The Tom Petty tribute painting, Running Down a Dream, is finished with a big Woo Hoo! Woo and hoo do not show up in any of the lyrics, but they repeat a remarkable THIRTY times throughout the song. Okay, they are not the best lyrics of the song. My favorite line is ” me and Del were singin’ little Runaway.” But, woo hoo, sets the mood of the song, and reminds me of my Mustang days when driving could be just that, driving. I do not do that anymore. Now, when I am in my car it is to go get stuff, and that is about it. That reminds me of a favorite lyric quote from the famous, and missed, Leon Cohen:
“Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way”
This is an interesting looking, non commercial, non living room, artwork. This is also the first time I have altered the stems of my music in a way that is totally non sheet music like, and surprise it still works. In the past the vertical look of the stems as the move up and down following along with the music, was the obvious choice. What changed with this painting began with using extra small solid color canvases and then filling space with the metal frame. That got me to thinking that inflating the size and even going horizontal with the stems would add some bulk, improve interest, and fit the look and the mood of this artwork. Because of their size I than could decorative the stems to add contrast with the canvases. For their colors I found them on the album and single covers.
A lot of the other colors used for the painting come from Tom Petty’s other albums and his performances. For example, the red used for those little circles inside the large bronze circle openings comes from the color red used in a number of Tom Petty’s albums, including Damn the Torpedoes.
Woo hoo, this completes this project in time to move on to this years Christmas Painting, which will be Silver Bells.
Scott Von Holzen
aRT iN mUSIC 