Here is the music box Wildfire, with all of its canvases attached. This artwork has a length of a respectable (my size standard) seventy inches by Thirty-three and a quarter. Next up I will build and attached the stereo system and after a little more finishing work, this project will be completed next week.

Here is where I piled the music. I needed my large tables to put the artwork’s canvases together.

Going Deeper:

This is the first time where I am used tape to remove the top layer of paint to reveal my graffiti lyrics from the music. Previously, I have always drawn words on the top layer of paint and then scratch them away with a pallet knife to obscure them while revealing the base paint.

My original scratch off technique used a small pallet knife with a rounded edge. This type of tool gave me to the control to create a lot of variety in the pattern and the direction when scratching off the top layer of paint. But because each project is unique in materials and paint choices, the quality of the results varied a lot over the years. I attempted several changes that did not solve this consistency issue. Then I stumbled on a partial solution. By accident I placed a piece of tape on a fresh top layer of paint on the artwork Flight from the City. I went from dread to wow when I saw the look and the pleasant effects the tape had made when removed. Depending how it was stuck on to the paint, the results varied nicely. The removing of the top layer of paint with tape also resulted in cleaner edges, no lifting of the paint, and no bottom layer damage that the metal edge of the pallet knife often did. The tape also allowed me to create straighter lines, which could appear to be representing the staff lines in sheet music. Of course they are not, but the straight lines look works with my musical notes.

Up next the finished artwork Wildfire with what I consider to be surprisingly good cover music.

Scott Von Holzen