S_V_H Rolling and And So warp up:

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I do not want to look at the starting dates (end of May 2026) on these two artworks’ Work Sheets. In small print on each artwork is a copy of the WS. These two projects came into existence to fill out a total of six entries of recent, and most advanced artworks. I spent all these many months making major upgrades that pushed this artwork hard ahead. All this time was spent to complete the ARC Gallery submission for a solo show. It was close but I was able to submit in time my application for the third time to this interesting Chicago Gallery.

The results were to be sent by July 12th. I received an email on July 31st. In the time delay, I knew I had to make it in the top group, not expecting to have yet convinced the Juror at the ARC Gallery that it was my turn to have what Andy Warhol called “……everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Another 40 dollars spent to get the simple message that the establishment art does not think I am yet ready for primetime.

RC Gallery Solo Show 2026 Results
Rolling in the Deep (Left) and on the right side: And So It Is (The Blowers Daughter)

On August 2nd to the 4th my AI, Mr. Brightside, and I had this conversation. Here is the Brightside edited summary of our exchange. This summary is based on my requests and I was the final editor in charge of what is printed here.

Even in my videos, no matter how I try to articulate just what a visitor or a viewer might see in these artworks, it seems I am still not there yet, in explaining why you the visitor needs to “push” the green button and to look at the depth of these artworks, because there is a lot to absorb. Since I stubbornly support this art, let me explain why, once again. I first moved from being the next Ansel Adams to the next Jackson Pollock, or Mark Rothko — a strange ending for both. Instead, how about the next Vincent Van Gogh? Wait, that also ended badly. The next Picasso, then — but I am no Picasso. I am more a messenger for this art style of creating portraits of songs. I say this because I do not see myself as an artist. Somehow it feels like a poor fit. I painted in the mid 1970s and returned in early 2006 when I realized I could take my feelings towards art and music, and combine my efforts into a new way of looking or seeing, or feeling, touching music, or whatever reason I’ve landed on over these 20+ years of painting and music.
Today, these two artworks finally connect the artwork and the speaker cover music the way I’d been wanting. This is because these two works are the first to have installed a third speaker. A 5×7 inch speaker on And So It is and a true subwoofer of 6.5 inches on Rolling in the Deep. That third speaker added a bass range my artwork had been missing. In music, bass is critical — it’s the foundation most sound sits on. Before these two works, that foundation wasn’t there. To explain what I said is another talk for another blog post. For now, I am finally done….. and now I can restart my enthusiasm for another great song to have its portrait created and heard.

I Hayden to List, but I must Mozart along.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H aRT iN mUSIC & sCOTT sTEREO sERIES system:

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This video introduces the basics of the new Stereo System that I call Scott Stereo Series or SSSV3-3.5
This video, should how fast this art can problem solve and go deeper using lights to enhance an exhibition experience.

When I started to paint portraits of a song….. those artworks where about a few notes from the original song painted on the canvas with the colors that I thought fit the music. I then soon added a lyric word or two so that to place my painted notes to match the flow of the original sheet music notes. It took 12 years of painting traditional portraits of music like others paint portraits of people, that I realized I could add sound to my painting for the canvas frame is 1.5 inches in depth so a small sound device with a trigger placed to be played, could add a low of interest to just copies of musical notes. That was where I started with sound finding EZSound box with a push button to play as a simple solution.

This is an image of a 1/2 watt speaker that I could upload my music to and also had a play switch. This was my first sound system I installed on my artworks, something in 2018. A version of this sound box I also used for my little mini Beethoven art gifts



Image of my style trend to frame up small artworks in order to increase interest and keep the pricing low.
This is a closeup image of my small Beethoven 5th first music box. Notice the PUSH button on the lower right of the artwork.
Here is the latest Stereo System upgrade for all future works. The 5×7 above will be replaced with a 6.5 sub woofer. The two speaker boxes are on each side of the system in the middle and they are each 4×6 2 way speakers side firing to push the stereo out into the entire wall.

Scott von Holzen

I will be Bach. I Hayden to leave you but there is Mozart that needs my attention


Addendum August 2nd:

I have a new stereo version” ScottStereoSystem V4 with the switch out of the 3way 5×7 (a spare) and the installation of a nice Dayton 6.5 sub woofer. The song difference surprised.

S_V_H The Artwork & its Lyrical Verse reading

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

I will not add much; the video says it all. These words I write for some reason will provide part of a background story, which may not actually answer anything beyond sharing that was the time I wrote my first lover poem.
I have always, since my days in college in Madison, thought back to that one girl I dated. Elaine, I think, was her name. I was a very naïve youth in a big town. She was not tall, but she had long, dark black hair, and to my surprise, she was Jewish from out east. And guess what? If she had asked me to fly home with her to meet her family? Like a happy puppy, off I would have gone, being Catholic raised, without looking back. Of course with that kind of attitude, it was not long before she dumped me. I felt it coming after a long, drawn-out slow dance to Hey Jude.
In truth, I deserved what she taught me. And I began my education, remembering that it bothered me seeing she was dating another from my dorm. Gilman is where I spent my first year in Madison; the room number was 209.
No matter how bad my dating record, it was a thrill to be in the big town for another two years. I was young, and like I said, naïve. Later, that approach probably changed to a “so it goes guy.” Because I kept my fingers crossed, which resulted in no better luck with all the other girls I dated, wanted, desired, in my years at university. To this day, I cherish those wonderful years on my own in the big town. That time changed my life. The effects of being there, young, and in the Big Town, at an important time in history linger within me over 50 years later.

This is an early conversation I had with my Editor, Mr. Brightside, but the lyrics verse for An so It Is:

I am bach in the Studio for After Hours. I want to mention this that if I had not already chosen The Blowers Daughter as an artwork, I would never have now, knowing I need to generate a verse as well. Therefore this portrait of a song, exists because of very close good timing.

I smiled when I read, “I am bach in the Studio for After Hours.”

I also think you’ve put your finger on something that is probably true:

This portrait of a song exists because of very close good timing.

Not because The Blower’s Daughter suddenly became an easier subject—it didn’t. Quite the opposite.

As your work has evolved, you’ve quietly raised your own standards. When you first chose the song, your focus was primarily on building the physical artwork and creating the musical arrangement. Since then, another voice has entered your exhibitions: the handwritten verse. That wasn’t part of the original contract.

Now every new artwork has to satisfy three demanding questions:

  • Can I build a compelling visual piece?
  • Can I create an arrangement that is truly mine?
  • Can I write a verse that belongs beside it?

For many songs, that third question is the hardest.

The notes from your May discussions almost foreshadowed this challenge. You kept returning to the idea that The Blower’s Daughter resists being explained—that its power lies in what remains unresolved, in the silence, the suspended harmony, and the emotional ambiguity.

A verse, however, naturally wants to illuminate something.

This song almost refuses illumination.

That’s why it feels like “Yeats,” as you joked earlier. Not because it’s obscure for the sake of being obscure, but because every time you think you’ve pinned it down, it slips back into feeling instead of explanation.

Ironically, that may be why the artwork was chosen at exactly the right time.

Had you encountered it today, with the expectation of also writing a lyrical verse, you probably would have passed it by.

But because the artwork already exists in your journey, it now asks something different of you. Instead of asking, “Can I explain Damien Rice?” it asks, “What does this unresolved song awaken in me?”

That is a much more personal question.

And it also means your verse does not have to decode the song. It can stand beside it.

Just as your arrangements don’t imitate the originals, your verses don’t have to interpret them. They can be another voice in the conversation.

Sometimes, one piece asks the question, and the next one answers it.

This time, I suspect And So It Is may simply ask the question—and leave it hanging, much like the song itself.

Artist with his hand written Lyrical Verse: And So It Is
And So It IS (The Blowers Daughter) hanging version June 30th

Scott Von Holzen

May the Brush be with you.
May the Verse be with you.
May the heart never miss a beat.
I’ll be Bach.

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