Tag: Antonio Vivaldi

S_V_H Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons(Autumn)adagio molto image2,3&4

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Autumn  II. Here is the Wiki link.  Scroll down to the Media section Autumn Movement II.  This canvas is 9 feet by 36inches (2.75m x 1m), so a 1000 pixel image, although bright on this screen, fails to capture the emotion and impact of the work. That is why all Art needs to be seen and not leafed through. Of course that does not explain my library with a large number of art books that have be collected over the last 40 years. It may be better understood to  known that I live in an area where  art masterpieces are scarce.   I remember once a long time ago, living in another small town, there arrived a tour bus at the local library. I was able to enter its narrow walk way and see my first Renoir. It was a small portrait, but that visit must have meant a lot to be still remembered, lets say again 40 years ago.

Listening to classic British rock the Zombies – She’s Not There.

The idea of this background is to make something special to the theme of this music, which is the quiet that comes with dusk.  Again, it would be nice if this background could stand alone as its own artwork but, I just do not see this happening.  Also, after the music is applied that background will be adjusted help push the music along, to increase interest, and to help dramatize this work.  At less that is the early thinking.  Everything evolves, especially the plan.

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Update with a 1500 pixel full image.  The background was at a finished point that it was thought it was time to lay down the music.  That is when the problems occurred.   It was discovered that there was not enough room to spread the music across this canvas.

In these canvases the music that is stylized is based on the voice or the G clef which is also called the Treble Clef.  But in this Vivaldi work it was important to the feel of this music to include interpretations of  two G-clefs and the bass clef.  In this Classical musical piece that would be Violino Principale along with Violino Primo, and for the bass you have the Alto Viola.

Well, there was a miss count and the amount of space that would be needed to represent this music with the length came up short.  After a lot of going back-en-forth, from adding on top of the original background different sizes of canvases, to reducing the size and spacing of the music, it was decided to stay with the original plan, and simple attach on a fourth canvas to the original three.

This piece will be painted a dark Prussian Blue to build a dramatic end to this music which softy fades out. The idea of placing a riser canvas on this work, just did not go with the music,  because much of the ending flows quietly through a number of bars.  The concern was not to break that flow, so that is why this one feet by 3 feet section was added.  Since this added canvas is slightly wider in depth, that extra depth was pushed forward to help make this section of the work stand out even more.

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons image4 1500 pixels or ten feet (3m) in length.  As you can see this work has moved in a different direction, and now beginning to take on its own look.  It started with the painting of the left panel with a Prussian Blue wash, that lead to the free hand addition of the darker Prussian strips. That looked worked so the obvious next step was to heavy line the flat upper magenta color band.  That work, which lead to the additional lines across the lower bass section.  Next the hard orange line across the middle seem out-of-place and too reminiscent of the orange bars across the magenta.  After some failed attempts, a dark Prussian blue was used  that seemed to pull the canvas towards that final vertical Prussian add on.  It all worked with the final free handed lines being added to the top and middle sections.  The loosely handed addition of these lines across all of this work brought back a  touch of the feel of Mark Rothko, the artist that is a foundation of this art.

Now, it is a number of days later, so although there are no new pictures for this blog, it is important to know what is going on in my head. Most of this music is composed of half-notes , which is unusual for most music.  So, looking at what has been done in the past, the thought was lets fine a new idea.  I did, with the help of Leon Polk Smith.  Here is his image on ArtNet.

So, what has been going on the last few day is that I have started with Polk’s 30 inch work as an idea and turn it into 80mm circles to represent all the half-note music that flows through this Vivaldi piece.  Looking at the progress so far you would be hard pressed to see Polk’s influence, but it is there and credit must have its do.

Looking ahead it is easy to see  that a lot of this background is going to disappear with the addition of the many musical ties that musicality make that smooth sound from the start to the very end of this piece. Another realization is that this simple, musical piece is going to end up consuming more then average time, and will end up being a highly complicated visual artwork, a lot simpler to listen to then to paint.

Listening to Ray Charles – How Long has This Been Going On

Love from the Moulin Rouge Soundtrack

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons(Autumn)adagio molto image1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen1 Comment

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Autumn – Adagio Molto 3  panels 108 inches (2.74m) by 36 inches(.91m).  The first image is this series is the single hard line that is there to hold the entire work together, no matter what else is done. Nothing special here.

Listening to Meat Loaf  – Objects in the Rear View Mirror.

Next is image two.  The thought here is to follow the the lines from the Autumn sonnet. Using H.C. Robbins Lando’s translation from Vivaldi Voice of the Baroque it reads:
Each one  renounces dance and song
The mild air is pleasant
And the season invites every increasingly
To savour a sweet slumber.

B.B King – The Thrill is Gone,  classic pop Blues.

The words that that were chosen for this work are from the second line.  The look of this work come from the fourth line.  The theme of this canvas is the coming of evening.  This third image shows this better with the top related more to the setting sun on the horizon. The bottom and left side of this work are painted to represent the base notes, and the gradual onset of evening.  At less that is the idea and direction of this canvas for now.

T.I. –   Big Shit Popin’

The second and third image are rough.  It is a surprise that all of these works start out much this same way, and how in the end they are refined to a level that fits the subject matter. Since this work is challenging past techniques, and styles, a clear direction is unknown.  A lot of thought is going to be given to what has been done so far, and what to do with it next.  We will see what happens tonight, but for right now there is concern.

The Doobie Brothers – Rockin’ Down the Highway.

Judy Collins – Amazing Grace

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons(Spring)” Largo finalimage

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

This finishes the second canvas in this thirteen part series the painting of Vivaldi’s  The Four Seasons. This canvas is just over 120 inches(3meters) in length with a maximum height of 26.5 inches.  This painting was finished last evening but over an hour was spent today for touch-up.  The goal is never to perfect the paint. It has been only to give a good first impression of a quality technical effort.  Perfecting my painter skills will never be goal.  If it was then I could have painted this work on a computer, which would have fail miserably. From a viewing distance these lines looks perfect, but it is the moving in and seeing all of their imperfections that gives the artwork a personal depth.  That is the IT of art. That is especially important if all of those tens a thousands of brush strokes have been applied by a single hand.

Listening to B.B King – Paying the Cost to Be the Boss

Simon & Garfunkel – The Dangling Conversation

Blues Is the Road – Sonwy White and the White Flames

The Bee Gees – You Should Be Dancing

Some final thoughts on this artwork:  it has been a  surprise to see how well this canvas turned out.  Understand, this music on its own, would never have been a choice for this artist to spend over a month to complete.  Of course checking the play count Vivaldi’s Spring Largo has been played well over 60 times which did help to sink it in, and with familiarity comes understanding and appreciation.

The Verve Pipe – The Freshmen

The different colors for my notes work well even though the bright colors are only on the outside. The thought was to have them represent a variety of spring flowers.  Painting the insides with more common varieties of greens, slows the movement down  and locks them in with the background. The words speak about a pastoral of spring flowers.

The swirling light violet lines above the music are quite different from my ties in the previous canvas. They pop quite well out from with the stripped blue shaded rectangles. This style will carry over, as a rejection of  Summers Alegro Non Molto ties that now seems used up. The other ties that are darker in violet without  the added contrasting background look good, and let those more important ties, that are the heart of this music have the importance they deserve.

The far right with the vertical blue stripping,  and my two  half notes  which with that stripping,  are there to slow down the works final movement.

Above is a personal depiction of what is called a trill that is heard in this work. That small addition took more time then expected to create. The drawing with the use of heavy paint, and complementary colors reinforce the  feel of this musical ornament.

The signature is more modest on this canvas, and yet enough to help balance the side..

Bach: Concerto for 4 Harpsichords in A Minor, BWV 1065 -Mvt 1  A favorite that will be painted.

Tori Amos – Little earthquakes

Bob Seger – Night Moves  revives ones youth.

Van Morrison – Domino

Next up is the challenge, a real challenge, the second part of the Autumn concerto, Adagio Molto, which means very slow.  Yes this music is slow and not that interesting.  This is the third in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and also the third middle movement. There is a reason.  This series is a growing and learning process, and these smaller, less riskier parts of this great music give this artist the opportunity to stretch out,  trying different techniques, and  ideas that will evolve this style. There is still a lot of discovery yet to come.

Art is about the Art of.

Scott Von Holzen