Thunder Road, it has been a while since the last post on this canvas.  Progress was slow, but understandable.  In the image above you are seeing a symbolic picture of three quarter notes and three eighth notes.  More important, you are seeing the flow of the music. The progress over these many days was stalling out when different efforts to punch-up this artwork failed to unite the artwork with the music.  Stopping efforts with the eighth notes, the quarter notes quickly evolved when it was decided to paint  their stems similar to the no passing zones seen on two lane highways.    That work great visually and fit well with the music.

Back to the eighth notes still no unifying style could be found.  It because obvious that something similar to the eighth notes in Hallelujah needed to be found. Finally, at the end of an evening, an idea for a shape was found. Looking for help out came the Art Deco book, and while flipping through the pages there was spotted a picture of a woven rug on page 403.  The design of the rug contain a large wide rectangle whose one long side had been rounded.  That was all it took, and the next day that design idea and the color, Gold Ochre, was chosen for the ten eighth notes.  This took a couple of nights to complete, working the connection with the different designs already finished presented its challenges, that surprisingly solved themselves quickly.  The concerned, now looking at the eighth notes, is that they could be interpreted as having a stain glass look, and not the more mechanical feel that would be closer to the original design ideas. The design and colors used in any of these paintings try to reflect a certain atmosphere that the music presents.  That is why in Thunder browns and earthy muted colors are being used, with the addition of brighter colors to create push and pull,  and to bring in the feminine.

It is a simple as that, give’n enough time the art eventually leads the painter out of the abyss he has dug for himself.

Scott Von Holzen