Tag: Music

S_V_H My Back Pages image1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

This is the first image for a small artwork, My Back Pages.   Bob Dylan wrote the music for this artwork,  but I remember the song from listening to the band The Byrds.  The Byrds recorded a number of Dylan’s music, including Turn, Turn, Turn, and another favorite of mine, Mr Tambourine Man. I have always wanted to paint this music, mainly because of a line from the music:”Ah, but I was so much older than, I’m younger than that now.”   For me, they where words in a song that I liked and I guessed defined only as a 60’s feeling.  Today, I can probably best summarized their appeal by a quote by George Bernard Shaw “youth is wasted on the young.”

What convinced me to finally attempt this artwork was  this My Back Pages video, from 1992.  The video includes these artists: Bob Dylan, George Harrison (The Beatles), Neil Young, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Roger McGuinn (The Byrds),  and the back up band, Booker T & MGs:

I am using colors that give this painting that look of the 1960’s.  That means, I will be using browns, muted greens and blues.

One reason I picked this music  was that I could do a smaller work ( this one is under 27 inches in length), in a shorter amount of time. That did not work. It never works.  The size of an artwork only affects a predictable amount of time. The real unknown, and largest consumer of my time, is the problem solving in the constructing of these artworks.  That leaves me with my this reasoning behind doing smaller works, and that is that they are easier to store, and sell. Big artworks create a wonderful first impression, but since I am in the beginnings of adding Art Fairs to help promote this artwork, smaller paintings make sense in every way.  So there it is. Until I can find a Gallery to represent my work, I am becoming the weekend Gallery in a white tent. At least, I am not selling them out of the trunk of my car.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H LoveSong Final Image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
33.5 inches in length x 19 inches in height. Two canvases, aluminum and wood.

The subject of this artwork,  Lovesong,  is finished.  This is an adorable little artwork. Little also helps to cut the considerable amount of increase time that it takes to put together a three dimension painting.  By focusing on smaller paintings this helps to keep up a reasonable timeline, which good for my focus.  That is also the reason I only do one project at a time: I don’t want two projects to complete for me time.

 

The colors chosen are what I think works for the artist like Adele. I rounded much of the music to soften the look, and to give the painting a more feminine feel. The words are necessary generic, but interesting.  Since doing Gently Weeps, and because of reading the story about the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat,   I have added more words.

I have always thought carefully when adding words to an artwork, making sure that their meaning is more diverse than the music. Adding extra random words has finally lightened up this process up, besides adding interest. The solid color of the background puts the background right where I want it,  out-of-the-way.

 

I remember early in my artistic career  when I took the painting Fur Elise to the located Art Center in hope they  would display it in their gallery.  The work was decline.  The one comment that they made was that they thought the artwork’s interest would be too limited, appealing only to those with a music background.  Today, their point could still be valid. I don’t remember if I responded to them that day.  I doubt I did. Even today I am still not sure what I should have said in response.  I do know, that with each finished painting, I am once again spared the need to know what those words are.

Scott Von Holzen

 

 

 

 

 

S_V_H LoveSong Image 1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

This is the first image of the artwork LoveSong.  This painting continues the trend to smaller size canvases to accommodate larger music. The Cure released the song LoveSong in 1989.  The 80’s where a time that  I was busy so my appreciation of to music was hit and miss.  The only music I want to remember from that time came from Prince and Madonna, with the album Back in the High Life, by Steve Winwood being one of my first CDs. That sums up the 80’s.  So,  I heard Adele’s 2011 release of  LoveSong,   it sounded familiar, but I did not know why.

Here is The Cure’s LoveSong,  dated video, and for me, almost dismissive video:

Adele’s version, for me, takes this song seriously,  with a voice that is reminiscent of the best of the singers of  torch music:

 

This is my 59th YouTube video recapping two artworks: The Water is Wide and While My Guitar Gently Weeps review. In this video, like all the rest, I am trying to keep my production controls flexible and well within my non-existent budget.