Category: 2017

S_V_H Please Remember Me Final image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
One canvas panel 36″ by about 24″ high

Please Remember Me, is finished and is the first artwork where I did not adjust the music to balance with the size of the canvas.  I let the music flow where it needed to go and that makes  this little work a pivot point for what will come next.  This painting along with its partial twin,  I’m Already There, are each 36 inches in length. This size makes it easier to find the needed wall space to get this art out in public view.  To help that happen I have applied for two local art shows, and I am working on a proposal for a local art gallery.  The art of marketing this art is as important as the art.  You can’t find an audience for paintings stacked away from sight.

Throughout this project I have kept the color range close together, working in shades of blue, and greens. In this final image I have decided to throw in some miscellaneous colors that probably have nothing to do with the theme of this artwork.  I added these little color pieces, similar as you saw in Satisfaction,  for a number of reasons.  I like using the little odds-and-ends pieces of wood in bright colors, here-and-there on an artwork to break up the work and add some interest.  I also think of these extra wood pieces as fragments of the music flowing around the painting. When listening to music there are a lot of sounds that echo, that blend, or taper off,  and that is what these little wood add-on pieces are there to represent.  It all adds up to making an artwork fun to look at.

Scott Von Holzen

 

S_V_H Satisfaction Final Image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
satisfaction_final
Two panels 26 3/4 inches in height by 50 1/2 inches in length.

Satisfaction, my first painting dedicated to the music of the Rolling Stones is finished. What I liked about this work is how well the dominate grays and shades of black worked with the here-and-there use of color.  The Impressionist painters avoided the use of  the black paint and only recently did I start using acrylic black.  I like the back-en-forth contrast between the blacks and grays and the brighter vibrant colors.  All these differences adds an extra push-pull to the music as it moves across these canvases.

The round wood pieces follow the flow, pitch, or the up and down movement of this song.  At first I painted them solid black with silver edges.  After I added and stripped those three half disks, which are my symbols for musical Ties or Slurs,  I knew that I had to do something similar with them.

The sharp edges of the stripping of the half disks reminded me of today’s digital images files.  Except, that when Satisfaction was going up the charts photography consisted of analog images on negatives. The look of half disks is dramatic, but for my notes to match the era of the music I chose short strokes of the different shades of gray and black, applied wet and blended to give the flow a symbolic look of negatives.

The different look of this musical artwork comes from its heavy use of neutral shades. This painting music brings back memories of a long time ago when I was young, and my world felt a lot more black & white.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Stairway to Heaven Final Image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

stairway_finalIn this final image of Stairway to Heaven I have moved away from the video as my color guide. For the rest of the wood enhancement to this painting I decided to go with colors that work with the existing color theme. Late into every painting, including this one,  my goal is to bring the over all look of a painting into harmony, a double entendre of sight and hearing.

Here is my take on this painting: Times they are a Changin.’  This is not a large work in my Catalog,  but by the standards of most people of modest means, which have been my art sales clients,  have a  lot easier time finding wall space, and justifying the cost,  for a 36 inch artwork than they would one this size..  All galleries, that would consider hanging this painting, always have to deal with limited wall space. Their walls are already filled with art. To make room one for Stairway a gallery would need to remove at least two or more other artworks.  That is probably not going to happen unless my sales pitch is exceptional.  That is why I mentioned the 36 inch artwork limit which has these advantages over even this size work: faster to produce, lower price, and a lot easier to market and sell.  There are no trade offs by going small.  I give every artwork the same amount of care, ability, and creatively.  The main advantage in size is greater visual impact.

Looking at Stairway, I can see the size effect,  but I can also see that I could have used smaller canvases in an irregular shape.  Doing anything besides your standard artwork rectangle would have created a more dramatic visual look. That may then counter size impact, as long as the limited amount of open space on a small work is not overly busy or cluttered. I do not have this option in the unfinished artwork Satisfaction, but I do see me moving philosophically, to that 36 inch length, in the next project which is Please, Remember Me, sung my Tim McGraw, followed by When Doves Cry.

Scott Von Holzen