Category: Classical

S_V_H Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons(Autumn)adagio molto image5

Published on by Scott Von Holzen3 Comments

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, 5 panels 120 inches (3m) in length. I have decided it was time to move the photography of this artwork forward and work with RAW images. In the before time there was a 4by5 camera and a large format darkroom.  This photographer spend way to much time on darkroom techniques, instead of creative photography.  The move to digital and the end of the dream to be a professional photographer, especially after returning to painting in late 2004, all lead to the abandonment of the dark and the quest to be the next Ansel Adams. Today, I shoot  a Canon 7D with a Tamron lens, and shooting in RAW brings back some of those old beloved darkroom feelings.  Looking at this first attempt this web image is close to the artwork, in color and feel, but with a tad too much saturation.

Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U  Music that needs to be painted.

Listening to Renee Olstead – Someone to Watch Over Me.

This work has been in progress of over a month.  Summer has slowed the art, and it may take another week or more to finish this work.  It is important to finish it soon to keep the momentum and interest up.  This  canvas has been demanding and it was only last night that I began to see some aspects of what I call a finished looked. That is telling that the work is starting to become its own statement.

Joe Turner – Shake, Rattle and Roll

Queen – Somebody to Love

The ties (all those squiggly  lines) will be the look that will dominate this work.  To note this is the first time  that there are combos of hand drawn and  ties created with the help of a compass.  The use of hand drawn ties, especially along the right side as this music ends, softens the look, similar to the music as it fads away.  Again you see the influence of Sean Scully, in the rectangle stripping.  This Vivaldi music is composed of a lot of dotted half  notes.

Clint Black – Are You Sure Waylon Done it This Way.

July Collins – Brother Can You Spare A Dime

The drawings,  in this painting, of  this arts version of the dotted half-note, were done to create a unique look for each. Since this arts focus has evolved over the years to be about displaying the of flow of the music, and not to replicate the actual music, that has created an environment of freedom that tests, and pushes to see how deep the talent is. Music is much more then the standard notation that gives it a representation.  The best  musicians take a song to new places, and own it.  But can this art achieve those same results?  That is this artist quest. Still can he own it?  That, is something  I want to find out.

Listening to Landside – Fleetwood Mac

Bruce Springsteen –  Because The Night

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons(Autumn)adagio molto image2,3&4

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Autumn  II. Here is the Wiki link.  Scroll down to the Media section Autumn Movement II.  This canvas is 9 feet by 36inches (2.75m x 1m), so a 1000 pixel image, although bright on this screen, fails to capture the emotion and impact of the work. That is why all Art needs to be seen and not leafed through. Of course that does not explain my library with a large number of art books that have be collected over the last 40 years. It may be better understood to  known that I live in an area where  art masterpieces are scarce.   I remember once a long time ago, living in another small town, there arrived a tour bus at the local library. I was able to enter its narrow walk way and see my first Renoir. It was a small portrait, but that visit must have meant a lot to be still remembered, lets say again 40 years ago.

Listening to classic British rock the Zombies – She’s Not There.

The idea of this background is to make something special to the theme of this music, which is the quiet that comes with dusk.  Again, it would be nice if this background could stand alone as its own artwork but, I just do not see this happening.  Also, after the music is applied that background will be adjusted help push the music along, to increase interest, and to help dramatize this work.  At less that is the early thinking.  Everything evolves, especially the plan.

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Update with a 1500 pixel full image.  The background was at a finished point that it was thought it was time to lay down the music.  That is when the problems occurred.   It was discovered that there was not enough room to spread the music across this canvas.

In these canvases the music that is stylized is based on the voice or the G clef which is also called the Treble Clef.  But in this Vivaldi work it was important to the feel of this music to include interpretations of  two G-clefs and the bass clef.  In this Classical musical piece that would be Violino Principale along with Violino Primo, and for the bass you have the Alto Viola.

Well, there was a miss count and the amount of space that would be needed to represent this music with the length came up short.  After a lot of going back-en-forth, from adding on top of the original background different sizes of canvases, to reducing the size and spacing of the music, it was decided to stay with the original plan, and simple attach on a fourth canvas to the original three.

This piece will be painted a dark Prussian Blue to build a dramatic end to this music which softy fades out. The idea of placing a riser canvas on this work, just did not go with the music,  because much of the ending flows quietly through a number of bars.  The concern was not to break that flow, so that is why this one feet by 3 feet section was added.  Since this added canvas is slightly wider in depth, that extra depth was pushed forward to help make this section of the work stand out even more.

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons image4 1500 pixels or ten feet (3m) in length.  As you can see this work has moved in a different direction, and now beginning to take on its own look.  It started with the painting of the left panel with a Prussian Blue wash, that lead to the free hand addition of the darker Prussian strips. That looked worked so the obvious next step was to heavy line the flat upper magenta color band.  That work, which lead to the additional lines across the lower bass section.  Next the hard orange line across the middle seem out-of-place and too reminiscent of the orange bars across the magenta.  After some failed attempts, a dark Prussian blue was used  that seemed to pull the canvas towards that final vertical Prussian add on.  It all worked with the final free handed lines being added to the top and middle sections.  The loosely handed addition of these lines across all of this work brought back a  touch of the feel of Mark Rothko, the artist that is a foundation of this art.

Now, it is a number of days later, so although there are no new pictures for this blog, it is important to know what is going on in my head. Most of this music is composed of half-notes , which is unusual for most music.  So, looking at what has been done in the past, the thought was lets fine a new idea.  I did, with the help of Leon Polk Smith.  Here is his image on ArtNet.

So, what has been going on the last few day is that I have started with Polk’s 30 inch work as an idea and turn it into 80mm circles to represent all the half-note music that flows through this Vivaldi piece.  Looking at the progress so far you would be hard pressed to see Polk’s influence, but it is there and credit must have its do.

Looking ahead it is easy to see  that a lot of this background is going to disappear with the addition of the many musical ties that musicality make that smooth sound from the start to the very end of this piece. Another realization is that this simple, musical piece is going to end up consuming more then average time, and will end up being a highly complicated visual artwork, a lot simpler to listen to then to paint.

Listening to Ray Charles – How Long has This Been Going On

Love from the Moulin Rouge Soundtrack

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons(Autumn)adagio molto image1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen1 Comment

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Autumn – Adagio Molto 3  panels 108 inches (2.74m) by 36 inches(.91m).  The first image is this series is the single hard line that is there to hold the entire work together, no matter what else is done. Nothing special here.

Listening to Meat Loaf  – Objects in the Rear View Mirror.

Next is image two.  The thought here is to follow the the lines from the Autumn sonnet. Using H.C. Robbins Lando’s translation from Vivaldi Voice of the Baroque it reads:
Each one  renounces dance and song
The mild air is pleasant
And the season invites every increasingly
To savour a sweet slumber.

B.B King – The Thrill is Gone,  classic pop Blues.

The words that that were chosen for this work are from the second line.  The look of this work come from the fourth line.  The theme of this canvas is the coming of evening.  This third image shows this better with the top related more to the setting sun on the horizon. The bottom and left side of this work are painted to represent the base notes, and the gradual onset of evening.  At less that is the idea and direction of this canvas for now.

T.I. –   Big Shit Popin’

The second and third image are rough.  It is a surprise that all of these works start out much this same way, and how in the end they are refined to a level that fits the subject matter. Since this work is challenging past techniques, and styles, a clear direction is unknown.  A lot of thought is going to be given to what has been done so far, and what to do with it next.  We will see what happens tonight, but for right now there is concern.

The Doobie Brothers – Rockin’ Down the Highway.

Judy Collins – Amazing Grace

Scott Von Holzen