Category: Music

S_V_H Up On the Roof image4

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

upOnTheRoof4

Up On The Roof is a Classic Pop song written by Carole Kin, and first recorded by the Drifters in 1963. Years later it made it back to the charts with a recording by James Taylor in 1979.  I picked this song to paint, for some reason, somewhere, at some time,  I had good feelings towards this music. That feelings is constituent even today, every time I hear it.  I am not sure whose version I first heard, and fell for,  or when it made such a lasting impression on me.  Maybe, It is the lyrics or the way the words connect,  that puts it in my iTunes three stars plus list,  that now numbers 291 songs out of 20,000.

“When I come home feelin’ tired and beat
I go up where the air is fresh and sweet
Up on the roof
I get away from the hustling crowd
And all that rat race noise down in the street
Up on the roof”

For this artwork it was the next lines of this music that are the inspiration:

“On the roof, the only place I know
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Let’s go up on the roof
Up on the roof”

Of course this  music may have stuck in my head, because it is a rare pop song that has nothing to do with wanting, having, losing, or not getting it on with someone.  It is only about finding peace and maybe sharing it with another.

“And if this world starts getting you down
There’s room enough for two, up on the roof
Up on the roof”

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H UP On the Roof image2 & 3

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

upOnTheRoof2

Up on The Roof Image 2

upOnTheRoof3

UP on the Roof Image 3

Up on the Roof is a Classic pop song from the sixties and on. There has been a major change that you may find hard to see in the full images.  In the first image  the first two canvases butt together.  In image two, and now three, what you are now seeing is that I have separated the first two canvases using  canvas two as a first step up.  Canvas three and four then are each another step up. This is my first artwork with four different levels.  The obvious reason that I am stepping these canvases is to follow the flow of the music. This artwork is going to look interesting, on a wall. Right now, it is hard to hold the work safely on the easels, without adding an arm to let the artwork move out from the support.

Next up is to put in the musical flow.

You can buy a finish print of this artwork at a discounted price at my Etsy site for $30.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Vivaldi’s Autumn allegro 3rd mvt. image1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

4SeasonsAutumnAllegro3rdmvt1

This is the first image of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons,  Autumn Allegro third movement. This artwork consists of nine canvases for a total length of twelve feet ten inches. Since this is the last movement of Autumn, which is the season I am living in at this moment, I will be using a lot of the late  fall colors I see all around me. Today while out walking I picked up a number of leaves that I will keep for color references. What you are going to see in this background is a lot of earthy colors, faded greens, dirty yellows, and darker shades of red. The bright colors are for the music. I suppose it would be fine if I kept my entire pallet for this artwork like you see in the above images, but that would not be my current style. Generally, every color in the rainbow tries to find a spot in my works. Take a look at Keep on Loving you, and you will see what I mean.

I think this background will be fine for now.  Next up I will be applying a lot of stripping to give each canvas their own look. In their own strange way my strips relate to the lines of a staff in music notation, but the resemblance ends at that point.  I am not drawing the music I am depicting the flow only, but I do enjoy the comparison. The difference is my lines mean nothing, beyond adding interest to the artwork, unlike those five lines in a musical staff which represent a blank sheet of western musical notation.

The big think here is that I need to move a lot quicker with this work. Taking over two months to complete this one artwork, was not my original timing for this work. Stopping to do the Christmas canvas will slow this works progress, and because I am also working on a small work, all that is making me re-think a new Vivaldi in eight weeks. I could be destined to complete the first concerto of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, by the end of January.

Scott Von Holzen