Category: contemporary art

Vivaldi’s Spring Allegro image 1 & 2

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

 See Important Message bottom of this entry.

 

 

SpringMvt1

 

Background Image 1 July 4th. This painting is the twelve in this series Vivaldi The Four Seasons.  It consists of five canvas panels.  The total length of this artwork is fourteen feet by three feet in height.  In this background I tried to show the colors of spring where I live.  Since Spring, again, was short, and lack the emotions I use to attach to Spring when I was younger. Now, when I think of Spring I think of April and May as our two best months where storms can easily become tornado warning.  In many emotions I dread Spring.  This year what there was of spring came late.  I thought way late and to me Spring was an afterthought. But when it did come I saw it in the blossoms of the crab apple trees, the smell of lilac bushes, of few rhododendrons, and if you travel into the country side plenty of Golden Rod.  That is it for Spring.  And some of those colors, Purple, Rose, Pink, Violet, and Yellow, are what you see above.

 

SpringMvt1_2

 

Background image. July 13th. Here you can see the results of my struggles to find a more pleasant look to this background. The colors in image 1 seem rough, harsh, and not working together.  That could not totally be resolved in this version, but it is better.  I specially like the wide blue center strip with the dark and light areas of those narrow strips giving a lot of depth and almost a sparkle to the work. I can see more of this random stripping, letting previously colors show through, can give a work interest and impact.

I spent a lot of time working on this background trying to its entire look that is eye-catching and that adds drama. This background at the point of it being finished, minus the music you now see, completely dominates this artwork. Now that is where the music comes in.  When I decide what the music is going to look like I do so thinking about how I can counter the background. I did this to change the focus of the painting. And this continues, in many areas, of  this artwork. Each new addition make it own statement in color and contrast to that around it.  This painting will tell the story of how each shape has interacted with all the other shapes. When finished  you will see that all these unique additions in color and shapes, have all evolved to become a logical part of the artwork. It all will connect not only with itself, but hopefully in the mind of the viewer.

 

Attention: 

I will paint this years Birthday Artwork  all in one day,  Thursday July 31st. You will be able to bid on the art through an online EBAY auction.

Plenty of details to come on your chance to own an original Von Holzen Birthday painting at an amazing discount up to 60%.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Love is All Around Final Image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

 

This artistic style brings this found 60s peace symbol,

peaceS

and the faint memory of  this 60s Pop Art sculpture by Robert Indiana,
LOVE_sculpture_NY

 

and these new pair of walking shoes, that have improve my time,

 

shoesS

 

all together to create this image,
loveS

that is the word ‘Love’ on a small added canvas that is part of my latest composition, Love is All Around.

 

loveIsAllAroundFinal

 

I started this artwork on the first week of May according to my worksheet.  I finished yesterday. My free time is still limited, and summer brings on lots of must do demands, but I am still surprised that this work took so long. I do not see any big style changes or break through moves, but I do see the continuing evolution in how I depict musical slurs and ties.  As far as the three 8th notes, in this work, they again, like in the past, where a struggle.  I am not seeing much difference or movement in them. In truth the first Kyoto Bach is still hanging on the wall I looked to its lone 8th note for direction. Since each new artwork builds on earlier works all this is not surprising. I bigger problem, that probably took a week to resolve, was finding the right color combinations for the banding of the shafts. I ended up with four different color choices, which is something unique to this work.

What still is a mystery, that I shall never resolve, is why this smaller work took so long to complete. I must say the music never was a favorite of mine. I listened to my four different versions of Love is All Around, over-and-over to help me get a better respect for the music.  I also watch a few YouTube videos about the story of the Troggs, which was interesting. I guess the challenge was creating a painting that represents a love song that I was not in love with. That is exactly would I did. This artwork surprisingly is full of interest that is well done and creative by my standards.

All Around reminds me of Up On The Roof, because both of these artworks last panels have a dramatic impact. An interesting difference is that second panel and how it drops well below the others. There is a pause in this music represented by those three rest symbols on the upper part of the canvas.  I could have treated those rests like I have done in most of my other works, but I wanted to add more interest to the physical look and the flow of the music. That is why you see the lower music which represents the background notes heard between the voice. We will see how this change will affect future works.

I like the look of this work.  I believe it can stand alone or with the music. This is a commission work so it is not for sale, but prints will be available.

Scott Von Holzen

 

S_V_H Love is All Around image5

Published on by Scott Von Holzen2 Comments

 

loveAllAround5

I am finally starting to feel that this work is taking on its own uniqueness. This work started out with a unique physical look that I liked. The problem has been how to paint this love song in a way that expressing the love in this music in a way that connects this painting with that one piece of music. I believe that work done on the far right panel has made that happen.  That fourth canvas reminds me of a similar panel from Up On The Roof, but these ties and slurs have found their own expression.

Every artwork needs to make its point in order for me to feel that the time and effort spent on each piece of music did improve my understanding of this art form. Since these pieces are one-of-a-kind, that means even though they share parts and styles of earlier works, they somehow find some new way of expression that makes it unique. Each new painting adds an indispensable paragraph to this artist story. That is an intrinsic goal with each painting.

Art can be complicated, or it can simply be wall decoration. My choice is to paint complex. You the viewer will grasp an understanding what pleases.  I do offer clues and familiarity that can show the way, but for many that may not even be necessary.  My art is in one way like Egyptian hieroglyphics.  My paintings of music, in their own way, could resemble the beautiful figures and symbols carved into those ancient stone walls. Few people know what the meaning of the hieroglyphics, but they do know is that they are depicting something that means something  special carved meticulously into the stone thousands of years ago. This art is not that, old,  complicated, meaningful, or meticulous, but it does speak, at times beautifully in its own unique way, the history of music.

 

Scott Von Holzen