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 Keep on Loving You image2

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

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Keep on Loving You consists  of four canvases about five feet four inches in length.  This is an early 80’s piece of music from REO Speedwagon.  Here is a live video of Keep on Loving you:

Since this is a 80’s music I thought I would start this work using a  pallet from that time.  When I think of the eighties colors like Mauve, Seaform green, Plum, Harvest gold, and Cerulean blue, pop up after doing a little research.  You are going to see similar those colors along with other tints and shades of that 80’s look as this work progresses.  Keep on Loving you will not end with a totally nostalgic look, for I am kind-of a color wanderer when needed, and I think I  will find ways to give this artwork a modern appearance.  These tweaks in color happen because I like to contrast colors and objects.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Summer Allegro image 5

Published on by Scott Von Holzen2 Comments

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This is a composite image of the ninth in the series The Four Seasons with music by Antonio Vivaldi.  You are looking at  a very small part of the flow of Summer Allegro.  In fact Landon describes this exact part of this music in his book Vivaldi Voice of the Baroque, . “The goldfinch has trills and very high alternating notes…..” That was a surprising find.

This is the point  that proves that all the measuring, and calculating was correct.  As always, to reach that conclusion, It took some nudging  and small compromises.  There are always these adjustments to the guessing and the planning.  In the end it all needs to fit: the music to the canvas, and my expectations.

This is an early summer work and I am going to throw as many colors that I can blend, mix, or use straight from the tube, to brighten up this image, to present to the viewer a vibrant picture of this time of the year.  I did some of this also with the first finished Vivaldi painting, Summer Allegro non molto,  that is  the lead in part of Summer Allegro. Nothing too special about the circles that represent the musical flow.  For my stems I did  mix complementary colors to help pop the look of summer color.  Now I am on to my musical beams, and again I am looking to build the shifting look of complementary colors.  I am hoping to fit the words, from this part of the summer sonnet,  in the frame you see above.  That one canvas is four feet in length.    Altogether is artwork is another fifteen foot canvas.  My hope is that someday when a first time viewer see this artwork, that they will see it through my eyes, and heart:  some may most won’t.

Scott Von Holzen.

S_V_H Beautiful Day 2013 Birthday Final Image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

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Beautiful Day 3 panel artwork about 60 inches by 24 inches in size.   Since the goal is to produce a finish artwork in a day, that normally takes two weeks,  the push is to find style short cuts to save time and effort.  Below are the last three years of Birthday Paintings. The shortcuts I used for these paintings was to use a Vincent Van Gogh master artwork as the color scheme.  I then used quick, less structured brush strokes, to speed up putting down the paint.  Still, all three of these years it was a struggle to complete the work in a day’s time. Then with last year’s  painting I felt especially frustrated with this van gogh’es  look, knowing that it had nothing to do with my current style.

For the 2013 Birthday Painting, the Van Gogh look  was out.  I never even considered breaking with my current style.  What made that decision easy was the reduction in the total length of the painting from six feet to five foot.  That one foot difference, plus my advance construction of all the needed canvas, allowed me the extra time to paint in the same style that I was using for the current Vivaldi work.

The day did go fast, and all the decision-making was swift, and there was a certain level of stress in the constant need  to move it along, but in the end I finished the rough final by early evening.  And the reason this plan worked was because all I had to do is look over at the fifteen foot, unfinished Vivaldi work, to know what moves were up next.

My conclusion,  after a several hours of clean up,  is I do not think I could have done any better even if I had painted this work over a two-week period.  This work not only strengthens and reinforces my current style it, in some ways, helps to mature my current look.

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2010 Birthday Painting Long & Winding Road

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2011 Birthday Painting Don’t Stop Believing

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2012 Birthday Painting Forever Young

Now, we are moving on with another five foot, four panel artwork.  Of course this painting will take two to three weeks to complete.  What I am doing is to try to produce smaller paintings that I can charge a lot less for.  I am thinking from $300 to $600 for another five foot or less artwork.  The point is I have accumulated a wide stack of artwork that has not sold in the last two years and more.  I have reach a point where it has become necessary to try something different. I may find that these smaller size works are the answer to how I can improve my sales.

The light bulb came on when I meet Professor Buchholz  in the U W Music Department to discuss where they thought Blue Rondo a La Turk could be hung.  Although, by my standard this artwork , about 76 inches by 32 inches  was small, the Professor kept walking and pointing to walls and spaces, telling me it would not fit any of them. Finally, we ended up in the large orchestra room. He, again pointed to this and that wall, explaining for each why the artwork would not fit.  Finally he pointed  to the last wall, a long-span of large windows. That is where he thought it would have to go for at less two years, until the  finishing of the remodeling.  My beautiful Blue Rondo, for now, will hang above the windows,  ten off the ground where no one will know it is there unless they happen to look up, way up, yea way up there, yea that is an artwork, way up there. I said that would be OK, because the painting would be out of direct sun light, and because it would eventual be hung lower for viewing directly.  What else could I have said.  He said he had discussed Blue Rondo’s placement with the Art director, and that was the conclusion.  He asked about how many hooks, and I said two. He said he would let me know.  We shook hands and I left.

That is the reason I have started to paint  smaller, cheaper,  and probably compromising artworks.  That is if you think five feet is small enough, and that  it is OK if I chop the musical phrase when needed,  to make the music fit.  Oh, no, I am back to the beginnings, making the music fit the canvas.  At less, so far, I’m not vertically challenged.

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This is a requested work based on that eighties great love song Keep on Loving you by Reo Speedwagon.  This constructed artwork consisting of four panels with the largest being 24 inches by 24 inches, and with a total length of five feet four inches.  Oh well, I find it hard to set limits to my artwork.  I will keep trying. You dreamer you.

Scott Von Holzen