Tuesday, January 1, 2013
If I could paint with sound
Today I spent the afternoon with an art therapist I have not seen in over 20 years. I was so inspired to see her work (she is in her late 80s now). She has developed a new technique of painting that is a very visceral experience to look at. She hung the paintings on the wall and asked me to go and stand near them and see if I could feel the energy of them. I loved the idea of it and I could indeed feel something changing in me as I looked at them. After all, colors are vibrations the same as musical notes and so it makes sense that we could be physically altered by looking at them.
We spent a long time trying to find works to describe this new way of painting. The process made me think of how can I do something like this with music? How does one reinvent their art/music into something they have never done before?
I did write something a couple of days ago --a piece that does not have words yet but it really moves me to play these chords & meoldy. I read somewhere that, "if you can't move yourself, you can't move anyone else." So.. I strive for this feeling of the music doing something to me as I play it.. that feeling that I could play it over and over again for hours and still love it.
I go looking through stacks of music by composers I like to find unusual chords or something I can use to try. Kind of like clipping a picture from a magazine to use in a collage. Or a new herb or spice for a new flavor.
I was happy with the new flavor of the piece I am working on but then after today and looking at that bold new art I know there are new horizons yet to explore.
Happy New Year!
(art pictured above by Picasso)

You are so right, Blue. Paintings do give off energy and if music is playing that I love when I paint, I feel that the energy and feelings from the music are locked into the painting until someone comes along and "unlocks" the energy and receives it. Interesting how that works! I would love to see the work or at least pictures of it. Does she have a website or something?
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