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