It is just before 8am on this Tuesday July 31st.
Category: Birthday Painting
S_V_H July 31st 2012 Birthday Painting
There has been good responses, from my requests for musical suggestions, for this years Birthday painting. This artwork begins and completes all in one day, today, Tuesday July 31st.
The wining song for this 2012 edition of The Birthday Painting, is Forever Young by Rod Stewart.
Here is the winning email with this years Birthday Painting:
“Hi Scott,
Finally, here are a few more to consider if you haven’t already decided – though I don’t have any baseline works of art to recommend w/them:
Simon and Garfunkel – I am a rock or The boxer.
Beatles – let it be
Rod Stewart – Forever young
The White Stripes – Jolene (Dolly’s rendition was familiar to me growing up; but I like the edge in the White Stripes version)
Have a GREAT birthday!!!! Send me the link to the live blog so I can check in on the progress!
Thanks,”
But it was this email which best described the feelings behind their musical choice for the Birthday painting, and became the obvious first choice.
“Scott,
Not sure if this song will work for your birthday painting but I suggest “What A Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. It has a mellow, easy going flow to it which helps me relax in my crazy fast paced life. It also makes me appreciate the small things I take for granted everyday – my family, beautiful back yard & home, clean air & water, safe surroundings and most of all my life (being around to enjoy it)!
Happy early birthday!”
What A Wonderful World could have been easily chosen, because there has always been a feeling that this great music, sung by the magnificent Louie Armstrong, would someday be revisited.
Unfortunately the mood of this song did not fit the theme for the 64th Birthday celebration. But many thanks go out to Sara V for her most wonderful email and surely a future work.
Going over the list once again, I suddenly, grasped the words and realized what I had missed, which was Forever Young by Rod Stewart. This song has a similar depth of words, feelings and thoughtfulness as What A Wonderful World, but is more perky, making it a better fit.
So, I found this video:
MY GOD take a look at those girls and the passing car, and see how dated they look, and how dated they make this video look.
This awful video (what is the deal with that guy’s curly hair piece near the end of the video) thankfully resulted in finding this updated Rod Stewart version:
This then lead to more searching which resulted in finding this video with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen:
Bob Dylan actually wrote the original music for Forever Young, which then Rod Stewart borrowed from for his song also called Forever Young.
From the television show Glee, comes this acoustic version that is nice:
The search ends with another version of this musical theme of Forever Young, called Young Forever by Jay-Z. In the words, the mood and feeling, this song relates well with both the Rod Stewart, and the Bob Dylan versions:
Check back ALL DAY LONG for Painting Updates. The first should arrive by 9am Central Standard Time.
And congratulations go out to Maggie H this years winner of the 2012 Birthday Painting. She will soon receive a signed and numbered image of the painting on glossy photo paper 13×19 inch.
There will be blog updates all day, so check back on the paintings progress.
Scott Von Holzen
S_V_H Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons – Summer-adagio” image1
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons four Canvas, 12 feet(3.66m)in length by 36 inches(.91m). This is a snap shot, of the early background. Next up will be to draw in the music to see how it lays across the canvas. Once the draft of the music is laid out then it will be back to the background.
The grey colored area, on the left side of this image, is not canvas. What you are looking at is the first odd shape work, that could be called a combine. To explain how this art got to this point you have to look back to 2005. From one canvas to another, it was felt back then, that it was necessary that the musical phrase fit the selected canvas support. Of course that was restrictive, which eventually lead from works that were on a two foot by four canvases to larger signal sizes and then to works on two same size canvases bolted together in 2009.
It was in earlier 2012, with the Mozart work Serenade No.13, that this artist realized that this thinking was backwards: the art needed to accommodate the music. That is why you see, in the image above, that extra 12-inch panel on the far left, and the 12-inch panel in the lower middle. Those two small pieces will allowed the bass sound a stronger visual on the right side. There are style changes in the sharpening of the effort to not blend the canvas parts together, and with the use of two different size canvases, that are awkward to handle, that compose the background.
One thing that has matured with this art, over the years, is the approach to depicting music. If you look at general sheet music, it is rigid in structured and this set the standard for much of my earlier works. But that got boring, and once the technical confidence grew, so did the ideas to better paint the flow of music without turning it into a typical wall hanging. This art is not your generic abstract music painting, splashed in complementary colors, you see everywhere. This art has grown and so have I while staying true to the idea that started it all.
Listening to: The Thrill is Gone – B.B King, Hallelujah – K.D Lang, The Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive, She Talks to Angels – The Black Crowes, Peal Jam – Come Back. George Carlin – Capital Punishment
The following is a video of this music:
UPDATE on the Birthday Painting Suggestions that have come in. Here is the list so far:
Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers.
Your Are so Beautiful – Joe Cocker
Roses are Red – Bobby Vinton
I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston
House of the Rising Sun – The Animals
Blame it on the Rain – Milli Vanilli
Vincent – Don McLean
What’s Going on – Marvin Gaye
Changes – Tupac Shakur
The Sky is Crying – Stevie Ray Vaughan
It is your turn to add to this list. Here is the link for the details, detailing the Birthday music painting. On my Birthday, July 31st I will start, and complete this work.
Scott Von Holzen
aRT iN mUSIC 