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 Mozart Serenade No. 13 for Strings in G major

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

Eine Kleinie Nachtmusik, K525 Romanze Andante (A Little Night Music)  5 panels 30inches plus by 10 feet 3 inches.

I learned a lot about the Los Angeles art world watching the movie The Cool School .  It was interesting enough that I purchase the book Catalog L.A. Birth of an Art Capital 1955-1985, which shows a few of Mike Kelly’s works, photographs of him, and a short conversation. When I read that the artist Mike Kelly had killed himself, I was taken back.  Here is an artist that accomplished so much, and  that can be an inspiration to us unknowns, and tragically he ended his journey.  I do not get it, and yet I do understand this: that the dream of becoming a known artist with sales and exhibitions, and then accomplishing that goal is, in reality, just a step forward in living the creative life and not the end in itself.  Life keeps going on so the acknowledge artist still needs that next goal to keep him and his art pushing forward.  Maybe, Mike Kelly just missed a step, tripped, and never recovered.  Who knows what really happened.  He was a lucky man up to that point.

So, here we are most of the way through this artwork, that was started on January 5th, and it looks like this work is going to go over a month.  That is surprising considering that it is not that large, but the past month has been filled with distractions.  There is still some major additions to be painted in, and a lot of smoothing out of the roughness. This work is looking to be a break through piece, and the anticipation of doing more, with more panels, is a driving force to push ahead to its completion.

Listening to Sade – Never as Good as the First Time.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H A Little Night Music, K.525 Romanze Andante image5

Published on by Scott Von Holzen1 Comment

Eine Kleinie Nachtmusik in English is, of course, A Little Night Music. This artwork has been worked on, and painted on, for the most part in the night time, fitting its title. If this image looks somewhat  scruffy it is mostly do the the drawing in of all the slurs that this artwork is representing in its own interesting way.  In the real world of music slurs or just OK to look at,  but they are too boring for this artist to leave alone.  These slurs look like fireworks bursting across the canvas in a left to right movements helping to push the music across the surface.  No idea of what will be their background color scheme.  That is left to the mind to sort through the options and let it be known tomorrow what ideas it has.  I do not always follow its suggestions but at less the preliminary work gets done.

The beams are not finished either, but they are looking strong and for now time is been given to them to see how they settle in with the rest of the artwork.  I see mostly fine tuning and maybe a splash of a bright color here and there to give them a little more of a beat.

Listening to Tori Amos – Way down  followed by Patty Griffin – Burgundy Shoes on Pandora.

In this studio there hangs the paintings: Imagine, Hallelujah, Thunder Road and the Vivaldi from this summer.  Scattered around the room for inspiration are the works, Baby Love, It’s A Man’s World, More Than you Know, I Call your Name, and the great Body and Soul.  At times the artworks, propped up here and there, are in the way, but I need them close.  It helps.  They are the reason to keep painting.

Finishing this blog with Van Morrison – Reminds Me Of You  followed by Johnny Hartman – Ain’t Misbehavin’

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Serenade No.13 for Strings in G image4

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

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Mozart Eine Kleinie Nachtmusik, K.525 Romanze Andante.   That is mouth full. Go here at YouTube to actually hear this music played by some very interesting and talented fellows. Again the images are somewhat brighter than reality.  The brightness is nice, but again a little too florescent.

Listening to Susan Tedeschi – Just Won’t Burn

There is a feeling that something is happening here with this artwork: that a very large door is opening up, and this artist is going to step through it. Before getting there this canvas has demonstrated that there is still this learning curve with the mixing of colors, to achieve the desired effects of depth and color.  More art classes would have surely help, but that time has past. For now on we will learn by doing, and doing again, and still, not satisfied, so doing it again, until it sinks in.  It is what it is. No one said this would be easy. I am sure even Mozart,  and Picasso had there moments when they had no clue what they were doing.

Listening to The Notorious MSG – Chinatown Hustler.

Still,  not happy with the two side brown areas, for they seem boring and lack interest.  The middle orange section has just been worked on to increase it’s intensity to try and match the photos, which seems like a strange idea. Later tonight work will begin on the beams and slurs where the fun will be.

Listening to Tony Bennett – The Way You Look Tonight.

Scott Von Holzen