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fresh ideas - part of original art concept - time tells

Morning Light - digital painting - original prints - Dan Beck 2005

Did my quick image roulette thing and found this work of original representation and original art.

The slabs of concrete looking things are to represent the unsightly mall in between my view and the mountains. I frequently, like a many artist, have selective vision … and here again I did as well - choosing this representation.

At the time, I liked it conceptually - thought it kind of fun - but never did more - an indicator in itself.

Love the clouds and sky - the mountains are cool - but it never made it into my real favorites - nevertheless, it is original on many levels and documents the creative process and my own progression as an artist.

Original Prints have been made available for this digital painting and all others in the Figures Art Gallery.

See Also

• Figures Art Gallery - view other works of similar time period and similar themes available for purchase
• Selective Vision: The Brain’s Spin Machine Starts Early: Sciam Observations - liked this article because it is so much about the link between perception and understanding
• Photography Composition Articles: The Magic Of Selective Vision - Photo Composition - liked this article as well for its more conventional look at selective vision - but I of course take exception to photography being more difficult than art - better not to go there if one can help it

blurring lines of distinction

Fishies - digital painting - poster art prints - Dan Beck 2000

Is there a distinction between fine art and poster art? - between serious representation and caricature?

I can see a difference between my earliest digital paintings and my more recent ones. The first ones were bright playful colors with no pretence of trying to capture the feeling of someplace real - rather they were a place of their own though inspired by something seen.

There is a brilliance which fish have which can’t be captured - the above rendition is not from vision not from reality so much as from imagination and colors of the medium.

I imagine it more of a poster than a work of framed original art - but I never want to lose that sense of play - I want the lines blurred - I want my work to be low brow - high brow - no brow.

We need categories to make sense of our world - but after doing so we need to be able to not categorize in order to see.

See Also

• Original Art-chives - earliest digital paintings at Outhouse Studios and some as recent as 2005
• Under Water Photo Gallery - don’t know this photographer or his work until today - but Gary McCarthy has done a nice job at showcasing some of the incredible colors under water

art can be about communicating in different ways

Twilight Glow - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck - 2005

Having already written about this piece and the printing challenges it held, it still struck me as one to write about today.

I printed this piece so many times, I actually burnt out on it - but today I like it - as I have for quite a while.

The balance is different - I guess because the show takes place in the upper third and gets cooler as one looks down - but it is balanced - it is fun (like the fourth of July) even on too dark of a windows monitor.

I am particularly partial to being able to portray something without being all that close in one’s representation - perhaps in the way a single line can denote so much.

Art can say so much in its own different way.

See Also

• Twilight Glow
  gallery page - enlargement/details -art print options for above digital painting
• Charles Baudelaire
  Simple drawing by Matisse - but Baudelaire an example of art and life

memory alters impression - emotion requires expression

Viewing Out - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2004

I remember this evening - I went out to see a small art show in a bakery in Sand City - there was said to be some "computer generated art" - it really was more akin to digital painting - one of a kind - artist does one print and saves nothing.

I don’t think that utilizes the digital potential very well, but that is neither here nor there. The work was fun - and the evening took me to a party which was also fun.

And the sky is the sky of that evening - and the view is from a hillside of a back route into the area where one can see this section into the Monterey Bay.

The representation isn’t that close to reality, but it is also a lot closer than one would think.

See Also

• Viewing Out
  availability of art prints from digital painting Viewing Out
• Dining & Restaurants | Central Coast Pie
  small review of some of Sweet Elena’s goodies -3/4 way down - Bakery shows art work local to it
• Computer-generated art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  A good place to get some of the digital art distinctions

primitive and sophisticated representation in digital painting

Beach Today - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2003

On my refrigerator is a 8 1/2 by 11 inch print of this piece. I was looking at it earlier today thinking about how much I like the way I represented the ocean at the time.

The digital painting is primitive in many ways - something I am well aware is in much of my art … but then also quite sophisticated. The wall of water works - with white water which looks like a woodcut - it has layers and height which really captured that day.

The bird - which is a little gawky (and charming I might add) was actually a pretty good representation of what I found out later to be a marbled godwit.

See Also

• Beach Today
  Gallery Page includes additional info about piece, Click to Enlarge piece, “buy this piece”- art print options and availability
• Marbled Godwit
  additional info and different link than found within text
• Tom Killion Woodcut Prints - Big Sur
  Woodcut artist - doing nice work including from this area

sunset portrayal reminiscent of tissue paper collage and magical light

Tractor Sunset - digital painting /art prints - Dan Beck 2003

This is a really magical piece.  Like all my digital paintings, it is even more so viewed as an archival art print.  What I am struck by today is how much like a tissue collage this painting looks.

The way I represented the streaming light of sunset, I still find to be quite novel. It was the first time I ever did it in that fashion and frankly haven’t ever done it as successfully since.

The high tension wire towers kind of dance and disappear in the evening fog - and a lone tractor and driver work on - either basking in the beauty that is almost exclusively theirs - or perhaps too caught up in plowing (which I doubt) to notice.

The magic is in the evening itself - in the scenario - and in the way it is captured without really looking much like what was - but for perhaps what was essential.

See Also

• Tractor Sunset
  availability of art prints for Tractor Sunset
• Eve Slinker Collage/Mixed Media
  Couple of other examples of tissue paper collage and how Tractor Sunset looks similar

representation and sharing an impression

Nestling Grape Rows - digital painting - Dan Beck - 2005

How we create new art and how we view existing work is an interesting thing. When I first finished this, I was proud of how dramatic it felt. There is incredible strength in both the curving of the grape rows and the stalwartness of the mountains.

The deep forest colors are how this area makes me feel. The way the grape rows nestle up into the mountain foothills is truly spectacular when one sees it.

The jagged dinosaur-like nature of the mountains is exaggerated, but it is all about representation not about portraying the exact.

I had seen the grapes essentially hugging the mountain range and I couldn’t let it go - this digital painting like much of my impressionist artwork is paying tribute to something I can hint at, reference, and try to share the feeling of - but in my own way and language.

See Also

• Nestling Grape Rows
  availability of art prints
• Carmel Road to Greenfield, California
  nice pictures of area near where inspiration came from
• Photos by Stephen Hayden
  Image search - yielded this page - grape rows from another area - but a lot of nice photos