Category: Jazz

S_V_H Miles Davis, So What, image 2

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

The idea for the style of this artwork comes from Jackson Pollock’s painting Blue Poles. His painting is about 6 feet in height and about 16 feet in length. By using the look of Pollock’s blue poles I have finally broken the from-the-beginning tradition of always having perfect vertical shafts for my music.

Jackson Pollock

 

There are eight blue poles in the Jackson work, but So What has eighteen notes.  To make the number differences work I made my first and last notes vertical.  I then used two notes to match the angle of each blue pole.  I did stay consistent with the back-en-forth motion of his poles, even through their rhythmic look I thought I could improve on.

The effect of not keeping everything vertical was to enhance the sense of motion across the canvas.  That technique may have possibilities beyond motion attempts that I have used in the past.  I knew this painting years ago.  I should have tried Pollock’s idea then, although today’s timing could be better. Lately, I have found ways to loosen up many of my self-inflicted restrictions, that I hung to from the past. Finally, I even did some experimenting, once again,  with splattering paint.  I found out, once again,  that for now, that technique does not work. Baby steps.

 

Scott Von Holzen

 

 

S_V_H SO What image 1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

This is my 2017 Birthday painting:  So What. This artwork theme comes from Miles Davis album Kind of Blue. I have linked a live version of this music.  This early television video of Miles Davis is strangely different from how it would be done now. Today, everything needs to be short, not so deep,  and in the moment to not lose the audience’s attention.  Back in 1959 that moment lasted for over nine minutes:

So What,  consists of 9 canvases for a length 70 inches.   The  largest canvases are only eight by ten inches.  I am looking at this artwork to be a directional changed.  Once again, I am on the move with the inspiration being Jackson Pollock and his abstract painting Blue Poles.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Fine and Mellow image3

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

fine&Mellow_4

Fine and Mellow has been slowly coming together. The words for this artwork are, ‘love so fine.’  Billie’s words are, “He’s so fine and mellow.”  I have filled, with a few extra pieces of music, that colorful bowl on the far right, that ties the music.  Also, I would have liked the music flow, the circles, to have been larger to fill more of the background space. I did enlarge the  music from my original plans, but that had it limits.  What I have done since this image above, is in the spaces between the music, I have added extra stripping. Hopefully this adds interest, and improves the feel of a dark, imaginative, smokey bluesy atmosphere, of this artwork.

The pace of this artwork has been so slow, because much of my free time, my artist time,  has lately been consumed by practice, not my drawing skills, but expanding my musical skills. My artistic focus is music. Music to listen to, music to be painted, and now music to be played, on the piano, the alto saxophone, the violin, and the blues guitar.

The violin  is new to me, this last spring. I eventually see it playing Classical music.  The alto saxophone, also new a month or so ago, it is my Jazz instrument.  The blues guitar, came out of nowhere when I heard of the death of B. B. King.  I did play the folk guitar in college, so I have some history with the guitar, but playing the Blues, where all American music begins, will be my newest experience with music. The Last instrument is the piano. I have played a little keyboard, on an off for years, starting at the age of 7 years with the accordion.  My thinking is the piano is to key to understanding music theory, and is the instrument that, for me, brings everything about music together. The piano plays it all from B. B. King to Vivaldi.

Fine and Mellow is near completion, for I really do not know what else I can do with this painting. I would like to do more with it, but I am not sure what.  That means, pretty much as is,  I will have a final image out in a couple of days.

Scott Von Holzen