Tag: Music

S_V_H Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons – Autumn – allegro image5

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

This is image 5 of this prolong task of creating a painting of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Autumn – Allegro. The larger image is another attempt at Photomerge using Photoshop.  The technique is improving, but for now, only good as a snapshot image.

The words of this work are ” Celebra il Vilanel con balli e Canti.”  Which roughly means “The country-folk celebrate, with dance and song.” You can see the beginnings of the words ‘Vilanel’ and ‘con’ in the image above.  The words are boxed in to give them their own style, to help them stand out, but also to fit with the color scheme across the bottom of this artwork.  When I use the words ‘own style”, that is a part of the philosophy of this art.  The short explanation is that all the major painted elements of an artwork are painted in ways to best set each a part from the rest. Of course, it all works together, but that does not have to mean blend together.  Every artwork grows from the last, but demands its own identity.  It has always been that way.

Now, I would like to explain the two other major elements of change in this painting.  The first are those large dark notes.  There are six groups of these notes.  The reason they are darker, slightly larger, and painted with less detail,  is that these notes  represent the slowing down of the movement in this artwork, as they do in the music.  Of course the  music tempo is quite fast, notice the comets inside the notes that spin the music,  and since these dark notes represent eighth notes the amount of pausing,  is real, but barely noticeable.

The other addition to this work is all those colorful squares that goes every which way.  Again, they are seeking their own look, different from the upper and lowing sections of this artwork, where you see  squares and rectangle, that represent  fall colors.  In the middle the color choice was anything but the natural colors of fall, and the images work with the rest of the work, but do more than just that.  All those colorful shapes help to hide the boring background, and work will with the music to help keep up the fast pace of this six seconds of Vivaldi’s great music.

This artwork has gone way over its normal time for completion, because of  my obsession with the Music Theory class I am taking, and the fact that on Monday is the Midterm exam.  Although, I like the class, and like atmosphere of learning from a good Teacher, and the other students, it is taking its toll on me.   I did not realize that I would being taking this course so seriously.  After some deliberation I realized that I have no other choice  but to see it through to December 20th.  I have taken my passion for this Art and put it to good use in my studies, for now.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons – Autumn – allegro image4

Published on by Scott Von Holzen3 Comments

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons – Autumn – Allegro. This is my first attempt at Photo merge using Photoshop, and there is room for improvement, but not for today.

I mentioned in the video that I am taking a Music Theory class at the local campus of the University of Wisconsin.  It is challenging,  that consumes an enormous amount of my free time, and the free time that I have left to work on this painting has been drastically cut.  It is worth it.  This class only lasts through December, so I will be back deep into the Art soon after,  with a greater depth of understanding of the structure, and the harmony that is music.

Listening to Dave Brubeck – Take Five

Until that time, lets move on and talk about the music of this great composer.  The more I listen to classical music the more Vivaldi’s music rises in importance and meaning to me.  I still have Mozart and Chopin, along with Bach and Beethoven, but ….aaaaaaaaaaaa….Viavldi your music reaches deep inside.

As far as my progress on this work, the beams,  which are discussed in the video, have greatly improved the emotional impact of this work.   To not make the disruption of the beams too predictable there is a change with the last set.  I pulled them back  away from the increasing breaking apart that is occurring as you follow the music.  By painting this last set of beams, not so much as flying apart, but as cracked pieces, they have halted their destruction. This than lets these 6 seconds of music to end, and the flow to continue  into the next measures.

Listening to Vivaldi’s Great Concerto for two Cellos in G minor, RV531.  When it comes to Classical Music it does not get any better than this,  with only Mozart at times its equal.

Aimee Mann’s – Little Tornado

Next up, is finishing the cracking beams, painting in the words, which will be interesting because they, at times will move over the beams, and work on those violet note heads, giving them more depth, character and speed.

Listening to Jack Johnson – Upside Down.

Scott Von Holzen

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons – Autumn – allegro image3

Published on by Scott Von Holzen

Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons – Autumn – allegro the fifth is a series of thirteen artworks that will represent these four great concertos.  When you enlarge the image you are seeing about nine and one-half of this fifteen foot (4.57m) canvas.

Since this is the first music of the Autumn concerto there is a lot of bright fall colors, but interestingly when you read the sonnet for this allegro it is about the celebrating the harvest with plenty of liquor that ends with the country-folk heading off to sleep.  The words chosen for this artwork are from the first line of the Autumn sonnet, with one translation being, “The country-folk celebrate, with dance and song.”  The feeling of the rest of this paragraph does speak to the coming of the night, maybe referring to the arrival of shorter, cooler days. Because of this feeling of change in the air the colors of this artwork move from the bright to darker; but too dark.  The darkness of  Autumn was the theme in an early artwork.

A personal note: I am taking a class in Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin, which will consume a lot of effort and time, including painting time.  The thought is this will enhance my understanding of music which will improve my art. It should also give me a better understanding of the piano, and maybe even improve my play.  So far, it has been a lot more difficult class than I thought it would be, so the rewards may also be greater than I anticipated.  That is if I survive.  Already two people have dropped out. But that would not be my style, for I am in it for the very long haul.

Scott Von Holzen