Category: Modern Art

S_V _H Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons – Winter Allegro Mvt 3 image 2

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

WinterAllegro3Image3

Making progress on the flow of the music for this Winter Vivaldi, after fixing an error. On the far right of the artwork I have two groups of eight 32nd notes. After a lot of measuring for spacing, I drew them in and then gave them some weight using different shades of blue.  Next up I ran the tape to define the beams of these notes. I soon discovered that instead of eight notes I have only drawn in seven, on the far right canvas. Somehow all my math, in the end had been wrong.

I first thought that the easiest solution would be to add another canvas, but I have no six-inch by twenty-four inch, which would be ideal. The smallest size canvas that I have is a twelve by twenty-four inch, which would have left a lot of wasted space. I could have continued the next group of thirty-second notes, cropping at the end, which would have worked, but I dropped that idea. I already have an artwork over 17 feet in length, that was already in the way of the entrance door. The right solution then,  was to over paint the notes, which I did, and that turned out surprisingly well.

You are seeing the large amount of taping done to create the sharp edges I like for the stems of the music. As mentioned in an earlier blog entry, I changed from free hand painting of the stems to the sharp edges because I began to see the stems as a way to better represent how the music flows.  By giving them hard defined edges that just reinforce this sense of the music flowing through them as you follow across the canvas.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Take Five image 1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

TakeFive1

Take Five, the classic music of Dave Brubeck. I originally, painted this work early in my music career, back in 2006. I have returned to it, to offer it as a second choice for the University of Wisconsin Marathon music department.  I first offered them Blue Rondo á La Turk last year, but because of a lack of room for such a large canvas there has been this long delay.  The hope of the Professor, back then,  was that some new remodeling would open up a wall, but that did not amount to as much change as first thought, and no good spot was found for the artwork.  So, when I recently received a new contact from the Music Department, apologizing for the placement delay, he asked if it would be possible for me to drop of the painting.  The Professor would keep it in his office, to help as a stimulus to update an area to accommodate the artwork. Over this last year, I have thought about the issues of finding wall space for large artworks.  So, what I have written back to the Music Department, is a new offer which will include this new Dave Brubeck work, that is a physically smaller artwork. The Professor will have the choice of either artwork.  My thinking is that the Take Five piece will be a lot easier to find a decent open wall for the artwork to hang.  But again, that will be the Professor’s choice.

I am working on the second image of Winter Allegro, with Take Five being worked on the side easels.   Nothing special going on with Take five, so far,  for I am still trying to get a feel for these canvases. I am keeping the look of Blue Rondo in my thoughts, for I thought that I might use a lot of the colors from that work, in this partner artwork.

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