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 UP On the Roof image1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

upOnTheRoof1

UP on the Roof is a new small work, 72 inches in length.  I decided to start this work while I wait the arrival of canvases needed for the next artwork in the Vivaldi Four Seasons series, Autumn Allegro 3rd movement.

Why paint Up on the Roof? That is a question that is as hard to explain, as it is easy to answer:  I like this music. I think it will hold well over time. The words say something that a lot of people can relate to, and the melody is catchy. Finally, the timing was right. This song happened to play in iTunes, and I became curious about it. I learned that Carole King, another old favorite of mine, co-wrote it. Searching for recordings I found a live performance of Up on the Roof with James Taylor and Carole King, and at that point the choice became clear.  UP on the Roof not only is a good song, it has history and depth with me, which all helps aid the decision-making process.  It comes down to this, I only have some much time to paint a limited number of musical pieces, so I have to pick wisely, or pick a song when it is hot, before I change my mind. Hopefully, I have chosen wisely, for unlike the just completed, Keep on Loving you, which has a buyer, this one is on its own to prove it worth.

I cannot remember which version of this song that I first heard, but I am thinking it may have been the version by the Crying Shames, a garage band, that dates to 1967.  The sound and the date sounds about right. Also, there is a slight possibility that it could have been James Taylor, because I have always been a fan of his music, ever since his Sweet Baby James album. Taylor’s version of UP on the Roof dates to 1979, which seems late for me. The last possibility may have been the original release, and major hit by the Drifters in 1963, but I doubt it.  I do not think music meant much to me until the Beatles, which was  when I was a sophomore in high school in 1964. I am going with the Crying Shames, for now.

One more personnel discovery about this song, is a rare cover by Laura Nyro, my musical first love when I arrived on campus in Madison in 1968.  Her record ,Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, was a heavy play in the dorm at that time.

The base colors are dark and gritty, to keep with the mood of the music. This changes as the work moves from left to right. The third canvas elevates about the first two, while the fourth canvas is another step up from the third  This artwork is another three-layered work, similar to The Four Seasons Work, Spring Danza, where you have to go to the firth canvas which is the first to touch the wall in my living room.

I am also posting this first image of Up On The Roof,  on Etsy, where you can pre-order a digital print for much less money, then when finished.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Keep on Loving You final image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

keepOnLovingYouFinal

Keep on Loving You this five foot 4 inch artwork look is more interesting, to me,  than the original music.  I think I could have reduced the physical size of this work, but the canvas I used gave me the extra room, (that is rare in most of my musical portraits), to let my slurs, those huge almost circles you see above the musical flow, a chance to really express themselves.  I had the space so I used it to their advantage.  Those slurs come straight out of my last Vivaldi painting.  I have realized that if done right my slurs do not need any squiggly lines. That is how it works: I am learning as I go.

Originally, I was going to go with the words “I’m Lovin’ you,”  but strange the word ‘i’m’ I could not find any space for on the first canvas, so I dropped it.  Lovin’ you, says it all, covering a lot of territory.  I see it is important to paint more than just one Vivaldi after another.  These little works offer ways to try to maybe explore painting techniques I am trying to do on the large work.  When I see that a new idea works on a 15 foot canvas, I then know I can move that idea to a much smaller work, and see a greater effect of that idea on a small surface, which carries with it a bigger impact on the artwork.

I like this artwork, it has that look.  Now on to another Vivaldi.  This time it is the late fall movement.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Keep on Loving You image4

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

keepLovinYou_4

Keep on Loving you has been held up because of the Vivaldi I have pushed to complete.  Now over the next week I plan to move forward on this small work.  This is a spec work.  The person who requested this work will be able to buy this work for one-third less than my asking price, when finished.  I do not do a lot of ‘suggestions’ but at times they offer interesting challenges, to try to match the artwork to the customer, and to make a possible sale.

So what is going on with this work?  First,  I have been, and will hopefully continue to use,   a pallet that consists of a lot of the colors that where popular in the  nineteen eighties. The next step is to put in three rectangles along the bottom.  Then comes the fun part, playing with what music notation calls ‘ties’.  In music a tie is a curved line connecting two notes or more.  For me I have my own ties, and they have their own look, that has nothing to do with music, but are there to create interest, making the flow of the music more entertaining.  That how it do it.  Finally, I drop in some words that can relate to the music, but that are generic in themselves.  Lets see what happens.

Also, I have started a site on Etsy, call ArtinMusic  where you can buy a canvas print from over seventy of my works.  I have also added this work  as a print.  If you pre-order Keep On Loving You it will be at a discounted price.  That discount decreases the closer this work is to completion.  Right now you pay only $30.00 for a finished print,  instead of  final price of $50.00.  At the Etsy site you will find all of my greatest hits, mostly priced at fifty dollars each.

Scott Von Holzen