Tag: Music

S_V_H Satisfaction Image1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

satisfaction_1a

Satisfaction is finally here. This is the first image of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, on two canvas 50 inches in length by 20 inches in height.  My first contact with the Rolling Stones was  one of their early albums from 1965 that my brother bought: December’s Children.  On this album where two memorable songs, for me, As Tears go By, and Get Off my Cloud. That turned out to be the last Rolling Stones album I held in my hand.  As I have mentioned, I was a Beatles fan in the sixties.

Today,  I have almost 100 Rolling Stones songs in my music collection which at first, made it difficult to choose the first song to paint.  Actually, it turned out to be easy for I a choose my most memorable Rolling Stones song: Satisfaction.  I remember listening a lot to Satisfaction as a Junior in High School. It was the perfect teenage bad boy, hello girls, anthem for our time.

Here is the 1965 video of Satisfaction, released the same year,  on the album out of our heads:

After picking Satisfaction I checked out a lot of videos of the Rolling Stones performing Satisfaction all in color. Boy do these guys look old, and wow I just could not relate to any of those videos. Then I ran across an early video version of Satisfaction. Watching the video It was like flashing back to my youth. I could see myself and my high school buddies all in black and white. I then took the color plan for this painting from this black and white video. What really sold me on this video was watching Mick Jagger dance around in his strip pants.  I took the vertical pattern in his pants and used it in my background of this first image.

Growing up in the late fifties and early sixties, I lived in black and white world. I grew up with Howdy Doody on black and white television. The movies I use to watch at the out-door theater in Arpin where black & white. I remember that The Creature from the Black Lagoon, scared the hell out of me for many nights.  I also grew up with black and white photography.  Even in school all of my teachers used white chalk on black boards,  and in high school the Catholic nuns all wore the traditional black and white robes. It was a black and white world back than.  Even today when I think back to those days,  there where colors in my life, especially in the late sixties, but in my high school years, looking back I am comfortable seeing my friends, my brothers, my parents, and my so-called Life all in black and white.

 

Scott Von Holzen

 

S_V_H Stairway to Heaven Image 1

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

stairway_1This is the first image for the artwork Stairway to Heaven, composed of three canvases 56 inches in length by 24 inches.  Over the years  I have considered, but never felt convinced, to paint this great rock classic song, or any other music by Led Zeppelin. I now realize that this avoidance reaches back to the day that my musical connection became personnel.

I was a sophomore in high school and on Sunday, February 9th 1964,  the Beatles, made their first black and white television American appearance, on the Ed Sullivan show.  It was the influence of The Fab 4 that formed my early musical tastes.  That meant that I ignored the music of Led Zeppelin which I considered to rough, to loud and to hard to listen to.  Instead I favored The Byrds, Crosby Still, Nash & Young,  The Mamas and the Papas, The Beach Boys, Ray Charles,  The Four Seasons, and Simon and Garfunkel, more so than The Rolling Stones, The Animals,  The Zombies, The Kinks,  Sly and the Family Stone,  Jimi Hendricks, or Janis Joplin. I do remember a moment when the influence of the Beatles was less when I made the rare album purchased of the 1970 record, Live at Leeds, by the Who.  To this day, though, I have no interest to listen to Heavy Metal music, or even classic Punk music.

After 46 years since its release I am now painting the music of Led Zeppelin one of the earliest hard rock bands.  Stairway to Heaven is a needed step forward in the broadening of my musical appreciation.

Here is the YouTube video where I found the color plan for this painting. Do not waste your time watching this entire video.  For all the positive reasons for liking a live music version I am afraid this example of Stairway to Heaven is awful.  Throughout this video I sense that Robert Plant is not into the music.  This is especially noticeable in the dramatic last section  of the song, after the guitar solo,  where Plant’s voice seems weak and disconnected from the music.

 

Here is the better studio version of Stairway to Heaven:

 

Scott Von Holzen

 

 

S_V_H Three Little Birds final image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

threelittlebirds_finalThis Bob Marley artwork, Three Little Birds is finished. This artwork is one canvas 36 inches in length by a most 18.5 inches in height.  In this final image I have added a couple of simple things to better connect this artwork to the life of Bob Marley.  The three braided cords across the canvas represent Bob Marley’s dreadlocks which he called his “identity.” The six-sided wood pieces  bunched together on two of my notes are symbols of Bob Marley’s love of soccer.

The depth of Bob Marley goes well beyond his musical talents. His  influence on Reggae music, his strong belief in Rastafari, his use of ganja,  and his political effect on the people of Jamaica have all made him a larger than life personality.  This artwork is nothing more than a simple tribute to the music of one of his more uplifting songs.

Scott Von Holzen

 

Here is a Link to buy a canvas print of Three Little Birds and over a hundred other artworks.

Up next, I am finally going to give up the fight and paint Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven. I have the urge to do a great Classic Rock artwork, and I just cannot ignore this monstrous Rock hit any longer.