Tag: ART

S_V_H Bach BWV 988 – Aria image1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

AriaBWV988_Image1aAlong with a Waylon Jennings artwork I am also working on a second painting that will be hanging in the Grand Bach Hotel in Kyoto, Japan.  This new artwork will be another Johann Sebastian Bach work, BWV 988 the Aria from the Goldberg variations. And like the first work I sent to Japan in 2014 the owners are again very particular about the look of the art that decorates the hotel.

My first artwork for the Grand Bach was a lesson in compromise over creativity.  For that work I was given general color, with style direction,  along with a small early painting I did called Crossroads to use as my guide. As the artwork progress the client would politely asked me, through their intermediary, to makes changes from the updated images I sent them. When I finished the painting for the Grand Bach,  and sent the final image the owners where not pleased. They requested that I repaint all the green colored areas out of the work before shipping. I said I would not, for I had finished the artwork  (oh I was so young and naïve then). I offered to give their money back. After some discussion instead of compromising my artist vision (silly boy) I offered to create a new artwork in an incredibly short  week (I would never do that again).  Here are the two original paintings I created for the Grand Bach in 2014. Both artworks are 86″ in length x 56″ :

This is the second version that hangs in the Grand Bach reception area, Bach BWV 1065:

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I am standing in front of the original Grand Bach painting that now decorates my studio. This is Bach BWV 1014:

Bach&Me Looking at the Grand Bach website today, which at the time was not available for the than new hotel,  I can easily see that the color green did not fit in with the Grand Bach Hotel decor. I should have painted over all the green with some boring brown or rust, whatever they wanted, but that thinking is now, and not than.

This first image of Aria I have submitted for approval.  By agreeing to their terms of reviewing my progress I am knowing  dampening my creativity, and basically  creating an artwork based on acceptability.  This all seems counter to my artistic philosophy, but these two artworks for the Grand Bach Hotel in Kyoto Japan have been a valuable opportunity. They both have thrown me outside my little predictable artist world.  They both have forced me to develop new problem solving skills,  and both of these projects are an awakening when it comes to excepting commission works.

After submitting that first image I heard back from my intermediary who requested to totaling change the colors for the artwork, going contrary to their earlier preferences. Here is the updated first image, which is far different from their original color requests.  They ignored me when I pointed that out.  Out of frustration I finally ended up repainting the entire first image, losing two days of work.  I sent the new image.  They thanked me for making the changes,  and requested a new image when I started placing the music.

AriaImage2

I think it is somewhat odd that no one involved with either Grand Bach project even offered,  requested, or asked me about the Bach music that I chosen to portray.  I have given them wonderful Bach musical works, but for all practical purposes I could have given them Elvis’s In the Ghetto, and just told them it was Bach at his best.  Maybe I can save Elvis for a future commission projects as my cynicism, and artist confidence matures.  Overall, that it seems to me,  that their only concern is that the artwork matches the decor of the hotel like on the other decorations.

For all the rest of us that care about the music we like and not how it looks, here is the Bach BWV 988 Aria.   My artwork for the Grand Bach Hotel is the first 25 seconds,  played exceptionally by the eccentric Glenn Gould:

Scott Von Holzen

 

 

 

S_V_H Waymore’s Blues Image 1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

waymore1aThis is my first artwork based on a Country song by Waylon Jennings’s  entitled Waymore’s Blues. This is another of many examples that the root of America’s music originates from the Blues, including Country.

First up is the studio version of Waymore Blues:

Now, this is a lot more interesting live version.  I like the back-en-forth conversation Waylon has with himself and the woman next to him.  She certainly  has the country look,  that leaves me wondering what is going on here. Waylon seems a little unsettled, and out-of-place compared to her.

This artwork is 20 inches by 60 inches in length.  For the background I wanted to use colors that depict a Waylon Jennings style.   Shades of blues became the obvious choice to portray his rough blue jean look.  Looking for another color that choice became obvious: brown, for it is hard to ignore Waylon’s full head of hair. As a nice contrast I added a strip of Silver which I see around the rim of his hats. I also added to the background my own stylized version of Waylon’s logo, which you see it in many of his videos.

I know the color Black is also a dominate color for Waylon,  but I am saving black and white for the music.  Those colors come from his guitar.

Embed from Getty Images

 

S_V_H Purple Rain final image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen2 Comments

purpleRain_F

Purple Rain,  which I started from a suggestion on April 6th, I have now finished. The canvas is three feet by four feet in length. This artwork, following my current trend uses many add-on wooden features.  Besides using a lot of shades of purple and violet I search the internet to find as many images of Prince to get an understanding of his fashion look.  I then took as many of those colors,  and put them into this work. All of those circles, of various sizes, I custom-made and they, you guessed it, represent purple rain.

I have listened to a lot of Prince this last month. I have also felt a closeness to this work, and the thought of selling this artwork, will separate us, which I am having some doubts. I am seeing,  in the over one hundred music paintings that I have done, that certain artworks I should keep in my possession. Examples of those would be Thunder Road, Hallelujah, and I Won’t Dance.  Now, I am thinking about Purple Rain if it belongs with the few.  Hard decisions they all are, but selling some works is good for business, and even better than piling Purple Rain up with the rest of my unsold potential masterpieces.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I present Purple Rain, my unsure of artistic creation to the memory of Prince.

 

Scott Von Holzen