Category: contemporary art

S_V_H Bach BWW 1014, Adagio

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

You can hear the music that will be in the painting, in the next link, starting at  1:19, ending at 1:40.  This is powerful music that I have wanted to paint for a long time. Because of the Vivaldi Four Seasons series, every time I have made time to paint a partner work next to the Vivaldi, I have always chosen modern music. For me these side works learn from the Vivaldi.  Because they are much smaller it is easier to experiment with them, and in that way sometimes the Vivaldi work gains back. So, it was only through good fortune that I have interrupted my work on this years Winter Vivaldi to work on this other classical piece that has been on my to-do list for a long time.

I have gone old school experience with this artwork, mainly because this is an unusually large single canvas.The way I am approaching this work is by going back to one of the first artist that gave me direction for me as an artist: Mark Rothko.  You will see some of his style in this work, which is similar to many of my earliest art works, such as this example,  Mozart’s Concerto 21 form 2006:

Mozart_PianoConcerto21_06

When I received the request to paint this Bach work, Crossroads was the one painting the customer picked as a guide especially for its color and overall lightness of the work. Well that was 2008 and now in 2014 my style and my art has involved considerably, making it impossible for me to go back and repeat the past.  Few of my artworks repeat, they all tend to build on each other.  Today I see Crossroads, as dull, flat, sloppy in technique, with bad usage of drab colors. Still it will help me make a better Bach. I have found helpful direction for the Bach work, in Crossroads, especially in its overall use of color.

Crossroads, the painting,  was an experimental work 16 inches by 40 inches. I used a large plaster bristled brush as a new painting tool. That was a technique that I have rarely used since.  I consider Crossroads a marginally successful artwork that stands on its own, as a one time idea.

crossroads_08

For today, though,  it has been valuable guide for this Bach work.  Maybe, that is why I painted this work in 2008, not knowing that one day it would offer I new perspective and a new opportunity to move this art forward.

Bach BWV 1014 Adagio Image 1 stage 1 of the background.  The take on image ones, including this one, is to pick colors that probably work with the theme, and spread some paint around.  As I am painting this first layer, I have Mark Rothko in my thoughts, but I am not trying to carry out anything special here, I am only trying to cover up the canvas. I difference with this work, is that I have usually left a white bar on the top and the bottom.  For this work, it felt better about forgetting  the bars.  The main reason I felt this way about this work is that when finished I will remove the artwork from its home-made stretcher, and then carefully rolled it up for shipping.  It will then be re-stretched: I want no sharp edgings to interfere with the re-aligning of this artwork.  I think that makes sense.  I will say, seeing this work in person it, dominates the space, and creates an impressive look, even though it is early in its development as a contemporary artwork.

bach1014_1

Bach BWV 1014 Adagio Image 2, stage 2.  Here you are seeing the influences of Mark Rothko and of the early Mozart work.  Nothing special here.  What these two bars are doing is giving me the placement for the music.

bach1014_2

Bach BWV 1014, Adagio image 3,stage 3.  Now, finally you are seeing the direction the background . There is a lot coming from the unfinished Vivaldi Winter.  I have looked at it for direction as much as I have looked at the painting Crossroads for color.

bach1014_3

With the help of Barb I was finally able to find the artwork Crossroads, buried among the giant works.  Looking at this artwork my opinion has not changed.  Hopefully, someone with a passion for Eric Clapton, The Creme, or just the great blues song that is Crossroads, will contact me to buy this interesting little painting.

I have this artwork listed on Etsy, for a reasonable price of $200.00.

Up next is to finish the background, in one session, and then start putting down the music.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V _H Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons – Winter Allegro Mvt 3 image1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

WinterAllegro3Image2 Vivaldi’s Winter Allegro consists of  eight canvases that vary from 15 by 30 inches to 36 by 48 inches in size. This is the eleventh in the series of thirteen artworks of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Again in these images I am not capturing the look of this work. They look flat in contrast and color.  You have to see this work in person  to believe this difference. Looking at this completed background what I see is what I am living in: the chill of winter. At 17 feet in length and three feet high, standing close to this work all that is missing is the chill in the air that makes each breath feel razor-sharp.  Standing near this work it is winter, no matter the season.

Up next is putting down the musical flow.  I will using three different blues not used so far: light Blue Permanent, Light Ultramarine blue, and Brilliant Blue, and for the edges I will be using Turquoise Deep.

atLastJan29th

I thought I would put this image in this post that I took to send to a potential customer.  This is the great At Last that I painted back in May of 2010.  Hopefully, it will find a home in California.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V _H Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons – Winter Allegro Mvt 3 image1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

WinterAllegro3Image1

This is the eleven in the series of thirteen paintings picturing the musical works of four Antonio Vivaldi’s popular concertos: RV 269, RV 315, RV 293,  RV 297, which together make up The Four Seasons. This huge artwork, over 17 feet in length, was tough to photograph, but I needed to document the visual progress, and this first photo fulfills that need. Turning around and looking at the real artwork, it is much prettier in person, and already presenting a dramatic image.

In the photograph you are not seeing the contrast between the stripping and the background where I first spread a light gray layer.  Over that I then pulled across multiple thin layers of pure white.  I am using an image of pure white snow, in this artwork, for we have received plenty of that, lately. My challenge, with this work,  is to display this feeling of fresh snow cover across the entire seventeen feet of canvas that is Winter Allegro, creating diversity and multiple areas of interest.

Starting with a light gray background gives me the contrast to build up an image on white canvas.  Somehow I will use this same technique for the rest of the bare canvas, and besides using gray,  I will need to find ways to  add color in the background.  Lately, with my backgrounds I have used a lot of stripping for its musical effects and interest adding looks,  and that should work here by using cold blues mixed with a lot of white.  I have used so much white that I ran out of it, and had to pick up some locally, 40% off, of course.

The capturing of that winter feeling, for this artwork, is a lot easier to do while living in the season. Actually, I try to do that as much as I can with this series.  For example my last Vivaldi was the last movement of Autumn, and now I am, of course, working on the first movement of Winter.  When  I compete this work, next up will be the first movement of Spring, followed by the final artwork in this series, the third movement of Summer, sometime this summer.

Up next, I am turning around getting up from my computer, putting on my apron, and hopefully before nights end covering up the rest of the white canvas with white paint.

Scott Von Holzen