for MASH melody and lyrical reference - nothing is created in a vacuum and I kept hearing their lyrics and melody in the music
• Horizon 4 - current art print availability for above digital art and its original prints

All Play

Play Print 1 with Dog - digital art painting - Dan Beck 2008

This is a very recent piece of digital art - playing around with a new template - hoping to introduce a new option for sharing art - more interested in the template size and corresponding original prints than the actual painting.

As a result, I have approached this work as the title suggests - from the point of play. Despite the play - and the landscape painted with abandon - it wreaked of a particular area I had been taking my dog, Bogart, to get some exercise.

Though he probably should have been scampering around the hillside - I ended up putting him in the corner pushing my brand or symbol around - kind of indicative of our relationship I guess - teaching him that I am in charge yet him pushing and resisting most of the way.

some sort of weird karma - reminds me of myself when I was adolescent… and sometimes still am

See Also

• Digital Art - ambiguities, distinctions, and open ended meaning of digital art
• Sharing Art - search result finds blog - nice image - traced from a photo - not at all like my work - but creativity needs to be encouraged
• Tour of Youth Arts Collective - art fosters problem solving and thinking outside the box - I have seen the yaksters work and I it points more towards the kind of world we need …

continuation of sketch requires deliberation

On Site 1 Plus - digital art - digital painting - Dan Beck 2007

I believe this is the last finished painting - it is a continuation from an on site work which I did a couple of weeks ago. I had seen so much more than I had had time to put into the original 40 minute sketch.

Having said that, I am not sure if this is a method I want to continue or not. There is something quite pure about the original painting - the continuation - with developed texture and depth is certainly more thorough; but I am not sure it adds anything essential to the original fresh sketch.

I handled the paint in a way reminiscent of Bold Glimpse because I have been looking at the piece a great deal and feeling like I had something special there.

Though I do like the finished work above - perhaps it is because I was taking too many directions here - following an on site feeling, developing, and perhaps mimicking while trying to remain fresh and bold at same time.

See Also

• Bold Glimpse - availability of original prints for piece the bold painting style was inspired by
  
• Digital Art - discussion of the varied possibilities this art form takes
• Wu Guanzhong 吴冠中 (b. 1919) - found this gentleman’s work through an image search - its original simplicity appeals to me plus born the year of my mother

View of Salinas - part of Steinbeck Exhibit

Compressed View - pigment print from Digital Painting - Dan Beck 2006

In conjunction with the National Steinbeck Center and Artistas Unidos - Artist United, I am showing this work at a pretty optimum sized art print (30 x 20 inch image).

This blog announcement comes the day of the opening; but the work will stay up until February. I chose this pigment print because of the intimate size of the gallery and for what I thought would blend well with the other artists in the exhibit - Faces and Places: Salinas.

This is also a good work for being representative of Steinbeck Country - it captures the feeling of the land but by utilizing the language of digital painting and enough of the traditions of art to have been selected by the Monterey County Arts Commission for the 2007 calendar.

People in the area have seen this piece - but many, if not most, have not seen it at its proper size - and the Steinbeck setting certainly can’t hurt.

In some ways, I would have preferred to show a work which shows more of the human condition, that Steinbeck so beautifully wrote about - but there will be another time I hope.

See Also

• Compressed View - original print options for above digital art - exhibit piece is framed slightly different - special orders are possible
• Harvest Depth - original print options for work with more of a people aspect of Steinbeck country
• Artistas Unidos - Artist United - grass roots organization partnering artists with local businesses with a goal of bringing all cultures together through the arts

Painting Possibility

Integration - digital art / digital painting / original prints - Dan Beck 2007

As much as I think this is a sweet scene, I find it to be as much of a commentary of the way things could be.

The sunset was real - the image can’t do life justice. But then again it does enunciate what was so cool. The birds came out to enjoy the sunset - watching along with us - different colors (different ethnicity’s?) side by side in harmony with the ocean the beach and the sky - a rocking evening.

For us observing - we were integrated into the scene as well - something about natural beauty that can do that. If you feel a little like you are out there with us - I have done my job. If not, I have a least done my part at digital beauty duty.

See Also

• Digital Art - discussion of the wide range of meanings and possibilities associated with being digital
• Flickr: Discussing Save Nature ~ Save Beauty ~ in Beautiful Capture - my point from the angle of photography - there are things in nature which are universally beautiful - if we could just tap into with each other

communicating the art itself

Field Hand - digital painting - art prints - Dan Beck 2006

Over the weekend - someone asked about Marc Chagall and I thought of this piece, but could not remember what it really looked like.

It is always interesting how memory and current perception vary. I think I like this more than I did originally. The pun is fun - but the way it is painted including the rather primitive face works today. I feel like the field might blow away - there is this dreamlike quality and world of its own which is the essence of art in many ways.

I love doing abstract work - love not having to follow any sort of guidelines but the piece itself. But I also like to engage people in a subject or a vision which I feel is worth sharing.

The field worker looking at the dirt is both what we imagine and what really happens - in my case, I got to see it - and felt like it was worth sharing - but in this way unique to me - not so deep really.

See Also

• Chagall - hadn’t seen the spelling “Shagal”, but there is something which reminds me of the pictured work which I see in the above - synopsis is also pretty good.
• Digital Art - multiple meanings - and art’s larger significance
• Field Hand - current options for original prints of above digital painting

inspiration, easily done, or disciplined

Hill Mountains - digital art -> original prints - Dan Beck - 2003

I was surprised to find out I had only written once about this piece. For a long time, it was my favorite.

Like most people, I want and expect things to happen faster than they really do. It is rare for things to happen quickly; yet as an artist we frequently value the quicker produced pieces because of the inspiration. When something happens easily we feel like it must have been the right thing - perhaps even divine.

And usually when something happens easily and feels right, it is right. On the other hand, when we see the evidence of the time, discipline, developed technique all thrown into a work of art - we can not help but appreciate the dedication and the pursuit of a long term goal.

Digital art is confusing in this regard, because one can’t often tell the degree of time commitment, just the finished result.

See Also

• Hill Mountains - availability of original art prints for above digital painting
• Opening Your Intuition - Personal Power Through Awareness: A … - Google Book Search - I must say part of this links inclusion is that this pertinent section of a “book” came available as a result of a search - never seen this before.

previous view of strawberry harvesting captures today

Harvest Depth - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2006

It is most difficult to keep writing while in the throws of moving - even more difficult to keep painting. It is fogged in today and the day is kind of monotone. There are plenty of workers out this morning picking berries in a day that I assume was very similar to the scene above - painted last year.

When I created this digital painting - it was a combination of commentary on the orange flags - indicating spraying had been done - and the likeness of the workers and the fields and how in sync it all seemed - beautiful and a little painful - all at the same time.

The work is peaceful, a tad monotonous, and a little uncomfortable. This digital art is successful I think at capturing the feeling of the Salinas valley - and the labor which makes our food supply available.

See Also

• What’s in an apple? Buying organic, healthful produce becomes increasingly complicated - thoughtful Commentary on our Food Supply, labor supply, hidden facts, etc.
• Harvest Depth - availability of original prints for above digital art painting

observing the flow

Kitties - digital art - painting - Dan Beck 2003

Over the weekend, we held a giant yard sale in which I sold a few experimentally framed and matted pieces along with every other odd and ends thing under the sun. This particular piece was one I sold.

I have been too busy trying to move to be able to blog, but thought I could take a few minutes today - to share this piece. This digital painting was and is about pushing the limits.

I didn’t even know I could paint cats on the computer when I tackled this piece. Perspective was not as much of a concern as making the cats look cat like.

Even to this day, one of the things I actually like is that the medium is still not completely under my control. There are both happy accidents as well as a rather loose control over much of the ways I impart color and form. I can do things I couldn’t do with conventional paint and brush, but my control is not nearly as developed.

The skill is more about learning how to observe and duplicate playing with the medium. The freedom to let go and make mistakes is also the freedom to control the uncontrollable.

See Also

• Kitties - availability of original prints for the above digital art painting
  
• Slow Leadership: Getting comfortable with control - related by the notion of controlling the uncontrollable - seemed like sound advice though not so much about what I was referring - learning through observation