Category: Music

S_V_H You Raise Me Up final image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

youRaiseMeUpFinal

You Raise me up 99 inches of all Christmas.  What is not to like about Christmas and Christmas Artwork. You see those two candy canes in the above image?  In the world of music they would be 16th notes, like these:

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In pointing this out I hope you can see that the real music is only a starting point, and that the artwork opens up into many different directions. I could not have it any other way, for copying sheet music to canvases would be boring, and meaningless.  It is how I see that music and how I depict that flow of the sound that is important, and what my objects, can and do not represent, has not substance, except in my mind. This has all to do in understanding the difference between art and wall decoration.  A Jackson Pollack painted by Jackson Pollack is art, but a Jackson Pollack painted by your local zoo animal is not. And a simple answer to the why of this is, because when a zoo animal paints an abstraction there is no subconscious attention to detail.  What separates art from imitation, is the artist grasping what cannot be held and knowing exactly how to use it to free the artwork from being absorbed by the wall.

This artwork is the largest Christmas work that I have done. Starting this series in 2006 with a single two feet by four canvases, we have now arrived at six panels and almost 100 inches in length. This painting grew so large because I needed to use two sentences from the music, “I am strong when I am on your shoulders.  You raise me up to more than I can be.”  It was obvious that the strongest words are “I am strong.” and “I can be,” and worked in perfectly to start and end the work. They also best describe my favorite Uncle who ill. Still this work could have easily been over ten feet if my flow notes would have been my normal 70 to 80 millimeters wide. In order to shrink this music, to a size that would fit my timeline, I dropped their size to 55 millimeters with 5 mil between. It is still big, but done.  My art is all big. I believe that is an issue, for most collectors do not have large empty walls, or they would not want one art piece dominating, like all these artworks would certainly do.  It is a concern for me.

Remember back to that uncomfortable situation I walked into at the U W of Madison Marathon campus, while walking with my music Professor down the hallways of the music department. He told me several times the different possibilities for hanging Blue Rondo that would not worked because the artwork did not fit. Then he walked me into the orchestra room and I thought here was a big space. That quickly turned to disappointment when he again began eliminating walls, until the only place left was ten feet up, above the windows. Well, after of months of waiting for him to call and tell me that the wall hangers for the painting are ready, I have changed my mind.  I am taking Blue Rondo back, and I will have a new construction for them.

BlueRondo

What I plan on doing is to paint another Dave Brubeck masterpiece, Take five.  Take Five is one of my penny paintings I did when first starting out.  This new version will consist of five panels and with a length of 60 inches, by no more than 24 inches in height. I will let the professor know, of my change of thought, when finished. Blue Rondo hopefully can be sold for $1600.00. The other option, for now, would be to hang Blue Rondo behind the front desk at the Jefferson Street Inn, downtown.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H You Raise Me Up image4

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

raisemeup4

This artwork, You Raise Me Up main components are in place. It is rough because there is a lot of clean up and finishing still to do, but what you see is a good look at what the final work will be. I part of the music that I would like to mention, is the lyrics, and how I pick them from the music. This sentence from the music appears over an over again in this music:

“You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up… To more than I can be.”

What I try to do is first to find a part of the music that would be interesting for me to portray. Usually I look for a short phrase from the music that has a sharp beginning and an end.  I may find a couple of potential pieces of the music that might work. I then look at the length and the words that are in the music. The length is important, for lately  I have trying to keep these smaller works under six feet. If I can keep the size down I then look at the words from that part of the music, and what combination I can use that when read together no longer just represents the music. In other words I choose the words carefully so that they are not apart of any particular piece of music.  My chosen words in my artworks can be found in any common conversations.  In the case of this music I choose the words “I am strong I can be.” Sure they can be found in the music, but the way I have placed them in the artwork, their meaning can be from the music, or their meaning can mean many, many other things. As always, I make it a must to separate the music from the art.

Talking about words brings me to a correction, or better an addition to an earlier blog post where I mention three things that separate this art from others, let say. Those three things are the number of canvas and they ways they connect.  The second is the backgrounds on these canvases are in many ways different form each other to the point that if separated each canvas could stand on its own. The third point is the way I portray the music that goes across all the canvases, and how that brings everything together as one artwork.  I need to add the fourth item, the words.  How could I forget that.  My words not only can capture the emotional feel of the music, they also can go beyond the music by reaching out the viewer and pulling them close in.  When words appear in an artwork I pick them carefully, to present the broadest range of emotional impact, which I hope will enlarge their meaning way beyond even the music.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H You Raise Me Up image3

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

raisemeup3

You Raise me up this is the third image of this largest Christmas painting I have created.  Usually, I do not try to do anything fancy with Christmas painting.  The reason is that I am under a lot of time constraints, that I ignore because time is my less concern when creating a new artwork.  Of course, when it is two weeks before Christmas time does become important.  There is a lot of work to do besides completing the artwork, with Barb helping to make sure they get mailed out in time.

My first job is to complete the artwork, then I have to spend much time cleaning up the artwork.  That means touching up, cleaning up, fixing, and cleaning the artwork.  Next is the photograph.  I try to take the finish artworks portrait outside, but the light is short this time of the year, so that means I  can only do it on weekends, and this weekend, such as the temperature that I walk three miles in was nine degrees above.  Once I have the photograph, next up comes the work in Photoshop to create a credible image of the artwork, which take time.  Next up, is to design this years Christmas Card, which I do in Illustrator. This starts with last years Christmas card, and tweaks  to the design, with this years music’s words placed on the cover. Designating and printing the card and takes several days. I print just the needed number of cards plus three extra which I keep. The printing of the artwork then is next, which can go good or bad.  Once I have the master sheets, usually three pictures per, with Barbs help, I carefully cut out the images to fit the cards, sign and number them, which is a stressful exercise.  I attach the image to the card using a safe glue that I spread lightly along one edge, align,  and finish by placing a weight on the cards. We address the envelopes, based on a list of people who I have put together earlier. The next day we start with numbered image four, and always using some thought about who should get what numbers, Barb and I put the cards and the envelopes together, and the next day Barb mails them out.  Anyone who has bought, and still owns an original artwork will receive a Christmas card.  Then there are close relatives and occasionally a few special cards go out to those that have touched by life this last year in a positive way.

You raise me up, is a powerful song with a message that can stretch beyond the Christmas Season.

Scott Von Holzen