Posts Tagged ‘Salinas Valley’
Wednesday, July 5th, 2006
zoomed in view needed to work sections of digital art
Section of current digital painting - view 1 pixel hole in center
I started working on a new digital painting this morning. A dreary kind of overcast summer day here – perfect for that sort of thing.
While I was working on it and enlarging the piece close to 400% – I thought it might be interesting to share what that looks like – and therefore a sense of how peculiar it can be to work with this digital medium.
Creating art on a computer can be very quick in some ways. There are tools which can create gradients, complex textures, lines, curves, fills, etc. However, certain things can be quite tedious.
For the look I want in this particular piece – I must work with the piece enlarged and must go back and forth with the size of the view. Often times even working at the largest level adjusting a single pixel.
It is fun to be able to see from different angles – stepping back, stepping in – but it is also tiring – as I am taking a break to write this.
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Tags: Art, color, digital medium, painting, Salinas Valley, texture
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Thursday, June 22nd, 2006
sunsets, climate, better art, faithfully produced as original art prints
Sunset Impression – digital painting / art prints – 2005
There are a lot of wonderful sunsets here. A lot of the reason is that I have an unobstructed view across the fields up to the hills and mountains this side of the ocean.
The sunsets are nice here also because they are – it is an amazing climate – guess that is why the vegetables like it so much too.
Earlier today, I was thinking about how with each piece I hope to create something which outdoes the last piece. I think that is the hope of any artist to create the better artwork or write the better song or dance the best dance etc.
We all know that each piece can’t be as good as the next – but it is not sustainable to think that one’s best work is behind one.
I am not sure that the above piece I ever felt was my best – but I do know it has been viewed favorably by a number of people. What I also know, is that I can print this digital painting - as numerous different sized art prints - and have every one be as original as the next.
To say this isn’t magic would not be accurate – because it is magical to be able to paint using a computer and create digital paintings which can be produced (not reproduced) faithfully every time.
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Tags: Art, fields, hills, mountains, painting, prints, Salinas Valley
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Thursday, June 8th, 2006
Creating a landscape of color and harvesting
Pickin’ Start – digital painting – Dan Beck 2006
Painting the fields is comfortable at this point. My approach with this was to just start painting – creating hills, creating waves in the landscape, but not so much caring about conveying a particular place – more of a particular area – the Salinas Valley.
The landscape was fun to create – unfortunately I don’t think the overlap of colors comes through – so I am going to step back and offer up this detail which would otherwise only be seen in an art print.
There is a vastness to this land – and clearly I am trying to show it. There is also something remarkable about the people who work the land and how they appear when one is casually or not so casually looking.
If they appear in a line, it is because they are frequently in a line. If they appear to be acrobats, it is because that is also they way they look. If they appear to be in a swarm, it is also because it looks that way. If they appear to be lost within the landscape of the valley…
I have great respect for the strawberry harvesters that dot the land around me.
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Tags: Art, color, fields, hills, painting, prints, Salinas Valley, strawberry
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Monday, June 5th, 2006
Quilted landscape and aerial spraying yield painting on the cusp between beauty and ugly
Quilted Spray - art prints/digital painting - Dan Beck – 2005
Late summer, early fall of last year, I played around with this concept. Nothing original in the idea of the aerial landscape looking like a quilt. But adding texture to the helicopter as well was a fun and unique addition. At least I think it was.
As a painting this straddles some of what I find so interesting in art and life – that line between beauty and ugly. The quilted landscape is pleasing enough and even the spraying helicopter is kind of pleasing looking … until one realizes that what is being sprayed is poisonous.
I understand the thinking behind spraying – and even though I believe in organic growing as a sustainable path and a better way of growing, I know it is a difficult transition.
But when you are the in the midst of such spraying – which I have been in the Salinas Valley – it impacts one pretty strongly – the art print speaks to that experience and …
kind of makes one want to hold his breath.
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Tags: Art, painting, prints, Salinas Valley, texture
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Tuesday, April 25th, 2006
A well received piece and learning how to print it well
Salinas Valley 1 – digital painting – first art print
When I first got a high quality wide-format printer – this was my favorite piece. It was fairly recent at the time and it was what I wanted to see printed first.
I am sure you can imagine that type of excitement of a new printer and printing on watercolor paper for the first time.
The first print actually came out beautiful, but it wasn’t accurate. It was way too bold and bright – although part of its beauty. Like most artists and creative people, I was looking for a larger element of control.
Through a great deal of controlled experimentation, the printing quality and color accuracy that
Outhouse Studios can achieve is artistically perfect – I don’t think I could ask for better.
Salinas Valley 1 is a well received piece, and I have had the opportunity to refine the printing and also have it printed larger –
22×28 inch, matted and
framed. The blue is even more incredible printed and the row crops in the Salinas valley hills have a great deal more depth.
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Tags: Art, color, hills, painting, prints, Salinas Valley
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Wednesday, April 12th, 2006
Field Play paints a larger picture
Field Play – Gallery page – Digital Painting – 2005
Though I have written about this piece before, I found myself ready to use it earlier as an example of trying something new.
This has remained somewhat of a departure from most of my work. Generally, it is not all that clear that my work was painted on a computer – at least not immediately. But not in this case.
I don’t try to hide the origins, but I don’t feel that the work is about the medium either – I hope that it is about the work.
The things I particularly like about this piece are the black and white translucent worker and the wind-like movement of the hills and fields.
It also is quite suitable for a wide range of prints. The way the color fills the pages and the design and texture are so elaborate – makes it work well in all sizes.
I am very fond of this piece – plus local newspapers have printed the image and even recently it was referenced in a nice article by the leader of the blogs.
Bill doesn’t go by that, it just came out as I was writing and I thought it was funny.
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Tags: Art, color, fields, hills, painting, prints, Salinas Valley, texture
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Friday, April 7th, 2006
Rolling Hills and Textured Irrigation lead to Versatile Art Print
Irrigate 1 – Digital Painting & Art Print – 2005 – Dan Beck
The piece above is one of the first pieces I felt like I really hooked – right after I had finished. Not only pleasing right off, it is also quite representative of the world around me.
The hills surrounding Fremont Peak have the rolling quality portrayed even though they are represented as being almost transparent.
The striped land with the texture of irrigation is as it is here. I don’t know that I can find a representative photo; I have few in my own collection since I work from my impressions.
The other thing that is significant about this piece is that it works well printed small or large. It is grander printed large as one might expect, but just as you can see it well above vs. the enlargement – it shows well as a print on 13×19" watercolor paper.
I have developed a great deal of technique, and even my attention to composition has improved since creating this, but the piece remains strong. It has stood up well over time and has continued to have a remarkably good response from viewers and other artists.
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Tags: Art, color, composition, hills, painting, prints, Salinas Valley, texture
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Monday, April 3rd, 2006
Limitations are Part of our Uniqueness – our Creativity
If one chooses there is a downloadable file at Outhouse Studios by following the "Free Downloads" link. The PDF document entitled "On Being Creative" has ten observations/suggestions/tips for being more creative and essentially feeling more alive. The first follows:
Accept limitations as a blessing.
Our limits allow us to be unique and individual – the limit of standing inside our own perspective is itself a part of what gives our individual stamp to a work.
Though we need enough vocabulary in any field to allow us the range of communication, our limits provide us with our uniqueness. In some cases, our physical limitations are what play a big roll in our creative work.
Relish these differences, they are specific to each of us.
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Tags: Art, creativity, mountains, perspective, Salinas Valley
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Sunday, February 19th, 2006
Perspective, Depth, Warmth, Texture
Foothill Views – Digital Painting -2005
There are a number of things I like about this painting. First off – there is a great sense of depth and perspective. This section of the Santa Lucia foothills looks out into the Salinas Valley for an incredible distance. This is just a part of the typical view one might see.
I also love the big swirl of the grape rows – and the two people on a tractor was really stolen from seeing them on the road that day. And even though they are fairly non-descript in color – they have a 3 dimensional quality which is kind of fun and rather captured they way those two guys looked and made me feel that day.
Other things I really enjoy are the warm quality in the green section of fields – looks like wool – not so much what was there but what came out in the process of painting. If you look at the largest view and details you can see what I mean pretty clearly – plus the texture in the tractor tires is pretty cool too.
Anyway – I am sharing this piece today – because it is one of those pieces that has grown on me – the overall color scheme not so exciting – but the piece I think works.
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Tags: Art, color, fields, hills, mountains, painting, perspective, prints, Salinas Valley, texture
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Friday, January 20th, 2006
Current Weather Conjures Image of Digital Painting
See gallery page – Hill Mountain Fog – Digital Painting 2005
I have been seeing scenes quite similar to this lately. I look up and say – "didn’t I paint that?" And though you might not see this as being literal which it isn’t – it is remarkably like the weather we have been having.
This is not a particularly recent piece – but it has been in my consciousness because of the weather. It captures that winter pallor yet I think it was created in the Spring – probably one of those throw back days.
There are two things I love about this piece. First the feeling of fogged in and secondly the texture in the fields. You may need to see the largest enlargement for that either click here or on the gallery page.
Like a lot a my pieces this last year – this was intended to be printed quite large – at least 24×30" to captured the detail. So if you like it at all please make sure to look at the details below the enlargement.
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Tags: Art, fields, painting, Salinas Valley, texture
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