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 Serenade No.13 for Strings in G image3

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

Mozart ‘s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525 Romanze Andate, 5 panels  33 inches by 123 inches. The Photoshop job to replace the background along the top and right edge could use some refining, but this does not lessen the value of the additional two small panels.

These panels accomplishes three things: they give the work a sculptured 3 dimensional look, that also gives the artist new ways to emphasize the diversity in the music. Thirdly, and maybe the best of all reasons for adding panels on top of panels, is that it frees this artist  completely from the restraints of limited canvases sizes. Now, instead of fitting the music to the available canvas, the canvases will be chosen to fit the needs of the music.

What you see above is the drawing in of the flow of this great Mozart piece. Next up is the choice of head and stem color and hopefully some other new techniques to make this the standard for 2012. I am feeling a lossening up of the technique and colors.  This may be because of the viewing of the works of Sean Scully,  and maybe it has to do a little with the curiosity of Basquiat. It is hard to tell, but this direction is a good feeling for this artist.  We shall see.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Serenade No. 13 for Strings in G image2

Published on by Scott Von Holzen


Mozart’s K.525 Romanze Andante, 3 panel 30 inches by 10 feet.  For now this is the completed background, which is an abstraction artwork of its own  The goal of every painting is that each work is actually two artworks: an abstract background and the depiction of the flow of a particular piece of music.  It is hoped that together the two makes the one exceptional.

The finish of the background is  rough and with more contrast in shades.  The purpose of that is to keep the background interesting, as large parts of it are going to be covered by the music.  The thinking is that once the music is applied there will be a return to the background to give back some of the life taken away by the music, and to unite the two.

Listening to The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel

The best part about this work is its breaking with the previous paintings.  The desire is to keep heading in this direction,  and to not to return to the tried and proven.  This art needs to grow a lot before it is worth a second look, and this is the understanding that keeps pushing this artist, into the future.  It is the universal desire to know one self,  to see if there just may be something there, that can expose the real heart of the matter and your purpose in life.  Hum, good luck on that.

Listening to Crash Into Me – Debbie Comer

Next up is the drawing in of the music which should be done later on tonight.

Of note,  the movie Basquiat directed by Julian Schnabel was interesting and entertaining, but at times it seems unrealistic.  A better insight into the artist, is the documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child. Although Jean-Michel art has yet to make an impact on this artist;  he surely was an amazing talent, exceptional at the art of self promotion, living in the center of the art world, New York, and of course, a close friend of Andy Warhol. Wow, Basquiat was truly the artist in the right place at the right time.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, image1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

Mozart, “a little serenade”  Eine Kleinie Nachtmusik, K.525 Romanze Andante, 3 panels 30 inches by 10 feet. The inspiration for this base comes from Sean Scully and this particular work titled Yellow Seal.  The reproduction above is a little bright and the reproduction from the link and in his book, Sean Scully A Retrospective, are both quite different.  In reality it does not make that much different what colors the inspiration is, for what is put down on this canvas is its own expression.  My paint is different from his paint; my hand is different from his.

Sean Scully influence comes from his works before the year 2000.  It is amazing scrolling through the images of his art  just how many paintings this man has done.  This artist currently completes a dozen or so canvases in a year.  Looking through Sean Scully’s works, the thought is that so many of his works are similar, one after another, day after day, after month. You wonder how much feeling or meaning does he put into his efforts.  Of course, the amount of  time put in a artwork does not, in any way, decide its value.  Some days Van Gogh would complete 3 or 4 works, which are all worth a great amount of money, today; but you kinda-of-gotta-wonder what is any artist driving force, and maybe that can help to decide the artworks worth.  Maybe, and then again time nor effort may have little play in the real worlds evaluation of art.

This first image, of the unfinished base, is quite different from the previous works from 2011.  It is a departure in color brought on by this artist exhaustion with blue and green. What is being attempted here is to reach of a goal this artist wants to achieve: creating a artwork, that is the background, that stands on its own. The music flow of the little serenade, is the second artwork to be attempted.  The success is in bringing these two seperate artworks together to the music of Mozart. We shall see.

Scott Von Holzen