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 Concerto for 2 Cellos in G minor, RV 531, Allegro, Final Image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

This Vivaldi artwork is finished.  Like each of the Vivaldi Four Seasons series of thirteen painting, this Vivaldi also took considerable amount of time, almost two months, to complete.  The length of the artwork, over eight feet,  and the complications in the building the music that flowed all over the edges, slowed the entire process.  My thinking for the next painting is to choose a subject that will be a quicker to complete. Of course, that plan is practical only up to the point of starting.

I do not plan on selling this work, although two-thousand would tempt me.  One reason not to sell is that this Vivaldi is already hanging in our living room. My practical reason to keep it apart of my collection,  is that it would be extremely expensive and complicated to package up and ground ship,  such a delicate eight foot artwork.  Finally, my personnel and best reasoning for not wanting to sell this artwork,  is that it represents my emotional attachment to the music of Antonio Vivaldi.

I believe this Vivaldi is a leap forward for this art. I am not sure how I will reproduce this look, but I do know all the following artworks for this year will display its influence.

 

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Concerto for 2 Cellos in G minor, RV 531, Allegro, Image3

Published on by Scott Von Holzen1 Comment

I have the rhythm of this artwork in place.  With this painting I am using shades from black to light gray to present to the eye a sense of movement (a fundamental of music).  Not only does this adds interest,  but it may also generate the look of motion in the rhythmic up and down flow across this artwork.  I actually tried this before as you can see in the 2012 painting Blackbird:

BlackBird, 2012

In this artwork I inserted smaller circles inside the music in different positions with the hope that a viewer would sense movement.  I used this technique, with mixed success,  on a number other works from early 2011 to early 2012,  and then stopped.  I am not sure if different shades across the artwork will work  any better to capture that illusive sense of movement in a still painting, but it may be worth pursing at least until I reach creative boredom.  Than I can move on. This is all part of my education in that elusive chase of the next dangling carrot on my way to developing a unique artist style, and offering my never-ending curiosity, about how this all will end, renewed faith.  Maybe, over time I may even convince myself that there is a future in painting this one theme, over and over again.

In tribute to doing it again, this is my Five-hundredth blog posting.  My goal is to match Vincent Van Gogh’s  letter total of 651 to his brother Theo.  That made up challenge is in reach, as I see that the pace of development of this art form is speeding forward as planned.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Concerto for 2 Cellos in G minor, RV 531, Allegro, Image2

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

Because of the complications of this artwork I delayed posting this second image of my theme song: Vivaldi’s Concerto for 2 Cellos in G minor. This acrylic artwork, made up of four canvases, metal and wood,  is 97 inches in length.  Originally, I wanted to use only three canvases, but the open stretch of 26 inches between canvases, and the demands of music, made adding another small canvas a simplifying move.

I am basing  this painting on the first movement of this concerto three-parts, but for fun here is a video form the third movement.  It displays Vivaldi’s relevancy and endurance in an exceptionally enthusiastic head shaking matter:

Classical works, let this one, have a lot longer phrases (breaks in the music) than what you see in any of my pop, jazz or blues paintings.  I have call these phrases, in the past,  the flow of the artwork.  To be truer to my music,  when speaking about the flow of the artwork, it would be better to refer to the rhythm of a painting. Rhythm, speaks to both visual goals of these artworks which is not only to have a smooth up and down movement of the music across the canvases, but that both ends of the artwork balance out each other.

I have made a noticeable change in the look of  the stems of the music that in the past, were laid flat with the wide side up. For this painting I  turn the short side of the stems to the front. This has a narrowing effect that makes the stems look more pronounced, as they stand higher than the music heads. This different design has created a concern that with the diminished size of the background,  along with the slender look of the stems, presents a look that appears more like sheet music. That would be the antithesis of this art.  I know my current plan is to diminish the look of the background, but this artworks direction will surely need some added touches to punch-up the originality

Scott Von Holzen

 

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