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S_V_H It’s so hard to say Goodbye image 4

/ Scott Von Holzen

itSoHard_5The title of this artwork is,  It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye. This artwork, to my surprise, has gone from a  2015 closure piece to an experimental artwork.  For the first time all the music you see in the above image  I made from painted wood that rises at different levels above the background. I did not expect to be using this many pieces of wood in this work, but as the artwork progress using more wood seemed like the right thing to do. So that you can get a better feel for the why I used all of this wood here is another image that is an angled shot.

itSoHard_5b I wanted this artwork to interrupt this  sentence from the music, “And I’ll take with me the memories to be my sunshine after the rain.” That is the part of this music that sums up my feeling to all the events that occurred in 2015.  What I did not want to have is a long painting. This work measures over 52 inches in length, and at this time, I wanted to keep my artworks around that four-foot range.  In order to make that happen I discovered that I needed to find some way to compress the music flow. I could not do that on either end canvases, because  that is where the words will appear, and I considered the two end canvases the most important, with plenty of interest so I wanted their  look to be well done. That then left the middle of this music, where the interest is even more plentiful,  but lack words.  By switching to the little squares, instead of the circle to represent the music, I am treating this area of the artwork in a less formal way.  The results are that I am maintaining the flow, and  general look, but by simplifying and closing up the spacing in this middle canvas, I have saved space and time to complete.

Next up I have some final pieces of musical interest to add either in paint or in wood. Since I want to get this work done so I can start my 2016 paintings, I will have to make my decisions, probably based on what can be done that will have a nice look, but does not consume a lot of time to complete. This artwork has a start date of December 13th, so I can see why I am getting a little antsy to bring it to a close.

Scott Von Holzen

 

S_V_H Losing me Edge final image

/ Scott Von Holzen

losing My Edge _10This is the Final image of Losing my Edge.  The end came quickly, as everything came together.  Later, after my Birthday Dinner, I will go over the artwork and do touch up, and sign the back.  This was an interesting artwork much more experimental than my typical Birthday painting. This Birthday painting turn out to be a complicated project.  I am glad I took the extra day to paint this work. Doing it all in one day would have been too much.  I will have one more entry about this years Birthday painting, with a video discussing the artwork, and why I pick this music.

 

losingMyEdge_11Here is a view of this artwork from an angle so that it shows how the music floats about the background

 

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Losing me Edge image 9

/ Scott Von Holzen

losing My Edge _9Same this one shade of blue for the words, and that worked out perfect.  I was also able to find a spot for medium magenta with the curve line, a slur in music notation.  My last big change will be with the area around those  magenta square musics pieces that I have saved.  I have and idea what I want to accomplish, it is just that I have no idea how to make that happen.  For, like the beams, I may have to contend with trying one idea after another, while keeping a fresh damp cloth ready to wipe away my work.

Scott Von Holzen

 

S_V_H Losing my Edge image 8

/ Scott Von Holzen

losing My Edge _8I hit the wall with Losing me Edge.  I tried color after color, color on top of color, lighter and darker colors, and nothing was working on my beams, those long rectangles.  The one thing I did not do was remove my mistakes.  I dried the paint, and spread a new color over the old, using a number of techniques, leaving when possible little traces of the past. Finally, I went basic and that worked. I am back, and moving on.

LCD Soundsystem Losing My Edge:

 

Scott Von Holzen

 

 

S_V_H Fine and Mellow image2

/ Scott Von Holzen

fine&Mellow_3This second image of Fine & Mellow shows the music, painted using brighter colors, to separate it from the background. Different from my original thinking, this painting is not going to be a visual of a black and white video.  Instead the colors in this artwork are my emotional reaction to the video: the contrast of light and dark, and what I am seeing and hearing in the back-en-forth between the sounds from the musicians, and Billie Holiday’s voice. It turns out that a darker lower contrast artwork was just a first reaction to watching the video for the first time.

My first big color move came from the words  “He wears high draped paints_ Stripes are really yellow,”  which shows in the stripping of the beams.  Actually knowing my art,  how could I have left out bright yellow out of this artwork. That logical move changed everything.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Vivaldi’s Spring Allegro image4

/ Scott Von Holzen / 2 Comments

SpringMvt1_3

This is the fourth image of this 16 foot artwork, and the second to the last painting in the Vivaldi Four Seasons Series.  I must admit that after completing 11 of the 13 canvases for this series, that I am antsy to finish.  I have three smaller works that may turn into jobs, and I will have to drift off to hopefully lock up that business, so this work will take that longer.  My disappointment is that I have not finished this artwork. That means, sometime this fall I will start the last Vivaldi, and finished it hopefully, by late, late, fall.  I actually like to paint these Vivaldi’s during the season in which they are a part off, but that goal has slip away this last year.

I am still out on this work.  It is much different from past Vivaldi’s in that I am depicting three flows of the music. Most of my past Vivaldi’s I have painted only the violin movement only.  I have done a couple with two flows,  For example, I am thinking the Fall Vivaldi that I completed this last January. But this work is my only three-part picture. That make the smaller notes necessary, but because of their size, that leaves a lot of open spaces that I need to find a way to fill with some interest. Also, the choices for the background colors come from my notes and memories of this years spring; the apple blossom trees, lilacs bushes, rhododendrons, and spring weed colors. I have debated those chooses of colors, not feeling for the most part, pleased by them. I have, because of that, countered the background in the more free use of the color green with the music.

I am about three-quarters done with this work. My goal is to finish this painting by the end of September.

As for this years Birthday painting,  it has not sold yet, so it hangs beautifully in my other office closet at work. It is just fine that it is there.

Scott Von Holzen

 

S_V_H Vivaldi’s Spring Allegro image3

/ Scott Von Holzen

SpringMvt3

Vivaldi The Four Seasons, Spring Allegro. This large work 36 inches by 14 feet and I have completed the basic flow of the music.   Now that the music is all in place, those aspects of music notation that I consider the interesting part of the music, are up next.

For a good artwork to succeed,  I search out not only a musical phrase to paint, but that part of the music with a lot of musical things going on. In this artwork you have a lot of slurs, a pile of trills, and a large number of beams. Sheet music is boring and limited to facts, My interest goes way beyond by finding a way to portray a small musical phrase that speaks to the music, and has enough interest to capture the interest of the viewer.

The Ebay Auction is still gong on for this Years Birthday painting that I painted yesterday.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H All About Soul image 15 & 16

/ Scott Von Holzen / 1 Comment

allAboutSoul15

All About Soul 11:06pm. I would say have finished this work  Tomorrow, I will clean up the edges, and fill in color. For a small painting. Yes, this four-foot painting is small, considering right next to it is the mighty Spring Vivaldi that is 36 inches by 14 feet. Again, considering how small this work is,  it certainly took way more time then I thought would be necessary. The reason is that I painted All About Soul using my current style. In the past years, especially with the Van Gogh Birthday paintings, I found shortcuts to save time, which created a more spontaneous, that I needed to finish the artwork on time.  Today’s Birthday paintings I feel it is better to challenge my current style and see what new ideas I can come up with to cut corners and save a little time. Not sure that worked today. What I am sure of is that the way I paint got a good workout.

allAboutSoul16a

More thoughts on All About Soul tomorrow. The Ebay auction for All About Soul will continue for two more days. Just so it is in print, I never thought that an Ebay auction of my work was going to accomplish anything. It is too early for this art to make it way out there on Ebay.  Right now Etsy seems the better choice.

 

Scott Von Holzen