Author: Scott Von Holzen

Fragment left lower side.  Originally the first coat of this whole group of notes was a cadmium red light.  But the color quickly felt out of place. The vast middle and right side of this 14 foot canvas are notes that move from that red to magenta and then a cobalt magenta mix to finally the right  and viridian. This is being discussed for although the light red has now been painted over with magenta, it still exists, on the corners and peeks through here and there.  The point is that whatever is painted is rarely done in error: decisions  are made and refections change and like in pin ball the artist bounces about until the painting finds its way.  The bouncing is never organized, nor consistent, and guaranteed only one thing: with each kick back a new opportunity finds its way forward, never to be lost.   That was guaranteed  to happen as soon as that carefully planed cadmium red was thoughtfully stroked and spread precisely on the canvas and just as carefully covered over,…mostly.

Scott Von Holzen

This fragment image is from a 36″by 14 foot canvas.   Such a large work takes time to capture the feeling.  Right now it is basic putting the pieces together through the process of fitting all the notation on the canvas where it belongs.   The fun part comes after all is in place and you stand back and look and wonder, what is next?  What can be done to bring this work to life?  What is needed to unify the work?  What colors are going to needed to make the work PoP, and what other colors can be added to help and not hurt the movement of the canvas.  All the works move from left to right and this one has the added feature of moving from the color red to blue and finally a soft green to match those last 9 measures of this most wonderful music. So, the question is how does this all going to fit and look incredibly simple to the casual viewer.  It has to appear to be understandable even when there is no clue in the mind of the drive by art lover.  Else, the artwork fails, and the effort is just a learning experience, and nothing moves forward.

Scott Von Holzen

There are a lot of notes that can be spread across 14 feet of canvas.  Every note will be needed and put in its place. Music is kind of organize in that way, and that is respected when it comes to this art.  Music…   This art celebrates the power of the note, the value of a single note to change everything.  Understanding that purpose, that placement, that sound of that single note, to create that unique emotion that can be easily felt but hard to describe, challenges this art to do just that.

Scott Von Holzen