Author: Scott Von Holzen

I am currently renewing an artistic adventure that first started in 1974, and ended in the early 1980's. A casual comment restarted the quest in art in 2004. Now, at night I am surrounded by artworks done and in progress, shelves full of art books, my music collection playing through a classic NAD amp and a pair of solid, classic free standing speakers, my piano, violin, blues guitar, and saxophone. So all is musical no matter what I am up to in the studio. Since I was a kid I have had the urge to be creative Now, in my later sixties, I am determine to know. I want to follow this to the end to see what these paintings, and all this music amounts to. This is probably the last great adventure I will have, so I am all in. So, watch out for nonstop music, canvases with multiple panels, with paint spread thick or dribbled on, words with meaning, and results that will challenge, push the meaning of music, and may even splash back. This blog's real purpose is to document my story in the making, and you are welcomed to follow along. Thank you for your support. Scotty Von Holzen

S_V_H While My Guitar Gently Weeps image 1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

This artwork gets its inspiration from George Harrison’s Fender Stratocaster named Rocky.  Here is George talking about the guitar in this poorly lit video:

Even though this music comes from The Beatles famous White Album, that I still remember standing in line to buy,  it is this tribute video, with Prince, that hooked me to paint this music:

At first I was going to keep the background for this artwork as simple as possible. This was to be a small quick turn-around work,  about 34 inches in length.  To keep this artwork clean-looking I painted the background around the center guitar neck image,  a solid pale green. That look worked,  but only if I was thinking of the post Beatles musician George Harrison and his album All Things Shall past.

I said that I originally heard this song on that album I stood in line for on that late November day in 1968.  That remembrance made me realize that I needed an early George Harrison.  Actually finding him was easy once I gave up the idea of a simple painting.  In my research, for this music, I  had come across the story of his Rocky guitar. It obviously is a treasure trove of color and shapes.  I could no longer resist this challenge and potential fun.

( Guitar Aficionado )

Regretfully, I could not find any mention or video of George Harrison playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps with this guitar, but the timeline was consistent.  Here is a short clip of the Rocky guitar from I am the Walrus on the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour album:

The results of changing my thinking will be a complicated artwork,  that will be a lot more interesting, and more important than I originally thought. No other choice. No filler painting here.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H The Water is Wide image Final image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

I have cross over to the other side,  by finishing The Water is Wide. This little acrylic painting consists of two canvases, aluminum and wood, and is about 38 inches in length by 17 inches.  Musically this is a simple song. I can confirm its simplicity for I practice it on the piano, violin, guitar, and saxophone.  That is what is deceiving about this music. It is so easy to play, anyone can do it, which is strangely deceiving.  Anyone playing or listening to The Water is Wide will be surprisingly rewarded by the melody.   This is a piano version by Michael Logozar:

With the lyrics,  the exceptionalism of this music is complete.  Here is a live version with Jewel, the Indigo girls and Sarah Mclachlan:

Because of the style of the music I thought a small painting, with a limited color pallet would work best. I kept my blues to two colors for the background. From the lyrics I choose white,  and a mixed brown to represent the colors of the music and the row-boat.

This  artwork has turned out to be a nice surprise, that reconfirmed that these paintings……bla..bla…..bla… music.  I do not know how to end that sentence.  After 10 years of painting music I still don’t have the answer that best describes this art and its relationship to a lot of pretty darn good music.  I still working on the enlightenment phase.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H The Water is Wide image 1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen


This Scottish folk song The Water is Wide has origins that are hundreds of years old.  Pete Seeger first popularized the song in the Folk music era.  This is a live celebration version of The Water is Wide,  sung by  Emmylou Harris,  for Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday:

 

The Water is Wide first came to my attention from this wonderful cello version by Steven Sharp Nelson:

 

This little artwork’s two canvases along with metal and wood pieces is just over thirty-seven inches, and continues  the look of the music  flowing outside the canvas framing.  These smaller works are marketable,  quicker to produce and are a good for experimenting.  They are worth doing, although their smaller physical size difference does have a visual impact.  What does not change,  no mater the size of the artwork,  is the level of importance of the music chosen for each painting. The differences in sizes comes from the design of the music that can make it easier to portray on a smaller artworks.

Scott Von Holzen