Musical Bits
Here is an abstract study, part reminiscence of my brother Dave’s visit (Y.B. Visit, Playing Piano, Hands Sketch), with thoughts about my previous musical propensities.
Tag Archives: music
Coda Equina
I had this great fear of opening up my violin case. I haven’t played in years; it’s been stored in my closet all that time. I thought it would be splintered to bits, and with it, hope of returning to my musical roots. It wasn’t bad at all. It needs to be restrung and the […]
Hands Sketch
Here’s a quick watercolor/charcoal/pencil sketch of my brother Dave’s hands. It is a wonderful experience watching his hands in action at the piano. I would love to do a series of detailed drawings and paintings of his hands frozen at different times during a performance.
Playing Piano
I did not sketch the study below from life. I watched my brother play the piano yesterday and tried to absorb the experience. Yesterday’s watercolor was meant to capture Dave’s graceful motions of his hands. Today, I reconstructed his posture from an angle that I had not observed. I think it shows stability and groundedness […]
Y.B. Visit
My younger brother is visiting us this week. It is really good to see him. We’ve been talking up a storm about music, performance and visual arts. Dave is a pianist. He’s given me insight about expression within the constraint of the page of written music that, in the case of some pieces, has been […]
Abstract Music 060517
I used my broad-tipped nib again to begin today’s study. It takes some determination on the cold pressed paper, as there is a definite tooth to it. As I drew the short lines, I spaced them as the black keys of a piano. The design progressed from there.
Harp Music
I have a lot of Celtic Harp music. I used to love playing Irish fiddle tunes with other musicians. When I listen to Irish music, I can barely keep my fingers still. I think I put them to good use as I listened to harp music the other day. With a dip pen in my hand, my pen followed […]
Before Going Away
I was very, very nervous the night before I was to go away to college for the first time. Even though this was more than 45 years ago, I still remember how agitated I was. I had a recording of some of Bach’s organ music. The pieces that helped me the most were Toccata And Fugue […]
Early Music Exposure
I’ve mentioned before that both my parents loved music. Dad let my older brother Mike* play on the piano and I’m sure they played classical music records all the time when he was around. For a time Mike responded. I’m told he could hum entire movements from symphonies. By the time I came on the scene, Mike […]
Yellow Teeth
Today’s watercolor experiment: Two factors influenced my artwork today. First, one of my favorite artists, Paul Klee, described a way to ‘make visible’ one’s inner state was to take a pencil point ‘for a walk’. Although I’m not clear about how to translate my inner state to the paper, I believe the practice of ‘taking a point for […]
