Tag: ART

Body and Soul 3 panels 30 inches by 104 inches.  A week ago Saturday night, late and done painting, but not quit ready for sleep, and after some desperate  channel surfing, there on the PBS station was Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival 3 with performances by some of the best guitar players imaginable.  Although the begining was missed, I did catch the performance of Buddy Guy with Jonny Lang & Ronnie Wood, and it was amazing.  What followed was Jeff Beck and then Eric Clapton.  After that, I drifted away, but what each of these artist did to the music was astonishing.  Yes, always, the music was recognizable, but each of these guitar masters, added much, much, more to the music, than anything that would every appear on a piece of sheet music.  But what truly made this a musical experience, and a enlightenment for this artist, was watching the video and seeing the strong emotional reactions of these artist to the words and notes they were playing.  What became clear to this artist is that this art needs to perform in that same way.

Listening to Mozart – Piano Trio In E, KV 542 – 1 Allegro.

That brings us to the above image taken this last Saturday night.  Two things: those large circles, are an idea taken from and are a reflection of, the glass ball that hangs in the Vermeer painting Allegory of Faith. And second,  all those little bright balls, around the bulbs bring back long ago childhood memories, of the passion for the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

Listening to Luther Allison – Blues with a Feeling

No use trying to explain the why of  “two things” beyond that all art and all artists build on the art and the experiences of the past.  And that idea is on display in the image above in the eighth and sixteenth notes that are being depicted in a manner that is truly unconventional.  Like the guitar riffs of Buddy Guy and Ronnie Wood, or the jam sessions of Charlie Parker, the job is to find the means to abstract music in ways that jam it up. Those colorful little planets are the current example of finding a small piece of that way forward, and learning from the past.

Finishing with The Beatles from Revolver – She Said She Said.

Scott Von Holzen

Body and Soul 3 panels 30 inches by 8 1/2 feet.  Some of the words where dropped from this image.  One reason was that the words included the title of this work, which reflected the music, but not this art. Understand, the purpose of this art is to use musical titles as the hook.  What may not be understood, even by this blog writer, is that the music is just the starting point for what appears on these canvases.  It is the music that is the excuse to paint.  Painting gives this artist, the reason to listen for hours to a great variety of music including Sweet Jane by the Cowboy Junkies and Barbara Ann  – The Beach Boys ‘ party. Painting  music is the expression of the deep feelings of the important place that music has in our lives.

Working the the Canon 7D this image was shot without a flash, which was causing reflections in the upper middle.  Not much work was needed in Photoshop to remove the adverse local lighting, which means this camera is doing a great job with white balance, along with some modest custom settings. The left side of the larger image, appears to be darker, so maybe better bounced cards would have helped.

Listening to Get Out Of My Life Woman – Mel Brown and the Homewreckers.

The Website has just been updated, with Thunder Road and a large 1500 pixel image.  This painting hangs on the opposite wall of the easels just above Hallelujah.  The thought is that those two will remain in the studio until they get pushed out.  So far, they are holding there own.

Listening to Anfew Bird – Fiery Crash

From here,  later on tonight, the work will be with the stems and the beams.  At this moment there are no ideas what colors and shapes will be used.  The thought is to continue with the success of Heart of the matter and let the style evolve.   Sooner or later an idea will pop into view and a original look  for this canvas, will hopefully, appear after rejecting everything else.

OK…, listening to Gretchen Wilson – California Girls

Finishing this blog with Ani DiFranco – 32 Flavors

Scott Von Holzen

Body and Soul 3 panels 30 inches by 104 inches.   These backgrounds, it would be nice to see them eventually evolve were they could stand on their own as contemporary art. The original, yes, from the beginning,  style of the backgrounds was inspired by the art Mark Rothko.  Take a look at the first painting, Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 at the website and it is obvious, that Rothko doing his part to make this art work.  Of course, over time the desire to find a more unique background style that would better root the music evolved, in a look that floated the music across the canvas.  View the yellow and orange painting, Hey Jude or the Yellow California Dreamin‘  from 2007,  for two good examples.

Listening to Godsmack – Awake

The problem with this style that became obvious was that the music appeared to be disconnected entirely from the background. Only the use of color was holding the canvas together.   The solution was to bring back bands of colors.  You can see an example of a return to a post Rothko look, with the music High Hopes, a favorite still. This updated technique brought back the idea to use a part of sheet music which is the Staff or Stave ( a grid made up of five horizontal bands). What results on those canvases are imaginative bands of narrow rectangle shapes of many different colors,  that have no other purpose then to push the music across the canvas, to create interest,  and to unite entire work.  Those bands of colors are what you see today in Body.  From that, and onward, there still is a hope to find, one day, a way to finish these backgrounds that lets them stand alone as original works of art.

Listening to Bread – Aubrey.  Maybe this is a corny song, but for some reason, it is liked, and it felt.  Who knows, maybe there was once an Aubrey or someone, one time a long time ago, that aroused a memory of that music.  The remembered long ago lost love?  Such as it is, it lives on forever, no matter how many facts are forgotten.

I love Joe Cocker – and his wonderful You Can Leave Your Hat on from the movie 91/2 Weeks.

Bottom line is this background was resembling Hallelujah’s and it needed something to break it away, which is where those two medium magenta lines come from. But, I have seen magenta lines, like this before, so what else, if anything can be done, to push this background to somewhere else?

Chopin Etude In E, Op.10 No.3  and artwork and a most wonderful piece of music.

Hours later we have Madonna singing Jump.

Above is the 2nd edition of the final background image before applying the music.  It is now time to move on, with other changes to this background occurring till after the music has been applied. Those differences from image two where necessary to separate this artwork form the larger and strong Hallelujah background. This canvas now has its own identity.  Every work strives for that. It is time to see if the music can actually be made to fit.

Listening to This is How A Heart Breaks – Rob Thomas

Listening to Marvin Gaye – Sexual Healing

Finishing this blog listening to Early Mornin’ Rain – Peter, Paul & Mary

Scott Von Holzen