The Pretender image1 from Friday night.

Image 2 of The Pretender from Sunday afternoon.  This is a single panel, right now, 20 inches (51 cm) by 5 feet (152cm).

There was some time, and debate, between the finish of Mozart’s Eine and the choice to what to paint next. The original song choice was a Concerto in G minor by Vivaldi; but that would have been a big work that would have required a large canvas and another month dedicated to one work.  This artist wanted a break from that, and also wanted to do a smaller work that would use a lot less resources,  allow easier directional changes to be made, and different ideas to be tried, to see what sticks.

This artwork is an improvisation of  the song The Pretender,  written and sung by Jackson Browne. There where a number of great phrases, from this music,  that would have each required larger canvases, but  one small part of this music was found that would work on a 5 feet canvas.

Listening to B.B. King – Tired of Your Jive

The side thought about choices made: because of the shortness of time and the amount of effort that is required to complete each of these works, my thought is that once a particular piece of music is painted, I would never return to it for another canvas.  There are just too many great pieces of music still to be painted.  But, you never know, in the future a commissioned work for this music still leaves those other choices.  This is a good quality piece of music that fits well with Thunder Road and Hallelujah, in diversity and artist options.

What closed this choice of music, was watching the following video, where Jackson Browne explains the meaning of the music, and how it relates to many a working man and women’s life, including myself.  This music speaks of choices made whether we want to or not.  For now,  this life we lead, may not be the best option, but it does get us through the day.

Listening to  Little Milton – That’s What Love Will Make You Do.

Right now,  there will be two added canvases to this work, one top middle, and one lower right. Because of the impact of those two additions will be quite important, the thinking is to let this tempoary background stand as is, for now.  Next step is the drawing in of the music flow, to see where everything fits.  After that, the two extra canvas can be added, and the background finished up.  We will see.

I nice ending to this entry:  I’ll Be Back by Shawn Colvin.

Scott Von Holzen