Making Music with Art

"Strings 1" 8 x 10" Pastel and silver leaf

"Strings 2" 8 x 10"  Pastel and silver leaf

"Strings 3"  Pastel and Silver Leaf

For the past 3 years I have participated in the "mini" show at the art center where I teach pastels, The Charles Taylor Art Center, in Hampton Virginia.

As usual my art is inspired by music. I wasnt inspired this time by a specific song however but decided to use a few tricks often found in the works Paul Klee.  (http://www.paul-klee.org/music/) Klee infused his paintings with actual shapes found in music.

I created a matching set and put them in matching frames.  Notice that the frames have little bumpy silver things like the silver leaf in the drawings.

I choose the background because the shapes of the pattern mimics the shapes of a string instrument.  Originally the background was going to be dark gray over light gray, but at the last minute I made it a low intensity violet over gray.  I thought it would work with the violets and gold and orange hues found in the instruments.

The violet wall paper - like patterns represent the overall sound of the piece. If you look closely at the background you will see that they are textured with cross hatching to create consistency and "noise".  It also imitates the texture one might see in a wet painting on canvas.  I did not hatch the figures or the instruments in the same way.  I used a more fluid stroke there to move your eye about and give it some where to rest.

The large oval shapes represent the meter, or the downbeat.  Either the piece is in 3/4 or 4/4 time.  I moved the ovals across the composition to represent the progression of the downbeat through time.

The swirly organic shapes in the foreground represent the pitch or sound of a string instrument.  Again, they mimic the shape of a string instrument.  If you take a close look there is at least one shape from the top that merges with the patterned background. I always thought that all instrument sounds should alternate between merging and separation to create an interesting song.

The top pattern is transparent.  That was tricky to do in pastel by the way!  I added dots and some strokes of silver leafing to them to represent more intricate movements often found with string instrument in many musical compositions.

These little drawings were great fun.  I am going to have to go out and buy more instruments or find some models who can bring their own.  Any volunteers?

See more at:
Emilychristoff.com