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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

Painting, Translated World, Artistic Vocabulary

Larger View of Enchanted Sunset - Digital Painting - 2006

The inspiration for this piece came from reality - a sunset with this tent-like window showing some of the sun…and a sky that was multi-colored and magical.

The section of world I chose had this swirling quality. The foreground is the plastic covered strawberry fields which are in person both ugly and beautiful with their reflection.

Painting of any sort is about representing another world - be it the real world or imaginary or the world of the painting itself.

This piece has a flow about it which I like very much - the hilly nature of the fields comes through strongly.  And the colored excitement of the evening is also very well translated.

Translated - a good choice of words - indeed the expression of the medium is a language unto itself and the degree to which one can use the medium is one’s vocabulary.

See Also

• Segami Studios - Transforming Science into Art
  “Swirling” search yieded interesting (no longer existent) article about creating art on water - look at artist website instead
• Figures Art Gallery
  Good place to see further examples of Digital Painting by Dan Beck

Caribbean, Romantic, Latin Jazz - Yield

Caribbean 3 - CD Cover Art - for New Music CD:

TESOROS DEL CORAZON (TREASURES OF THE HEART)
THE LATIN QUARTER JAZZ COLLECTIVE

See their website for ordering information.

A good friend of mine and saxophonist asked me to do some artwork for his upcoming CD. We have known each other for years and have played together more times than could be counted - particularly when we lived in the same greater Hartford area.

This is a very sweet collection of music, some original, some not, but all with a flair and panache that really makes this a fine listening experience.  Bob is a really excellent musician, skillful and imaginative. As evidenced by this album and the others I have heard, the entire Latin Quarter Jazz Collective is quite seasoned and remarkably musical.

As for the art - the assignment was Caribbean, Romantic, and of course Latin Jazz. This was the third of four possibilities and the one chosen for the cover. I mean what is more romantic than walking hand in hand on the beach at sunset?

See Also

• Latin Quarter Jazz Home Page
  Info about the group
• Latin Quarter Jazz CD Information
  Where to go to buy, etc
• Sunset beach couple
  1 more photo just for jollies - aaww

Definition, How the art reads, Final Flourish

Desert 1- Route 66 - Digital Painting 2005

From the last version to the finished version are some fairly clear changes which help pull the piece together.

I added rocks/stones to the precipice of road to make it read a little better. I also gave the mesa more solidity giving it more texture and definition. Creating a 2-dimensional piece from 3-dimensional world is about creating illusion. 

Though my work is not a particularly realistic approach to painting, it still requires the interpretive look of whether something reads the way I hope it will.

As in listening, any sort of seeing, any sort of interpreting - one cannot imagine all the ways someone might look at something. Noted in the Daily Yomiuri Online(The Natural World of Olafur Eliasson - no longer available):  "Contemplating a work of art, we each bring to it our own memories and experiences, creating a mental image that is uniquely our own." 

With that said, it is our job to try to be clear - just as it is our job to try to understand all the possibilities.

The final thing I did to the piece was tint it a color which gives it more of the mood I was looking for and additionally pulls the piece together like a varnish might.  It is kind of a final hurrah - a bit like an unveiling - or unwaxing a batik - a final coat making it just that much better.

See Also

• Encylopedia of Educational Technology - Setting the Mood with Color
  A Look at the colors and how they affect or create mood
• Color of Mood Can Be Measured
  Tracking moods using color provides planning map - in the news
• Batik - Wikipedia - Free Encyclopedia
  Defined/explained quickly and to the point