Mozart Eine Kleinie Nachtmusik, K.525 Romanze Andante.   That is mouth full. Go here at YouTube to actually hear this music played by some very interesting and talented fellows. Again the images are somewhat brighter than reality.  The brightness is nice, but again a little too florescent.

Listening to Susan Tedeschi – Just Won’t Burn

There is a feeling that something is happening here with this artwork: that a very large door is opening up, and this artist is going to step through it. Before getting there this canvas has demonstrated that there is still this learning curve with the mixing of colors, to achieve the desired effects of depth and color.  More art classes would have surely help, but that time has past. For now on we will learn by doing, and doing again, and still, not satisfied, so doing it again, until it sinks in.  It is what it is. No one said this would be easy. I am sure even Mozart,  and Picasso had there moments when they had no clue what they were doing.

Listening to The Notorious MSG – Chinatown Hustler.

Still,  not happy with the two side brown areas, for they seem boring and lack interest.  The middle orange section has just been worked on to increase it’s intensity to try and match the photos, which seems like a strange idea. Later tonight work will begin on the beams and slurs where the fun will be.

Listening to Tony Bennett – The Way You Look Tonight.

Scott Von Holzen

Mozart ‘s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525 Romanze Andate, 5 panels  33 inches by 123 inches. The Photoshop job to replace the background along the top and right edge could use some refining, but this does not lessen the value of the additional two small panels.

These panels accomplishes three things: they give the work a sculptured 3 dimensional look, that also gives the artist new ways to emphasize the diversity in the music. Thirdly, and maybe the best of all reasons for adding panels on top of panels, is that it frees this artist  completely from the restraints of limited canvases sizes. Now, instead of fitting the music to the available canvas, the canvases will be chosen to fit the needs of the music.

What you see above is the drawing in of the flow of this great Mozart piece. Next up is the choice of head and stem color and hopefully some other new techniques to make this the standard for 2012. I am feeling a lossening up of the technique and colors.  This may be because of the viewing of the works of Sean Scully,  and maybe it has to do a little with the curiosity of Basquiat. It is hard to tell, but this direction is a good feeling for this artist.  We shall see.

Scott Von Holzen

Mozart’s K.525 Romanze Andante, 3 panel 30 inches by 10 feet.  For now this is the completed background, which is an abstraction artwork of its own  The goal of every painting is that each work is actually two artworks: an abstract background and the depiction of the flow of a particular piece of music.  It is hoped that together the two makes the one exceptional.

The finish of the background is  rough and with more contrast in shades.  The purpose of that is to keep the background interesting, as large parts of it are going to be covered by the music.  The thinking is that once the music is applied there will be a return to the background to give back some of the life taken away by the music, and to unite the two.

Listening to The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel

The best part about this work is its breaking with the previous paintings.  The desire is to keep heading in this direction,  and to not to return to the tried and proven.  This art needs to grow a lot before it is worth a second look, and this is the understanding that keeps pushing this artist, into the future.  It is the universal desire to know one self,  to see if there just may be something there, that can expose the real heart of the matter and your purpose in life.  Hum, good luck on that.

Listening to Crash Into Me – Debbie Comer

Next up is the drawing in of the music which should be done later on tonight.

Of note,  the movie Basquiat directed by Julian Schnabel was interesting and entertaining, but at times it seems unrealistic.  A better insight into the artist, is the documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child. Although Jean-Michel art has yet to make an impact on this artist;  he surely was an amazing talent, exceptional at the art of self promotion, living in the center of the art world, New York, and of course, a close friend of Andy Warhol. Wow, Basquiat was truly the artist in the right place at the right time.

Scott Von Holzen

Mozart, “a little serenade”  Eine Kleinie Nachtmusik, K.525 Romanze Andante, 3 panels 30 inches by 10 feet. The inspiration for this base comes from Sean Scully and this particular work titled Yellow Seal.  The reproduction above is a little bright and the reproduction from the link and in his book, Sean Scully A Retrospective, are both quite different.  In reality it does not make that much different what colors the inspiration is, for what is put down on this canvas is its own expression.  My paint is different from his paint; my hand is different from his.

Sean Scully influence comes from his works before the year 2000.  It is amazing scrolling through the images of his art  just how many paintings this man has done.  This artist currently completes a dozen or so canvases in a year.  Looking through Sean Scully’s works, the thought is that so many of his works are similar, one after another, day after day, after month. You wonder how much feeling or meaning does he put into his efforts.  Of course, the amount of  time put in a artwork does not, in any way, decide its value.  Some days Van Gogh would complete 3 or 4 works, which are all worth a great amount of money, today; but you kinda-of-gotta-wonder what is any artist driving force, and maybe that can help to decide the artworks worth.  Maybe, and then again time nor effort may have little play in the real worlds evaluation of art.

This first image, of the unfinished base, is quite different from the previous works from 2011.  It is a departure in color brought on by this artist exhaustion with blue and green. What is being attempted here is to reach of a goal this artist wants to achieve: creating a artwork, that is the background, that stands on its own. The music flow of the little serenade, is the second artwork to be attempted.  The success is in bringing these two seperate artworks together to the music of Mozart. We shall see.

Scott Von Holzen

This is the final image for BlackBird, 30inches by 6 feet.  The color reproduction is not the best representation of this painting: the darks are not dark enough and  it leans to the red side of the spectrum. Will pull out the flashes the umbrellas and try it again some slow January day and do a better job with the next finished work, and then I will re-shoot this interesting work.

This artist has mixed emotions over this work.  With the Holidays and a personnel health issue I have been somewhat distracted, and drifting.  In the end a work ends  at the right time, no matter the expectations of the artist.  There is no outstanding features with this work, although the ties and those two flowing notes above are quite appealing.  The thought is to take this canvas into work to exchange out, a previous display, in the office of the person that bought a previous work. Not sure the logic of why of  this other than he would appreciate it, and it gets this art out of the basement.

Don Henley – The End of The Innocence

Also, this work is going to a the signature piece to be email to a local art museum curator of  exhibitions. Two years ago, around this time, I sent him a Christmas card and a CD with images, and asked for his opinion. He was nice, when I contacted him again, and he then responded.  Basically, what he offered were musical painting examples to follow,  interesting, but  no helped in anyway: been there, done that.  If and when he is contacted again, he will at less see that this artist is focused and determined if nothing  else.  There will be nothing else to come out of this contact, that is for sure.  But it is known, that being totally unknown, is not a good thing for any artist.  So, any contacts with those in the establish art world is not a bad idea, no matter how this artist appears to be shying away from them.  Know this, this artist comes from a strong salesperson family. I know what efforts need to be done to get this work out, but doubts linger, and so the process is excruciatingly slow.

Listening to Don McLean American Pie

Priming a 3 panel 10 feet canvas to paint Mozart’s Eine Kleinie Nachtmusik, Romanze Andate.    A long time a go another work was done from the Allegro part.  There is hope in new ideas, and frustrations that need to be dispersed,  that may make this is a strong work, that pushes this art hard forward.

Scott Von Holzen

Blackbird 24 inches by 6 feet, photo taken December 21st.

Blackbird the music from the Beatles White Album,  started  way back on December 8th with this photo taken today, three weeks later.   During his last few year Van Gogh production amounted to sometimes 3 to 4 canvases in a day.  Obviously, he knew what he was doing, and this artist current position is similar to Van Gogh’s Paris period.  For an example of today’s influence, take a look at the Sean Scully  style, in miniature,  added to those flying notes above.

That being understood,  this art is complicated, dealing with a complicated subject which is music, being preformed by an artist that is certainly far from reaching a mature artist style.  So, lets move on to Scully. This art started with Mark Rothko has it’s first inspiration, and it remains today.  But, Sean Scully was not an inspiration, even though his styling has been present in the background of every work done recently.  Scully became known when I received the wrong used book, from Amazon.  I had ordered a Hans Hoffman book, but instead received Sean Scully: Wall of Light. The book was sent back for credit, and never received the Hoffman book, probably for the best.

Also, thinking back, for a time,  using the book The Art of Richard Diebenkorn as inspiration, I thought this could be a  influence on this art, but that faded.  Now, there is an wakening to the work of Sean Scully, that may be sustained.  Not to copy but to learn from.    And not only his stripping techniques but also his layering of canvases.  This artist has seen alot of nonconforming art shapes, for example Frank Stella.  But not until stumbling over Scully, did the possibilities of using that technique became clear.   Hopefully, with the next work there is going to be an added canvas on top of the rest, not for decoration, but there to emphasize  a particular piece of the music.

The backgrounds in this art, are doing what they are suppose to do, create interest, and move the music across the canvas.  Lately, working with this music, there has been a frustration, not only with the choice of colors, and with how to paint the music that is about a bird, but with the hope of creating a background that has a larger impact on the music.  Those  Scully miniatures where painted in to at less show an effort is being made.

Scott von Holzen

Blackbird 2 panel 30 inches by 80 inches. Image two was taken on Tuesday.  Image 3 on Saturday, while image 4 was taken a few minutes ago. We are just trying this ‘Gallery’ idea when displaying multiple images.

The words chosen for this music are strong.  When a song has words, their meaning in the music and the need to find an alternate meaning for those same words in the painting, is absolutely  necessary to close the deal.  As it has always been, it all starts with the music, but ends with the art.

This music is about picking up the pieces and moving forward.  But it is done in a way that reminds one of a nursery song. That is why this music by the Beatles is so appealing to many people.  The problem, this artist had starting Tuesday night, was how do you paint a story about a blackbird without it being to dark, or to moody.  It took a number of days and a complete repaint of the circles to finally move this canvas forward.

The adjusted plan is to pick the right colors, to better balance the look of the art with that of the music.  At less that is the no plan, plan.  A blackbird is black, but this artist has never used the color black in any of the works. Besides, it is not easy for this artist to paint a dark image painting.  It is not that a limited pallet from the dark side, would not work.  But what happens, every time, is that dark colors work to a point, till this artist needs something to pop the work. After that, the mood of the canvas shifts.  We will see what the two Ties and a Slur, still to be added will look like.  For I see in those additions the best chance to grab this work and shake it loose.

Listening to The Who – My Generation, a two star music choice.

There is still work to be done with the circles, for doubts linger if they are projecting a convincing portrait of the music.  Maybe a few Van Gogh crows like in his Wheatfield with Crows, would be the answer.  No, just kidding.

Scott Von Holzen

Side comments:
There are in this artist music collection, 12,097 songs and thousands more that have not been transferred from CD to digital.  Of all that music, currently there are only 143 of those that are tagged as 3 star music: the best  that must be heard.  Of those 143 there are only 9 that are four stars.  Of those nine there are currently only 2 that are five star.  Those two are a live recording of Bruce Springsteen, on piano, singing Thunder Road, and Vivaldi’s The Four Season, “Winter”:Allegro Non Molto.

Late Friday night: It is hard to stop the music and to leave the studio. Just one more: listening to  Shawn Colvin a 3 star I’ll Be Back.  One more than that is it for tonight.  This is a Man’s World by Inga Rumpf & Friends, 3 star.

Blackbird 30 inches by 80 inches, 2 panels.  A hundred years from now, especially children, will be singing the music of the Beatles, not knowing who they once where.  Hopefully, Blackbird from their White Album, will be one of those standards that survive time.

This is the base after a couple of days of work, over the weekend.  The dark bands of color are not black, but Paynes Gray (a gray that is dark and bluish in color).  The starting guide for color choices,  was that of a Blackbird with it’s blue-indigo plumage, and purplish head.

Interestingly I did not know Neil Diamond covered Stagger Lee, the song Pop classic by Lloyd Price.

The two upper middle bands, one Mars Violet Deep above the other Red Iron Oxide, where chosen for their added  interest, contrast and earthy appearance.

Bridge Over Troubled Water –  Simon & Garfunkel

The next step is to draw in the music,  nudging it here and there in the effort to make it fit. That may become the issue, for there was the requirement of a wider canvas to cover the range of the music, but  there was also a resistance to add a third panel to better accommodate the flow of this music.   There is a chance that a middle panel may have to be added.

Ending this blog entry with Chopin Prelude #6 in B Minor, Op. 28/6

Scott Von Holzen

The Christmas song Music Count is 175 plays dating from about November 18th to December 6th. Some of the favorites versions of The Christmas Song, in the order of most plays from over 20 different Artists:

Joe Williams
Nat King Cole
Mel Torme 3 versions  one specially enjoyed with Judy Garland
Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole
Diana Krall
Frank Sinatra
Also enjoyed where the voices of Ella Fitzgerald, Toni Braxton,  Christina Aquilera, and a surprisingly cover of The Christmas Song by Trace Adkins.

You would think that listening to the same words over and over again would strain the enjoyment of the music, but it does not.  It helps that there are a couple of instrumentals, for example by Glen Miller, but the song is just that good, and it lingers in the mind and heart.

This painting is clean looking and that fits well with the Christmas theme.  The feature of the round snow flakes works well helping to move the music across the canvas to where one flake dots the “i” on the word Christmas.  The far right Tie feature worked out well, and is part of the evolution of the last few paintings. The difference in this work is the softening of the tie to blend better with the rest of the canvas.  Of course, the use of  a number of iridescent colors,  including gold, silver, and  bronze, fits with Christmas.  All-in-all this may be the best of all the Christmas works, so far.  A larger version of this music will be uploaded to www.scottvonholzen.com over the weekend.

Next year’s music has been booked marked.  It is is another great classic Christmas song, sung by a group of outstanding Artists. The clue is that the word “Christmas,” is a part of the title.

Tonight a two panel 30 inches by 80 canvas is being prepped for the next artwork,………. Blackbird by the Beatles.

Scott Von Holzen  Listening to Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song

The Christmas song 24 inches by 6 feet. This a a likable  work. Those oblong  green colored objects,  in the above image that make up the beams, are based on the mistletoe shape. That idea is from this line in the music, “Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe.”  No, there will be no turkey images or any realistic images.  This art is about color, shapes, and music, and not about fine details.

Listening to a favorite Something to Believe In – Poison,  followed by the wonderful All These Things That I’ve Done – The Killers.

In a effort to describe  an artworks progress the use of musical terms are used, like the word beam. This may help a few viewers, trained in music, to relate to the painting’s musical flow. In reality it probably does not make any difference to 99.95% of people what exactly they are looking at, and what this artwork represents.  Unlike a canvas of a landscape, a portrait,  a still life, and even an abstraction that fall into categories, this artwork is nothing less than E  or None of the above.  So, this artist’s thinking is that at first sight most people do not know what to think. Once they learn the work’s musical title, they may begin to see the musical flow as something other than an abstraction.  That they may have, or not have, a clue about a particular piece of music, or how that music is depicted may not be important to them. It is the viewers love of music that can redefine Category E into the artwork’s title, or in-other-words the hook.  Hopefully, this will pulled pull them in closer to investigate, to ask questions, and wonder.

Piano Man – Billy Joel

So to go from a likable wall covering to art could be in how good this artist is at musical interpretation: can he somehow paint what he feels? Can he make  a picture as unforgettable as the music it represents? Can he add that special feeling that reaches out to the viewer? Hum, all good questions for others to answer.

Bach – Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord, Adagio followed by the wow! of  Teddy The Toad – Count Basie

Concerto in G Minor for 2 Cellos, RV 531 a Vivaldi favorite.

Finishing this entry with Madonna – Heartbeat followed by The Cure – Lovesong.  Yum! Yum!

Scott Von Holzen