S_V_H Have yourself a merry little Christmas Final image

haveMerryChristmas_FinalHave yourself a merry little Christmas is finished. This is the smallest Christmas painting,  14 by 36 inches in length, that I have done since starting this series in 2006.  The only word, together, comes from this lyric from the music, “Through the years we all will be together, If the fates allow”.

My original plan was to use the colors, white, green, blue, red, and gold. I achieved that goal although I would have liked my red acrylics colors to pop (the contrast creates motion) more like the blue in the music flow. I finally had to tint the reds which did helped.

I do not look at this or any of my artworks as my definitive painting. I would never think that, because I have this yet philosophy about being an artist. What that means is that I believe that I am there yet. I believe that there will always be something better I can do with the next artwork.  I do my best. I give each artwork the time it needs, and then I finish, and move on.  I believe there are better songs to paint.

This is an updated image.  After looking at the work for a couple of days,  I realized that it was not yet finished.  I felt I needed to Christmas this painting up a little. By brightening up the greens and adding some decorative stripping, this painting better represents, now, the mood of the Holidays.  Time for me to move on, this work is finished.

haveMerryChristmas_Finalb

 

Scott Von Holzen

 

 

S_V_H Have yourself a merry little Christmas image3

haveMerryChristmas_3This is the third image of this years Christmas painting. This is not a complicated work, so what you are seeing is the music. The last major item will be to add the word I have chosen for this music.  Since there is only one word that is not going to change the overall look of this artwork.  Once all the major elements are in place next up I will next need to add some decorative touches.  I’m going to do that to add interest,  and to fill neutral areas of canvas with something to catch the viewer’s eye. I do have those shaded lines in the background that could be use to add some Christmas spirit. I may look there first,  and then later drop in random snowflakes to fill in.  Those are my ideas for now, but that may change the minute I dip the brush into the paint.

I have spent a lot of time, since the finish of the Vivaldi’s series, trying to decide the real purpose of these artworks backgrounds. Since Music is sound,  and sheet music is only notation on blank paper, that leave open a lot of creative all options. What that means is that as the years go by, I see less evolution of how the music looks,  and more how I will display it.

Scott Von Holzen

 

S_V_H Have yourself a merry little Christmas Image2

haveMerryChristmas_2

This is the second image of Have yourself an interesting, and kind of special merry little Christmas, if you wish.  The enlarged image looks bright.  I had to turn around from this screen to take a second look at the painting on the easel.  I think it is the custom blue color,  I mixed for the music,  that is popping everything.

I wrote down five colors on my worksheet that I wanted to use for this work.  Those colors, nothing special, are green, blue, red, white, and gold.  I added the two white stripes over the reds, from the first image, for I thought in this way I could cover  the colors white and gold. I went with the all white to give this background that special Christmas look, and later pulled some gold across to increase the Christmastime appearance.

I had some difficulty with the shading of the lines that I  first carefully planned. I finally had to damp wiped it all off.  I then drew in loosely some curve lines, with a few straight to counter, as I move across the canvases. I ended up using the same colors for the stripping and the shading.  This did create an interesting effect on the background, but I am not sure exactly what I am trying to accomplish.  This may be an idea that may eventual evolve into something that represent some aspect of the music. For now what I see is not hurting the music,  so it is worth seeing where it can go.   The way this work is progressing I may be done in a couple of weeks, which would be a pleasant surprise.  What helps is that the structure of this artwork is simple.  If this work completes on time I can see this as a move towards an accelerated pace for development, and promotion in the near future. There may be some exciting times ahead,  although predicting the future may be better kept to oneself.

Here is a cover by Kelly Clarkson singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas:

 

Scott Von Holzen