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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

revealing real and refined

Sunset Over Artichokes 1 - original digital painting - Dan Beck 2007

How original can art be when it so clearly comes from another painting or rather is a continuation of another digital painting?

My focus on original art is many sided. First off - I want to differentiate myself from the pack. Is it unusual to want to be different? - of course not. Is it unusual to actually be? - definitely.

I don’t like associating myself with digital art or even digital painting - though it is my medium. If you have come here looking for what most people look for in digital art - you have come to the wrong place.

The focus of my work is portraying a direct impression - no photo - just glimpse and memory - direct yet processed by my understanding - no bones about it. Seeing is a part of the process - the art itself becomes a part of the process.

The above piece was more how it looked that evening - more developed and more because I had more to say. But did I improve upon it? I am not sure - perhaps when enlarged more - the work is more satisfying - but I am not sure.

Either way - the art prints are originals - either way - they are more painterly than digital - either way - they speak to a world both real and refined.

The beauty of a sunset to me is undeniable - my efforts are about conjuring not imitating.

See Also

• Impressionist Art Gallery - contains artist statement and other works of similar genre
• Top 100 Chart - digitalart.org - though this will likely change over time - it is perfect encapsulation of what is most looked for and thought of - by digital art

Momentarily Captured

Sunset Over Artichokes - digital painting - Dan Beck 2007

Above is my most recent digital painting - on my way home that evening I happened to take the route through the artichoke fields and glimpsed this sight.

It was fleeting - the color, the depth, the folding hills - some from reality, some from memory - but the portrayal worked.

I have shied away from doing artichokes - more jagged and painstaking a subject than I really want to get into - I generally find them other worldly. But in the light of the sunset - they were warm rows - less defined and calling my name.

And I knew I must paint what I had seen -

After one sitting I stopped here - because I really liked it - I worked on it more the next day as you will see later - but I think I captured more of what I wanted in that first sitting alone.

See Also

• Fennel Field & Sky - first day’s stopping point - captures spirit better than successive versions - this is purchasing info for art prints of a different but stylistically similar work.

• Artichokes | Green Globe Artichokes | Pezzini Farms in Castroville - local grower - very close by - not the same fields - but artichoke info and good photos capturing the other worldliness of the fields
• Photography Workshops Photo Gallery by Zane Paxton at pbase.com - I really like this photo - not the same color glow as I saw - but something remarkably similar - click on photo to see index of other work

picking the moment to share

Glowing Sky - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2005

I just finished a painting with a sunset - but am not ready to share it on the internet - haven’t even printed it for myself yet. But I had a quick opportunity to write and I thought of this digital painting.

I love the colors of this piece - the angles - the glow of the clouds and sky - the way the mountains almost float themselves - begging the question are the clouds moving or the mountains or is everything still?

This is an incredibly fragile moment as anyone and everyone who has ever seen a sunset can attest. Deciding the moment and look I wanted to capture that evening was probably as much of a challenge as painting.

I don’t paint from photos - nothing adamant here - just don’t want to - it is about capturing the memory - capturing the impression the particular moment leaves - and giving that impression back.

As always (and forgive me here), I hope I have not given the wrong impression.

See Also

• Glowing Sky - current purchasing options for original art prints of above digital painting
• Impressionist Art Gallery - see other images from Dan Beck and Outhouse Studios and information about impressionism
• Claude Monet’s Impression Sunrise - this was the first art related site I could find on Google - looking up simply “impression” but turns out to be kind of fun adjusting the brightness of the sun on Monet’s work

framed colors of world within the world

Sunset Startled - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2005

As I look at this today, I think how fun that there is a frame within the frame. Though it is true that this is what attracted me to the scene in part - it still pulls my eye under the tree to get there.

It remains simple, colorful, direct, and pleasing. And even the spaces between the fence pull one through.

It doesn’t pass for being literal but it hits the bulls-eye as far as one’s viewing the world within the world …

the metaphor for painting itself.

See Also

• Sunset Startled - art print options and availability for above digital painting
• Phlegm - found this site as a result of searching for metaphors for painting - this is just too much fun!
• On Painting - same search, but a a little more thoughtful discussion on teaching us how to observe, retain, and actually be more in the moment.

enhancing feeling of seasonal sunset

Glowing Sky - digital painting -> Art prints - Dan Beck 2004

I have always loved this digital painting. It is one I really felt like I had hooked right after it was done. My impression was my impression.

The gradient colored sky with the intense pink clouds - it gets that way here - at sunset - right about this time of year. And though the translucency in the mountains is my thing, it enhances the feeling rather than altering it.

We actually just stepped into sunset season - if there is such a thing - not that that is something one hears about - but here in the Salinas Valley - not only is the weather the best in the Autumn and early winter - so are the sunsets.

Fall is a great time of year everywhere I have lived - but sunset time - I don’t recall.

I have shown this digital painting in a couple of shows - 24 x30" matted frame - it makes truly beautiful art prints - with or without my bias.

See Also

• Glowing Sky
  gallery page - enlargement/details and availability of art prints and purchasing options for Glowing Sky
• Photos of Sunset
  Though this strikes me as someone’s journal - there are some striking sunsets photographed - and I think not that far from here
• VectorPoint Photography
  sunrise/sunset photos from area photographer

memorial sunset beautiful tribute anniversary of death

Sunset for Andrea - digital painting / art prints - 2005

I think a strange title for this article - but indeed that is what it feels like. This scene is a sunset viewed on the evening of memorial service for a former friend of mine - young enough to have been a daughter but more like a younger sister.

For a brief while we were like family - a rude awakening for Andrea Moore to die suddenly a year ago today.

The sunset to me was beautiful - a tribute to her I thought and still think - I had stood out looking at that same scene many times with her - odd a year has passed and odder still that she is gone with parents, brothers, and cousins left behind.

My closeness was brief as has luckily been my grief - loving and losing such a strange requirement of living.

See Also

• Sunset For Andrea
  gallery page - enlargement - availability of art prints
• Grief Loss & Recovery | Poems, Articles & Personal Stories - Home
  didn’t go through site - but I kind of liked artwork - thought the message simple without offering blanket answers - there may be patterns, but grief is personal

sunset through California Cypress trees - unique to area

Pine Thru - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck  2003

There is an organism of Cypress trees at the corner of the property I live on. The tops of the trees merge from a number of trunks - it is remarkable and unusual.

One can see the sunset through the Cypress by positioning oneself - probably ten months of the year. It is often an incredible show.

It is more detailed in ways because I could look out my window and pick up some of the details to fill in my impression.  It is titled as such because I was unaware that the trees were Cypress at the time of the painting’s creation.

See Also

• Afterglow Thru The Cypress
  diferrent take and time of the same basic view
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Works of Art: European Paintings
  this and next page are examples of Van Gogh’s cypress - I suspect a slightly different species - but worth acknowledging
• NaturePhotographer.net - california_coast
  this photo does capture the character of these trees - clicking on it will take you to famous “Lone Cypress” also on the coast

first digitally painted sunset - abstract, brilliant, lasting

Sunset - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2000

It is interesting - when I created this piece, I thought I had said what needed to be said about a sunset. I had built this incredible show - out of almost tissue like overlapping transparencies.

The image is rather abstract but nevertheless looking unmistakably like a brilliant sunset. The multiple hills are like the land here, but in a way not so much seen as felt and the clouds crescendo towards the sky.

I was not bashful with color and Sunset has remained a strong piece even though my sunsets since are more sophisticated.

See Also

• Sunset
  availability of art prints for digital painting - Sunset
• West Valley Sunset
  photoblog of Micah Lauer - looked around a little - some nice images on this site

simplicity, colors, and composition combine

Sunset Startled - digital painting / art prints - Dan Beck 2005

I was pretty happy with this digital painting when I finished. Sometimes it takes a while to appreciate the work one has done and other times it is immediate. I find the same to be true with music I’ve written.

I kept the fence simple and the green field very austere as well. But that little squashed setting sun was pretty right on - and the complexity of the horizon itself quite fascinating.

What I think mostly is that it is pleasing in its colors and in its composition - enough to make one feel good. And if I recall correctly, it was a really special evening .

See Also

• Sunset Startled
  gallery page - enlarge/details - availability of art prints for Sunset Startled
• Low Sun
  More pictures and info from site sighted in text
• Earth Science Picture of the Day
  the separation and squashing of the setting sun - but moreso