S_V_H Cherish Finished image

cherish_finished

Cherish, is finished with all the structure that makes up this music is in place.   Tomorrow, I will clean,  touch up, and add a number of small wood pieces to give the music at little more interest.

Cherish, is a wonderful song about unrequited love, that made it relevant in the 60’s and I believe it still holds today. That is one reason I painted it.  Many of my artworks I complete reflect the times I grow up.  Cherish is one of those 3 minute songs that have given hundreds of hours of remembrance,  and reflection to many of us. Sometimes it is good to look back, laugh at yourself, and realize how far you have come.  You envy your youth in those days, but know that the best is yet to come.

Scott Von Holzen

 

 

S_V_H Cherish image 2

cherish_2Cherish, this painting is unusual in that the flow of the music is a straight line.  The colors theme that I am uses comes from The Association Greatest hits album cover, and from there first album which included the song Cherish:

GreatestHits

firstAlbum

I watched a lot of Association videos, realized they had a lot of member changes, and confirmed that softer greens and blues was the way to go.Here is an early version of Cherish probably around 1967.

 

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Cherish image 1

cherish_1Cherish is this 2016’s Birthday Painting.  This artwork consists of two canvases  15 inches by 60 inches in length.  Cherish,  was released by The Association  in 1966,  the same year I graduated from High School.  My four high school years were divided, with my freshman and sophomore years in a very small Wisconsin town that we move to in 1962.  I then  spent my Junior and  Senior years at a smaller Catholic High School, when we moved again, to a much bigger small Wisconsin town.

What that means is that all through my High School years I was kind of an outsider, not quit fitting into a normal teenager’s life. I do remember this song for its theme of unrequited love. Being a teenager in new towns, with only a few good friends, the emotions that came from listening to the music of The Association,  and The Four Seasons was felt and lived.

Looking back, I think I  should have enjoyed those times a lot more. I should have realized that I was fairly naïve about the art of  dating, and it certainly showed, and that is was all about the learning, and all about asking girls out,  and slowly figuring out step by step what the game of love was all about.  But I did not, quite get that right, during those times.

” …I was so much older than, I younger than that now,”  (The Byrds My Back Pages, 1964).

 

Scott

 

S_V_H Losing me Edge final image

losing My Edge  _10This is the Final image of Losing my Edge.  The end came quickly, as everything came together.  Later, after my Birthday Dinner, I will go over the artwork and do touch up, and sign the back.  This was an interesting artwork much more experimental than my typical Birthday painting. This Birthday painting turn out to be a complicated project.  I am glad I took the extra day to paint this work. Doing it all in one day would have been too much.  I will have one more entry about this years Birthday painting, with a video discussing the artwork, and why I pick this music.

 

losingMyEdge_11Here is a view of this artwork from an angle so that it shows how the music floats about the background

 

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Losing me Edge image 9

losing My Edge  _9Same this one shade of blue for the words, and that worked out perfect.  I was also able to find a spot for medium magenta with the curve line, a slur in music notation.  My last big change will be with the area around those  magenta square musics pieces that I have saved.  I have and idea what I want to accomplish, it is just that I have no idea how to make that happen.  For, like the beams, I may have to contend with trying one idea after another, while keeping a fresh damp cloth ready to wipe away my work.

Scott Von Holzen

 

S_V_H Losing my Edge image 8

losing My Edge  _8I hit the wall with Losing me Edge.  I tried color after color, color on top of color, lighter and darker colors, and nothing was working on my beams, those long rectangles.  The one thing I did not do was remove my mistakes.  I dried the paint, and spread a new color over the old, using a number of techniques, leaving when possible little traces of the past. Finally, I went basic and that worked. I am back, and moving on.

LCD Soundsystem Losing My Edge:

 

Scott Von Holzen

 

 

S_V_H Losing my Edge image 6

losing My Edge  _7Losing My Edge  a tribute artwork to the music of LCD SooundSystem, and is this years Birthday painting  that I started yesterday and will finish today, hopefully by late this afternoon.  This is a mid process image of objects that I have to finish. It is going good.  I am making quick choices, a must because of time constraints, and this artwork is starting to present to me the challenge of defining its final personality.

Scott Von Holzen

 

 

 

S_V_H Losing me Edge image 6

losing My Edge  _6Losing my edge with the music flow in place, and the draft of the words. This is good progress for today. Tomorrow hopefully it will be a fairly easy to complete this painting.  Maybe there will be some challenge working around the mounted music, but I could not resist the fun of placing these cutouts on the artwork.

Scott Von Holzen

 

S_V_H Losing my Edge image 5

losing My Edge  _5

Here is a minor update that required a lot of effort. What you are seeing in this image is the flow of the music.  Everything does fit in the just enough space of this artwork.  I used math to plan and calculate the amount of space that the music flow needed, but as always my best results are a smart guess.  Actually drawing in the flow in place usually has its surprises, and with this artwork there were issues.  I had to remove, shift, and replace the music flow of this artwork several times.  Luckily, my goal was to have this part done by five o’clock, and for once I was on time.  Next up,  I think,  I will have to put in the flow using my new technique using wood cutouts.

This painting will have a special discounted price. Contact me in comments for the details to buy Losing me Edge.

Scott Von Holzen