Category: final thoughts

This 15 foot 4 inch monster that began on July 3rd is now finished.   I am glad to move on. That only leaves four more Vivaldi’s to do and the set of thirteen is complete.   A good guess, for the finish of this project,  would be something in June of 2014, or probably July of 2014,  just in time for a needed vacation.

I do not have many thoughts lift about this work, because I have worked on this one work almost three months.  Here is what I can say:  it is big, it is diverse looking, and it represents the best effort  of this artist.  That is so far.  You could remove the bolts from this work,  separate them, and it would look like each canvas belongs to another artwork.  That I find fascinating and a direction I plan to keep developing to see how far it goes. Because as you know the real quest of this artist is to find out how it will all end.  Although the canvases are each unique you cannot but see that when they are all put together, it works.  I am sure those of appreciate this music will wonder why I pick the phrase that I did from this music considering how powerful most of the music is, and this is not.  This phrase of music, about 10 seconds,  is the sound of a little finch chirping.  I use it because this part of the movement is unique in the concerto.  There that is it, which you will be able to see, and hear,  when I post the walk through tomorrow evening.

Next up is the last of the Autumn  movements completing the first of the four concertos.  It is also called Autumn Allegro.  So the fall concerto starts with Allegro and ends with Allegro.  Maybe I will have to call it Autumn Allegro last movement.

This is Vivaldi’s Spring third movement.  She is a beauty.  This artwork took two months to complete.  But, when I look at the Vivaldi page, and see that I have completed eight of these works in 14 months, I am thinking that is too bad.  You have to consider that I am living the Jackson Browne’s lyrics from The Pretender, “Caught between the longing for love. And the struggle for the legal tender.” I am still working full-time at my Day Job.

This is a BIG side note about how I listen to my music.  Currently I am using the Companion 5 computer speaker system from Bose. These speakers play my Chopin music as well as Nelly (I like Nelly in Air Force Ones).  By those standards alone these speakers are in a league of their own.  But things changed last week when the sound from the Bose just quit with the control pod, that turns on and off the system, and adjust the volume,  froze up.  Shutting down the speakers and unplugging the connections seem to work at first, but then that fix failed.  When I called Bose, they were quick to answer: that it was the control pod.  I ordered a replacement, very reasonable.  But that meant that  my sound system was going  down until the part arrived.  Now what, I cannot be without my music.  When the Bose support person told me that it would take about seven days before I would receive the replacement part, I knew I had to find a plan b.   Then out of nowhere,  I remembered that I  had another speaker system, that had sat on the shelf for years.

Back in the mid 1980’s I spend some $1,200 for a per of ADS L1290  tower speakers, powered by a NAD 7140 receiver.  Each speaker weighs 75 pounds and has two 8.3 inch woofers, a 2  inch soft- dome, and a 3/4 inch soft-dome tweeter.  I have not  used these speakers  for many years ago.  The reason is that once I started to work with computers, I needed my music and that meant I needed computer speakers, and of course that excluded the towers.  Anyway, their huge, and I did not have the space, especially, when I started to paint in a small bedroom.   They have basically been in the way, getting a little beat up, and having dust thrown at time during the remodeling.  In fact when we moved to our current home in 2009 I offered to sell them to a college guy helping us,  for $50 dollars.  He turned me down.  Boy, was I lucky.

With my Bose down, I ran to Radio Shack and bought a 3.5 mm to RCA cable.  Dragged and lifted those big babies into my studio, hooked it all up to my computer, and WOW what a difference.  To start with these ADS speakers are even today in a class by themselves.   Their sound is outstanding, and  matched with the NAD receiver, everything is so clear and clean, no  ported woofer here.   I cannot tell you how much better these towers are over the Bose.  It is like I have taken the wax out of my ears. The difference in listening depth between these ADS and the Bose,  is remarkable.  You hear everything with the ADS speakers, no frequency escapes them.  The sound is multiple dimensional.  It is like I am in Music Heaven.

OK, back to this Artwork.  It is gorgeous.  It is  because it represents that time in Spring when everything is fresh and bright, clean and clear.  This artwork is unique in that there are three layer of depth to this work.  It is hard to see,  but going from left to right with the right canvas being the first layer here is how it goes:  Canvas A first layer, canvas B first layer, canvas C second layer, one layer back, canvas D also one layer back, canvas E three layer  two layers back,  canvas F back to one layer back, and canvas G back to the first layer.  What is happening here is that as the music drops in pitch so does the artwork Then when it comes back up so does the last canvas.  Also I like the evolution of the rectangular beams.   I particularly think that those little stripes running through them create an extra dimension.  Previously mentioned , I do like the way those, half oval ties, turn out.  Again this style is a tribute to Cy Twombly.  And finally, I will certainly be using my home-made tools to spread the backgrounds out, hopefully more evenly on the next work.

I have contacted a Chamber Orchestra in St. Paul Minnesota about getting their permission to use their Four Seasons music at my Vivaldi’s show, sometime in 2015.  I would not be blame them if they never answer me back.  Who am I?   If I do not receive an answer from them in a couple of weeks, I will contact them again, maybe explaining myself a little more clearer, especially  how I would use their music.   This is  a learning experience,  to see if I can develop contacts in the music industry,  and to see how hard it will be  to get their permission to use their music.  I see nothing but benefits for the music and the artist, but now most musicians would certainly feel that I need them more than they need me.  So that means, I have to work twice as hard, and three-time longer to prove that I am for real.  To build credibility, and prove the benefits of this art will take the goal to the next level.

Listening to New Order – Sub

Winter – Tori Amos

Abba – SOS

Chopin Etude In E, Op.10/3 Tristesse

Scott Von Holzen