I used to play the violin. I still have the one my friend from a violin-making school made for me. It is a beautiful copy of a Guarneri del Gesu. I’m scared to death to look at it, as I haven’t taken it out in a very long time.

Paul Klee was a musician as well as a Bauhaus Master visual artist. I used his painting, The Grey Man and the Coast as an inspiration for part of my Memory of the Violin watercolor sketch below.

Memory of the Violin
11″x14″ 90# Cold Pressed Watercolor Paper

The serrations in Klee’s The Grey Man and the Coast, although they are in a vertical orientation, reminded me of bow strokes (listen to the link to see the connection that Klee’s piece has with music). I adapted this pattern and placed it horizontally, where the bow would be drawn against the strings.

There is much more to Klee’s composition than the single notion in my preliminary sketch above. I will mine my relationship with the violin for more visual ideas and emotional connections in future studies.