Category: Classic Rock

S_V_H New Art Project & Subscribers

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
Studio image with next project 30×40 inch canvas

The Vivaldi4Season project emptied me out of much of my push ahead. That is until I listened to those four concerto fragments as they hung on the Studio Wall. In that moment it was all worth the moment. Now, after much self debate, and mood searching to find a match, I have a new project.

I remembered and liked this song that played several times on the television show Family Ties back in the mid 1980s. I liked Michael J Fox and surely adored his television girlfriend, Ellen Reed, played by Tracy Pullman. But it wasn’t until this moment researching this music that I found out that later on they married. That was a nice surprised and what convinced me to paint this music as my next project. It is going to be a challenge to trim down to bite-size 1 minute 30 seconds cover of this melodic 4 minute song.

[The UNSUBSCRIBED]

I have been blogging on this website since early 2010. After 14 years, my latest WordPress.com website lists 351 Subscribers. What I have been wondering about was the lack of feedback beyond a few random “likes” and “comments” over the years. I wondered if signing up was a mistake many made and they now treat these posts as another nuisance email. I thought it was time to check just who were my subscribers.

My WordPress.com Blog Site lists my subscribers. I first clicked on this link one other time years ago. It lists my current subscribers, their online names and thumbnails, and right away I saw dozens of users needed to remove for a variety of obvious reasons. Then I noticed I also had statistics. WordPress.com lists how many of my emails each subscriber received and opened. I have an example pictured below. The shock came when I saw a consistent show of zeros. Bewildered, I deleted hundreds of subscribers that had never received or opened an email. That brought my list down to less than forty people. Next, the statistics had other available information that also listed a wordpress.com or other website address, besides an email address. Many of these websites were unused or barely functional. I deleted those subscribers. This then brought my subscription list down to 9 people with email addresses. Of those nine I knew six of them as once-upon-a-time friends, my wife and family. My WordPress Blog Site now lists 25 subscribers. Beyond the 9 listed email subscribers I think the other subscriptions are those of other WordPress.com bloggers not named.

WordPress.com subscriber statistics

Up to this moment I was only concerned about my low contact with my subscribers. I think I actually thought most were real or at less somewhat interested supporters. They were not. I was naïve to think they were real. When I got on the internet to promote this art years ago, I thought it would allow me to reach people far away in the big cities that would never have a chance of seeing and learning about this art. At this moment, I am wrong again.

So, it goes.

To paraphrase Peggy Lee I would add, “Is that all there is to Art.“
“Is that all there is
is that all there is? 
If that’s all there is my friends 
Then let’s keep dancing 
Let’s break out the booze
and have a ball 
If that’s all
there is”

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H A day in the Life image 2

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
A Day in the Life of dinky art.

Here is what is happening. I am running out of climate controlled storage. After 18 years of creating and storing musical artworks, eventually I knew this would be a problem. That is why I am once again trying what I have done multiple times before: make dinky, tiny, and therefore boring small art. The switch to small works, and lower pricing, may with this current style, make getting this art out there finally possible. Actually, I will need multiple pieces out-there. Small dinky also offers this art more traveling numbers which I need for an individual show. Whether this will work this time, I am concerned, but I’m going at it with all the features of the bigger works, and a positive attitude that goes beyond extending storage capabilities.

I should mention the why behind my remark about the “dinky, tiny, boring art.” Every artwork, all 200 plus of them, contains a personal meaning when felt when I created and that feeling remains to this day. You can go to Spotify ArtInMusic The Music for the playlist. My connection to the music I have painted has always been big, and therefore the artworks have been big to match. This bigness towards my musical portraits remains, but for practical reasons, I now need to produce small size art. So small it is, no matter how disappointing. No matter their dinky size, my commitment is to the music.

Looking at art as personal is common amongst the artists that create for the art. It is of lesser importance to those who treat their art mainly as salable produce. Art is a product, so I understand, but I chose the path “…the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” I see this art forever attached to me. Each of these portraits portrays not only a song but also who I once was. Each carefully chosen piece of music shows and displays a visual representation of a time in my life. That is why whenever I hear my artworks there is that moment of connection. A story is being told.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H A day in the life first image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
A Day in the Life ≈L33″xW21″
A Day in the Life from The Beatles 1967 studio album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Now that I am committed to doing small music works, once again, I wanted to look back at how I came up with this well-worn plan version whatever. I believe I found the beginning of the idea in an email I sent to the EWA membership, paying tribute to Christy Skuban, a member who had passed away. The part of that email, in bold print, I am sure is key to that decision.
“I believe EWAs should do its own celebration of Christy and her art. …… through the….2025 Winter Art show. We could ask those who own works by Christy to display her work as the centerpiece of the exhibition. Then, alongside her art, I would suggest each member of EWA would also hang one piece of their art in the style of Christy.“

The words “in the style” gave me the opening to experiment, one more time, with going small. That is because Christy’s art was dingy, around two feet in height and smaller in width, with a depth around two inches. One other small motivation showed up in my notes that I put together for one of my short-lived therapist sessions. That note to myself read: Everything would make sense, up to this point, if this art sold. Christy’s art, especially in her hometown area she sold. Even in our EWA shows, her sales stood out. Of course, her art had a reasonable price for this area’s market. Her pricing started from just under two-hundred to three-hundred. My art has never been that cheap. That means to no sales in years. That translates either the problem is the art or the pricing. Okay, one more time. Let’s see if it is the price.

Simplifying my artworks design by abstracting my notation and keeping the width under three feet will save considerable cost and time. Reducing the cover music’s complexity, length, and moving to the cheaper 2Watt stereo system will save time and money. I still won’t price anywhere near Christy, but I am aiming for these mini works to have a retail value of around plus or minus five hundred dollars. That amount is still pricey for this local art market, but within sale possibility. If I can sell them here, along with their easy to travel size, these two ideas may open doors to bigger sales outside the area,

My colors for the project are an easy and diverse list. All I had to do was to look at the album cover.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover

The many attempts over many years to find the sweet spot for an entry level art market for this art reminds me of a quote from a television interview of a creative person: “No one fails, they just stop trying.” That lead to my search for the original, which I think is from Albert Einstein, “You never fail until you stop trying.” Interestingly, that partially sums up a new way of thinking I eked out from one of my 8 tele visit therapy sessions. To append that quote, I have my stand by motivation words: “The closer you are to success, the nearer you are to failure.” If only Vincent Van Gogh would have known.

Scott Von Holzen