Tag: Music

S_V_H Zombie second image

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
The completed canvas background

I have properly connected the background canvases for hanging. I have also mounted the challenging handmade music control box, and attached the storage stands. The image above also documents the other in studio artworks that I use for reference. Besides Zombie, the artwork What’s Up is on the left. The artwork Closer is up against the back wall. The work Yellow is on the right, and the 2016 Waylon Jennings music Waymore’s Blues hangs on the back wall.

This is near the final draft cover music for Zombie using the notation software, Notion.

Having not listen to this cover music for a while, the sound surprised me. The start date for this cover was October 25th, with the last changes made on the 27th. Effort shows in the music’s edited transitional flow from the opening into the middle and then the break to the end. The process of working on the balancing of the instruments throughout the cover music was an added improvement beyond getting the notation right. Once I complete the physical part of this artwork, I will then transfer the notation to my DAW software to master it for the music box.

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H First image of the music box Zombie

Published on by Scott Von Holzen1 Comment
The Layout plan for music box Zombie ≈ L60.5″ x H42″

Once again, this is a small work. The music for this project is Zombie by the Cranberries. I have had an interest in this song for a long time, but I needed the right timing to spend the time to portray this music. That appears to have arrived. With the war in Ukraine and in Israel, and mass shooting after mass shooting in the United States, I felt why not? I am not trying to create a protest artwork, only living through my mood. That this music makes a statement can only add a little extra punch to the collateral damage that is priced in each of these projects.

The lead singer and writer of this music is the Irish singer Dolores O’Riordan. This song was her protest over the violence occurring in Northern Ireland. Researching the music and her story, I found, to my surprise, her tragic death at age 46. Knowing that, I hesitated to spend a month with this music. What made me move forward with this project was finding a dedicated cover of Zombie by Bad Wolves (never heard of them).

The girl in gold in the Bad Wolves cover comes from the official Cranberries Zombie video in which the girl is gold, is Dolores.

Another version of Zombie is by Brooklyn Duo. I thought would be a helpful to build my cover for it is also an instrumental. But all I took from their cover was the cello.

Over the years of painting music the primary requirement of the background was that it was long enough to support all the cover music notes that I was sampling. Then, in 2022, there was a noticeable change in my backgrounds. I wanted more depth in my work to truly separate my music notation from the flat two dimensionality of sheet music. I also felt that having my notation move out and back toward the viewer would better resemble the multi depths in the music’s sound. To help reach my artworks out from the wall, and also accommodate the speaker boxes, one simple technique I taught myself years ago was to stack my background canvases. The 2022 artwork, Crazy, is a good example of what I learned back in 2012. It was my Vivaldi’s Four Seasons series of thirteen very large artworks that I prominently developed this technique.

For this work I am using four different generic phrases that I found in the lyrics. I build their value on their repetitiveness. The viewer can either relate them to the original music, or let the repeating message they each represent mean whatever. For me I like the presenting my individual cursive style, that is or is not legible. That I couldn’t care less. My scribbling is fun, adds character and interest, and also depth to these artworks. What I write on these artworks directly connects me, and only me, to these paintings.

The main shape of the project Zombie

Scott Von Holzen

S_V_H What’s Up final image & audio

Published on by Scott Von Holzen
The project music box What’s Up final image. ≈L69.5″xH25″xD9″
What’s Up project music box’s cover music.

I find the color combination in this artwork challenging. The colors chosen for the canvases, the notes, and the stems all come from the 4 non-Blonds official video of this music. Looking at the video, the words “grungy girl rockin’ ” come to mind, represented by the artworks splashed on shades of black, gray, darker, deep reds, and brown. To offer a counter color theme, I applied 12 different pastel and soft colors here and there. These lighter, brighter colors represent a softer feminine pallet, adding interest and depth while reducing the color effects of the artworks’ main color theme. Because of the importance of this arts physical design, I use color as a tool to enhance the artwork’s appearance and not as the standalone theme.

I want to mention a little more about my repeating words that began with Don’t Give Up. Although they are difficult to see and read on this artwork, there are 15 dark shadow writings of both, don’t give up, on the main canvas, and 6 what’s up on the two smaller side speaker panels. On the main canvas, I have added 32 pink, what’s going on, and another twelve white on the speaker canvases. The total then is 44, somewhat legible, what’s going ons. The why of my use of repeating words is a long story. Those three words’ purpose here is to not to be overlooked, and not to let their meaning be only that of the music.

My chosen three words are from the music lyrics. I feel their use is okay since I see them as public language usage. Also, I could have taken, as I have done in the past, hours to handcraft them. I don’t have the time or patience for that anymore. Instead, I chose the unique look of my handwriting. A style of writing that fits well with the look and theme of this artwork.

Scott Von Holzen