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 Burgundy Shoes Image 2

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

burgundyshoes_2I have been on the move.  Now,  after weeks of adjusting to my temporary routine, I am back. This is an advance image of this fine piece of music that tells a story of a girl taking a bus ride with her mother on an early spring day.

In Burgundy Shoes, as I have done in a number of other artworks,  if any of the lyrics give me design ideas, or mention colors, or a time of the year, I will find areas in the artwork to make use of those options. In this painting besides the girl’s burgundy shoes, there is mention of her plaid dress, her mothers red lipstick , lilac kerchief, and the green in the leaves of early spring.

It was obvious that burgundy would be the color of the background.  To harmonize the look of the painting I used colors that complement burgundy, in the stripping. Then I began to worked into the artwork more related  colors and those mentioned in the lyrics in shapes, and shades, consistent with the background.   The thinking for this painting is that the right use of color, in tune  with the music, along with a clean and balance design will improve the first reaction,  and curiosity of the viewer of  this relatively unknown music.

Scott Von Holzen

 

A shortest story  from a Temporary Studio:

When I do take a short afternoon nap I listen to my music to block out the world. Recently, I awoke from a respite to the song Burgundy shoes being played. This was a pleasant surprise for that is the music of my current art project. Outside my door I could hear my grandchildren playing.  I got up and enthusiastically walked out into the playroom playing aloud Burgundy Shoes.  I interrupted my precious three who were laughing and bouncing about like children do, just home from school.  I commented to them that the song they where hearing was the  music for my current artwork.  I guess my intention was to have them stop and  listen to the music as I explained to them that they actually inspired me to paint this music. Instead, I said nothing more after seeing that they all looked startled, and where staring at me with three unanimous looks of  silent confusion.  Feeling silly, and out-of-place, I retreated without another word, back to the safety of  their toy storage room, and my makeshift studio, to re-think my approach to public relations.

Scott

 

 

S_V_H Burgundy Shoes Image 1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

brugundyshoes_2

Burgundy Shoes is small song musically by Patty Griffin, that elevates itself with its powerful lyrics. This song is a personal choice for me. I choose this music for I cannot listen to Patty Griffin’s music without thinking of my daughter Kinsey or her daughters Jordyn and Kendyl.  It also reminds me of a young boy, sadly a long time ago,  who also rode the bus home from school.  Without doubt I feel that my life has crossed paths with Patty Griffin’s.  Her music lets forgotten emotions know the warmth of acceptance and gratitude.

Burgundy Shoes Lyrics (in bold is the music of this artwork):

We wait for the bus that’s going to Bangor
In my plaid dress and burgundy shoes
In your red lipstick and lilac kerchief
You’re the most pretty lady in the world
Sun

The bus driver smiles, a dime and a nickel
We climb on our seats, the vinyl is cold
“Michelle ma belle”, the song that you loved then
You hold my hand and sing to yourself
Sun sun
Sun sun
Sun sun sun sun

Sun sun sun sun
Sun sun sun sun
Sun

The leaves are green and new like a baby
Tulips are red, now I don’t miss the snow
It’s the first day I don’t wear my big boots
You hold my hand, I’ve got burgundy shoes
Burgundy shoes, burgundy shoes
Sun

 

Patty Griffin first captured me when I saw a review of her Album 1000 Kisses on CBS’s Sunday Morning way back in 2002.  Until then I had never heard of her.  I bought the album  and have played her music,  and  have appreciated her song writing ever since.

Burgundy Shoes is one among of a number of other Patty Griffin songs that are special.   Some of my other favorites are Florida, Rain, Long Ride Home, Crying Over, Trapeze, and When it Don’t Come Easy.

Here is the studio version of Burgundy Shoes.  The music for this painting begins at 1:16 seconds into the song:

This is the only Live version that I thought was decent enough to present:

Scott Von Holzen

 

Burgundy Shoes  Technical Notes:

Below is the original first image of Burgundy Shoes.  You can see that the stripping is different from the latest image. What happened, is that I planed, calculated, thought it all through,  and still put the bottom vertical stripping in the wrong place. It could not be removed so I had to repaint the entire burgundy background.

brugundyshoes_1

I am lucky that although the lyrics are small they give me a lot of color clues for this artwork.  Of course it is easy to start with ‘burgundy shoes” which you see in the background. But the lyrics also mention “plaid dress,” “red lipstick,” and “lilac kerchief.” In the finish work you will see the influence of all those lyrics.  I am so lucky to have them.

As a note, my studio is down and packed away, for the big move to come.  Although disappointed,  to my delight,  I will soon be back with my music and my art, in a temporary home studio provided by my daughter and her family.

How lucky.

Scott

S_V_H We Belong final image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

weBelong_finalWe Belong is finished. This is a commissioned work in which I learned about the women of 80’s rock.  To my surprise I knew, and remembered, more music from that time than I would have ever thought.  Creating this artwork was fun, enlightening, and a nostalgic look back to decade when I bought my first CD player, and  CDs starting with Steve Winwood’s Back in the High Life.

We Belong is sung by Pat Benatar, one of the best solo female rockers , who in the late 70’s early 80’s presented herself as an independent,  feisty, tough, defiant, aggressive, woman with a commanding sexuality, and flawless femininity.   I thought, oh my god, how do I paint that. Thankfully, the music is the foundation of this artwork and not a single artist or a performance.  We Belong certainly does accommodate Pat Benatar’s  musical style,  but like each artwork they evolve,  and finish presenting their own performance.

 

 

Scott Von Holzen

purpleRain_FPurple Rain (late April)

Before We Belong I had the feeling that my style was becoming rather redundant.  Painting Purple Rain did help.  Because of my musical appreciation for Prince,  I felt some comfort doing  different twists of old ideas that where fun and that worked.  Then We Belong followed,  and I walked into the disruption I needed to get me out of this boring style rut.  Unlike in past when other artists paintings had given me new direction, this time I stumbled on a new path when I viewed my first Pat Benatar ‘s music videos.

It was my client who specifically mention Pat Benatar and who suggested We Belong.  I agreed to do the artwork knowing that at best I had heard Pat Benatar on the radio. My history of music in the 80s is that MTV was a premium cable channel, and my CD collection leaned hard towards Prince and Madonna. In short, I knew her name not the music.  To prepare for the artwork, for the first time I watched Pat Benatar’s 80’s performances.  By watching videos, researching her story, and listening to her radio station on Pandora,  I developed a fuller picture of this 80’s rock star.   A part of that discovery, that captured  my fascination,  was how much the color black dominated, in her dress, and in the darkness of her stage performances.  It became obvious to me that to create We Belong I would have to paint with a color I never use before, black.

Black,  from the beginnings of this art, never appears on my pallet. It was because of the influenced of the Impressionistic painters, who like Monet,  that never used black, that I shunned it, using  a dark blue when needed. Only recently have I experimented with black decoratively in the Waylon Jennings artwork.   In We Belong, because of the influence of Pat Benatar,  I realized that black would have to step out of the shadows.  To meet my client’s expectations, and mine I saw the color  black dominating this entire artwork.  To accomplish that I covered the entire canvases with multiple layers of  Carbon Black to form a solid shade, that becomes my look of a horizontal monolith. Next, I had to consider how to apply the stripping.

In Purple Rain there the two areas of especially interesting  stripping, that because of their size and placement,  followed the flow of the music.  I realized  that covering the entire We Belong with stripping, which happens in Purple Rain would not work. I did realize that only doing the stripping to follow the music, as in Purple Rain, would be enough to be  a foundation for the music to hang on.  Doing no more stripping the color black in We Belong still dominates and keeps it inline with the style of Pat Benatar.

 

We Belongs influence shows in this years Birthday painting, Cherish.  The Birthday painting is always under pressure from a short timeline to complete.  Continuing the trend started in We Belong save time and planning.  Cherish turn out to be a basic artwork that like We Belong gets its message across using simple elegance.  That is the difference between it and the more decorative Purple Rain. I never thought that a singer would affect the style of this art, but a feisty 80s rock singer did just that.

cherish_finishedCherish (July 31st)

Scott