The interrelationship of music and art: Jaffar

Shakori Hills in Chatham County, NC, just south of Chapel Hill has a wonderful Friday night music series during the summer. They pass a hat to pay the band. Maggi and I went to see Jaffar, a Middle Eastern jazz, funk band. They are tremendous, please visit their website where you can hear their magic. I was enchanted. I sat and listened with my eyes closed. For a a while I would listen to the bass, then the oud, a time with the drums and then to the sax, etc. Each one gave me a different vision. One was a wavy line, another a series of ovals, another bright exploding stars.

I decided I would go home and "paint" Jaffar. I imagined the painting as a long, long painting reflecting a full song. I haven't gotten there yet. This is the result of a less ambitious attempt. It's one of my first pieces.

Watercolor pencils on paper.

Lines and Red Very Small

A small peice of just lines and some red. Simple and, I hope, calming and attractive.

Acyrlics on paper. The pen is just to give you a size perspective.

Conundrum

I've found that my thoughts, opinions, and value placed on pieces changes over time. Some I like immediately. Others I'll like then I'll change them and ! what did I do? Others go through periods of ambivalence -- like, intense dislike, neutral, see some value again, repeat and rinse.

This is one of the latter. I first thought it was going to be wonderful, then I lost my way and finally ended up with this. Something less and more than I originally thought. It's like all of my woodworking and furniture making. I hate it at first and it takes me months to come to terms with whether it has value or not. I have not come to terms with this one.

Acrylic on cheap canvas with string.

POSTSCRIPT OCTOBER 11: This is an updated version but I'm still not sure about it.

What next??

I was learning about "resist" techniques where a treatment (wax, glue, special expensive stuff) doesn't allow the paint to absorb onto the surface. Here is one of my first attempts.

This one used white Crayola crayon and wax as the resist medium.

"#" Acrylic on paper.

I hate wasting paint

I was on vacation painting and nothing was working. Bleh! I had some left over Mars Black paint and I just started doodling with a very small brush. A couple of hours later this is what I had. I'm not sure what it is. If you have any ideas on what I should do next (including nothing) let me know. Maybe I should rotate it? I don't know what side is up