SONG. Rosa described an exercise she did in one of her art classes where she listened to different kinds of music while paining to see how it influenced her work. She suggested that we listen to a song of our choice, playing it over and over again to try to get the essence of it. In other words, how it feels, what emotions come out, what color is it, what images come to mind etc.. . Well, I often listen to music when I do my art but I never consciously listened to it for inspiration. I thought this would be a good experiment to try. I even had an idea in mind as I was reading Rosa's journal. Naturally the idea did not pan out but it did lead to the work you see here.
I am going to digress here and talk about a piece of music that is on the Mission Impossible 2 music CD and I do not know the name nor composer of the piece. I heard it at the ballet school where my children dance. My 13 year old daughter danced to this piece (along with other members of her ballet class) in Dance Chicago. I was so proud of her! Anyway the music is filled with urgency, passion and vibrancy. It is a modern piece with a very Spanish flamenco flavor. The images that come to mind were wild eyed gypsy women dancing in a very passionate and sexy way. And that is pretty much what their dance looked like. So I thought I would use this piece for my Found Art inspiration. You think I could get my hands on a copy of it? Naturally not when I was ready to sit down and create. So I left that music behind. But the images of Spain were still with me.
In 1992, my husband and I traveled through Spain. We began in Madrid and headed south through many memorable areas over a 15 day period. Those images returned in a flood as I was mentally shelving the piece I described above. So I decided to pick out a song that reflected some of the images I held close. Spain is not only a country filled with passion, energy , and color but also great happiness, joy, and sunshine. So the song I chose is absolutely one of my favorite works and reflects, not so much the passion typified in Spain, but rather the joy and happiness seen on the faces of the Spanish (be it in Madrid, Ubeda, Granada, Sevilla, Toledo...well, you get the idea). This work is by Antonio Ruiz Pipo'. It is called Cancion and Danza Numero Uno. I believe he wrote it in1933. It is a guitar work that absolutely embodies the joy I felt each day I spent in Spain.
My work is entitle Cancion por Espana (Song for Spain). I used a postcard, trimmed to 4 by 4 inches, and altered the surface using gesso. The initial background was artist tissue paper, bled and the dye was allowed to run in various directions on the substrate. The color palette I chose were those that I felt as I listened to this music; reds, yellows, some blue. Acrylic paint was used as well to enhance some of the tissue dye colors. Then I added some interesting clippings of colors from magazines. The work just seem to evolve as I was listening to the music. And I ended up with an abstract collage. Really a first for me.
I am thinking that I may do a series of my impressions from Spain in a 4 inch by 4 inch format. So I am not sure if I will put this work out for someone to find. Maybe 2 more works.... I have a variety of music from Spanish composers which reflect the moods, emotions, colors of the their world. So thanks to this little experiment...I may just have to interpret those :)
Thanks again Rosa for a great idea. It was a wonderful exercise and one I would recommend to anyone who feels in a rut. Let the music speak to you.
k
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