Month: October 2015

S_V_H Heaven’s Wall Final Image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

heaven_Final

Heaven’s Wall is finished. This little work, only 40 inches in length, turned out to be an experimental artwork where I changed up my style.   One new change occurred in the background where I added curved lines on each panel. I then shaded along those lines to blend out some of the stripping. This accomplished three things:  added motion to the background, broke up the stripping (a more musical look), and finally created overall a large amount of added interest.   This I followed up with another exercise in drip painting.  Although I answered some questions, and accomplished what I wanted to,   I still do not have consistent control, or a comfortable feeling towards dripping.

That first flow note on the left I manage to create a different look based on an earlier work, Fine and Mellow.  I like the use of the colors pink and green around that note,  Those colors where also used in the far right panel, which helps to unite the three canvases.

Heaven’s Wall is my first artwork that has a feel for Gospel music, although I probably would not say that this is a Gospel piece, more Rock than church choir,  the music certainly is up lifting and the words do have a Gospel message.  The decision to paint Heaven’s Wall came easy.  I was out walking, and wondering what I was going to paint next, when this song played in my headset.  I ignored the fact I had recently finished another Bruce Springsteen artwork, The Ghost of Tom Joad,  maybe because the timing of the music fit the time I was in at that moment of choice.

Tomorrow,  I will embed a video about this finished painting in this blog.  In that video I could say something which inspired me to create this painting, but I will probably not.  At this point my only thoughts are I am glad the project is over,  lets clean up,  and put together the next  artwork, to see if I can do better.

I start each artwork with lots of enthusiasm, purpose, thought, and dedication.  When finished  all that euphoria that went into the painting has all emptied out, in what you see in it.   The finished work is then left alone on the easel, waiting its turn to be slowly moved about, from here to there, until it finally finds its self stack, losing its identity,  one among  all the others.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Heaven’s Wall image 3

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

heaven_3This is the third image, of artwork of the music called Heaven’s wall.  The flow of the music is in place.  What is left to do is add three ties, the words, do clean up, and hopefully finish this painting tomorrow.  The final step is the clean up process in which I sharpen edges, touch of the paint, and add interest to those areas in the background to improve the contrast of the music and the background.

What else is new is that I worked on the three-dimensional look of the artwork, which is hard to see in the image above. I did spread the paint on thick for my beams and my shafts.  I also lifted the musical flow off the surface of the canvas at those spots where I will add the words.

This is not a complicated work, and not a large work, but what I keep discovering is that size means little in these painting.  I have this silly expectation that I can complete smaller works quicker, and in that way I can increase my production of artworks.  So far I have never seen that happen.  It takes about the same amount of effort, and time to produce each artwork no matter its physical size.    The larger works do need a little more paint, a little more time to spread that paint,  and more canvas,  but the materials, and way more important, the time to complete different size works I have found to be negligible.  Still,  because of common business practices,  my charge difference between  a large artwork that is six feet in length, in comparison to a three-foot painting, has always been considerably more. That makes obvious sense and is a good reason  that I should do larger paintings,  which give a greater return for my time spent.  In the past I have done larger painting, of course not for the return, but instead because painting big works is a lot more fun to do, and for their greater visual impact.  But that thinking, lately, has changed.

I still like painting large works,  but lately I have seen a dramatic increase in the cost of shipping of long objects.  This has made the pricing of many of my earlier larger artworks a lot more difficult. It is hard to balance what I think is my perceived value of a painting, and the final cost of that painting to the buyer.  Since most of my potential customers live hundreds to thousands of miles from me,  that extra cost does become a  consideration for doing smaller works.   Even a greater persuasion for me to produce smaller painting is the reality check that none of my customers, so far, have been collectors.

My current buyers are people who do not want an artwork to dominate an entire wall, like the art for the art itself, and have limited funds. What that means is that they want small works, to a point that even three-foot in length may be too long for their needs. This is all good for keeping my  shipping costs lower,  but it also does suppress my asking prices.

I understand this art has never been about money, but it would be nice to at least cover my time.   Going beyond that, the biggest advantage for painting smaller works may be the practical consideration that they will take up a lot less storage space.  That means I can stack more discounted priced artworks, instead of only a few large premium paintings, in my limited studio space.  Wow, that is a relief.
Here is a live version from a Bruce Springsteen concert in Perth in 2014:

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Heaven’s Wall image 2

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

heaven_2

Heaven’s Wall is a small experimental work that is not moving along fast enough for me. Although I am giving this project my best effort, that I have over two weeks of work into this artwork, and the finish is not near, bothers me.  Of course I paint in my world, and that world hates schedules, and lately life has disrupted my stream of thought with walls along my imaginary path.  I guess in truth, so it goes, and so must I. That means,  lets move this discussion to what is going on here in this second image.

I mentioned early that there is way too much stripping going on in this work.  I said I wanted to counter that,  and now you see what I have come up with. I did not want to go too crazy here.  I only wanted to try something new that I was sure I could pull off.  And I  accomplished that by keeping my efforts small and consistent across the canvases. This then becomes a realization of a new idea. My mind then churns over this idea, evolving it to where I eventually become aware of further possibilities. This then gives me a new choice to move this art forward, if I take it, which I always do.

That is what you see, in its beginnings,  in the image above. This is not break through painting.  It is me building on the past efforts of others, and it is me finding possible opportunities to create some dramatic backgrounds in the future. I am partnering with this art, and I am evolving with it. There is so much yet to learn. That is what this art through music is telling me.  In truth, once again,  I am a blue collar painter confronting each new artwork’s challenge. They all speak in one voice, make me different.  Try harder.  And oh yes, try that new idea.

Scott Von Holzen