Music Writing - A Process in Progress

“Rhapsody” - the first completed painting on canvas with Music Writing.

One of the great things about being an artist is the ability to experiment with new techniques, tools, and materials. When a spark of an idea lights me up it is easy to go with the flow and play with it. I can dive right in to give it my time and attention. Often, a simple action can lead to a whole new creative direction.

That’s exactly what happened in May of 2023. I stumbled upon a new process leading to a journey of playful experimentation, and filling my heart with delight. It all began while drawing to music, directly onto a blank canvas. The objective was to create pencil marks that would express the energy of the music as a foundation for the layers of paint (with the possibility of some marks showing through).

Then a thought occurred to me… what if I tried drawing to the same music, but this time in a sketchbook instead of on canvas? By following that thread of an idea, a whole new technique presented itself. Day after day, page after page, I filled the studio with music and loaded up the sketchbook with a drawing process I refer to as, Music Writing.

Sketchbook page: Day 1 of Music Writing

So, What is Music Writing?
While listening to a piece of music, I draw marks to just about every note that’s played as if I’m writing down the music… almost like taking dictation. Over time, and a whole lot of practice, I have found that very specific marks show up again and again. It’s my own musical shorthand. This process has taken me on a passionate journey of merging art with the classical music pieces I treasure most.

“Inspired Expression” painting detail with Music Writing.

I have often thought that in a fantasy other life, I would have enjoyed conducting an orchestra. It seems like the ultimate immersive musical experience, to connect with the energy, power, and beauty of every note. Music Writing magically entered my life, providing a similar connection, one more aligned with who I am and what I do.

A Series in Development… Immersed in this exhilarating new direction, I allowed myself to embrace the experience and creative flow. Exploration and experimentation became my primary focus with the sketchbooks as my playground. 

“Fire Dance” painting detail with Music Writing.

As a series began to take shape, Music Writing covered the surface of each canvas for the initial layer, in pencil. This was followed by layers of paint inspired by the same musical composition, and allowing bits of the pencil marks to show through. Once the painting was near completion, a final layer of Music Writing added the finishing touch. 

“Symphony of Soul” painting detail with Music Writing.

After completing several paintings, I became curious about how I might incorporate cloth layers alongside the Music Writing. Since then, I have played with a variety of methods for adding cloth… although, recently I have felt a tug to return to the simplicity of using only paint and pencil on canvas.

In upcoming blogposts, I will share how the sketchbook supported me in developing this process, as well as how Music Writing showed up in my other creative projects. It quickly became clear that when any of my artwork lacked Music Writing, it felt incomplete, as if something vital was missing. 

You may also be interested in:

Power of Inspiration: How Music Fuels My Art

My Painting Process - Part 4

Completion Stage: Putting the Pieces Together

This stage of the process is such a delight and so fulfilling. It usually begins by laying out all of the separate elements, together, on the stretched canvas background, finalizing their placement, and sewing the cloth layers in place. Any additional text is now adhered to the painting where ever it seems to fit best.

Once all of the parts are solidly in place, the painting is ready to be made whole. In other words, it’s time to cohesify the painting. Everything has been prepared and painted in parts, and now they need to come together as one cohesive painting, rather than a collection of disjointed elements.

It’s a joyful experience that feels like starting fresh but with a structure already in place. I become lit up with ways to tweak the color here or create a shadow there, determining, “What else is needed?” “What areas to darken or lighten.” and “What alterations to make.“ I am truly in my happy place as I watch the painting transform in bits, as little alterations add to the whole. 

From inception to completion, the process of creating a painting is a joyful experience. Every part of the process has it’s gifts and delights. One of the greatest gifts is being able to be present for each of the stages, moment by moment, along the way.

This was part 4 of a 4 part series. Links to the first 3 are below.

You may also be interested in…
Before I Begin - Part 1
The Beginning Stage - Part 2
The Development Stage - Part 3

My Painting Process - Part 3

The Development Stage…

The middle stages in developing a painting primarily involve adding paint, creating the text to be included, making any revisions in the prepared cloth pieces, and considering any other elements I might want to add to the painting.  

I can get lost in the joy of playing with paint on the stretched canvas… adding colors, lightening areas, darkening others, thinking of how I want the background to show up around the cloth elements. In some paintings I take my time with this painting stage, just to continue enjoying the process.

Once I feel clearer about how the cloth pieces will fit within the whole, I give them their first layer of paint. There are times I prefer the raw look, and will choose to leave them coated but unpainted. 

Although the background of stretched canvas and the layers of cloth develop separately, they keep coming together to help clarify what each one requires in order to fit within the whole. It’s during this stage when it becomes clear if the painting would be better served with a different cloth construction… and a new one is prepared.

Up until this point I’ve considered the words I’d like to include in the painting. The concept and meaning behind the painting has developed within my mind and I am ready to produce the text in different sizes and sometimes in a variety of fonts to be printed. The placement of text on the painting becomes a super enjoyable game. Since I print more text than I will use, I have a multitude of choices as I move the strips of words from place to place. Decisions on the placement of text may lead to adding new layers of cloth to house the text.

More to come. This is part 3 of a 4 part series. Links to the first 2 are below,

Next up… Completion Stage: Putting the Pieces Together - Part 4

You may also be interested in…
Before I Begin - Part 1
The Beginning Stage - Part 2

My Painting Process - Part 2

Beginning stages…

I often begin a painting by covering the blank canvas with color. There’s so much freedom and joy in the feeling of a paint filled brush on the stretched canvas. It never gets old. There’s a wonderful ebb and flow to the dance between the brush and canvas, a give and take. Part of the fun is in placing dabs of multiple paint colors on the canvas and mixing them right there with the movement of the brush. The first coat of paint is pure play, with a definite awareness that anything placed on the canvas can be covered up, so at this point, nothing feels precious.

Another early stage of the process is in the construction of raw canvas pieces to fit the paintings concept or focus. This involves cutting, fraying, and stringifying them to size. But before I can do all that, I have to have a sense, and something of a vision, of the layout of the pieces within the whole. The prepared piece(s) help me to get moving forward on the painting and get a feel for the whole. They act as a place holder within the painting as it develops, but may not be the final piece(s) that end up in that particular painting. Many cloth pieces, created for one painting, have ended up in another, or on the pieces in waiting pile.

I love the beginning stages of a new painting… the flow and freedom of creating the first layer of color on the canvas, the feel of the cloth’s texture between my fingers, the pile of strings that develop as I pull the threads from the cloth to create the fringes. It could be thought of as the best part of the creative process, but for me, there are many best parts that take place as the painting’s process develops.

More to come. This is part 2 of a 4 part series.

Next up… The Development Stage - Part 3

You may be interested in:
Before I Begin - Part 1
Completion Stage: Putting the Pieces Together - Part 4

My Painting Process - Part 1

I’m here to share my process in creating a painting. Although there can be similarities in the way other artists work, every artist has their own steps, details, and experiences in creating their very individual and original works of art. I’ve decided to share mine in a series of 4 blogposts, broken down into 4 stages, to be shared over the next several weeks. I’ll be focusing on the steps in developing a Canvas-on-Canvas painting.

This will be a general overview of the process, although one size doesn’t necessarily fit all of my paintings. I begin Part 1 of the series by describing what commonly takes place before I even begin a painting.

Before I Begin:

Before I put paint to canvas, I often get an idea… it could be a vision, a title, or concept of something that zings me. No matter what it is that jump starts the creative flow, I am sparked by a desire to express something I find meaningful. 

Often, once the concept begins to take up residence within my thoughts, I begin to get a feel for the colors to use in that painting. It’s not that I’m trying to come up with a palette, although that does happen occasionally. It’s more of a feeling sense of the colors that come to me. I guess it’s hard to explain how I might feel the colors but I do believe I feel them first and then get a subtle visual, as if I’m seeing the colors through a mist and from afar. However misty, there’s a sense of clarity on a specific color palette to begin with, and I am able to have the paints at the ready before I get to work.

There have been a few times in which I’ve used my collection of painted color swatches to choose the palette. Although I find it to be fun to play with the many choices, the process feels a bit clunky and awkward. The color flow ends up feeling a bit less natural.

This is the first part of a 4 part series. Links to the next 3 are below.

Next up: The Beginning Stage - Part 2

You may be interested in:
The Beginning Stage - Part 2
The Development Stage - Part 3
Completion Stage: Putting the Pieces Together - Part 4

Santa Cruz Love Note

“Santa Cruz Love Note" 18" x 18" Acrylic, cloth, papers, strings, and threads on canvas.

“Santa cruz love note” is currently hanging in a Local show.

Here are the details:

Exhibit: Local Visions
at: Pajaro valley arts
(pvarts.org)

When: Now until July 31, 2022

Opening reception:
Sunday, June 26
From 2PM - 4PM

"Santa Cruz Love Note” in process

I created “Santa Cruz Love Note” specifically for the Local Visions show at Pajaro Valley Arts, a membership exhibit. We were told to have fun with the theme and that’s exactly what I did. I filled the painting and layers of raw canvas with the many things I love about living here in Santa Cruz. And I could have added even more. In the lower right hand corner of the painting, I’ve attached something of a love note about the area. These words are somewhat visible under the paint.

Pajaro Valley Arts

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Santa Cruz, it’s a happy place, surrounded by natural beauty. There’s plenty to love about Santa Cruz County… with the magnificent redwoods, the hiking trails, the forests, the coast, the beaches, the arts, the people, the culture, the beauty, and so much more. Since I began developing this painting, my appreciation for the area has continues to grow.

Gallery Information:
37 Sudden Street, Watsonville, CA
Gallery Hours: 11.00am – 4:00pm
Wednesday-Sunday
Masks Encouraged

Here are some details of the completed painting:

A Process Story

“Ennobled” 12” x 12” acrylic, papers, pencil on canvas

The experience of working on “Ennobled,” the 5th canvas in the Portals of Joy series, was a bit like maneuvering a boulder up an incline. All the while, I was able to experience these challenges with confidence and determination. It became an excellent exercise in creating and recreating, making changes, letting go and moving on.

“Ennobled” in process; initial color palette

I began the painting with a color palette that I found attractive but, it just wasn’t quite me. Once on the canvas it seemed goofy, like a Halloween candy wrapper. So I kept altering colors, one at a time, and adding textured papers to cover up some of the colors and create new ones. I found the process enjoyable, without frustration. I was able to draw on my confidence that each alteration would bring me closer to feeling as if I had made it my own. What a time consuming process it was! If I hadn’t been as focused on the unfolding experience of the process, I would not have been able to remain in the joy of creating.

“Ennobled” in process; at the start

Occasionally, a painting doesn’t flow as smoothly. Each time I find myself in that space, I have the gift of letting go and immersing myself in the painting process. I allow it to take as long as it takes, with no expectations and the willingness to continue to apply layer over layer, repainting areas one moment at a time. And with each alteration, I come closer to an image that will look back at me and say, “Ahhh… this is it.”

“Integral Flow” 12” x 12” acrylic, papers, pencil on canvas

Once I had completed “Ennobled", I shifted my focus to the newly started 6th painting in the Portals of Joy series, titled “Integral Flow.” The experience of painting this one was nothing like the last one. The process flowed easily from beginning to end. Of course, I chose a color palette I was comfortable with from the start. And maybe that attributed to the feeling of lightness that surrounded the painting process.

I experienced joy as I created both of these two paintings but that experience was so very different… neither better than the other. And I am grateful for the wonderful diversity of both.

You may be interested in a recent post: New Series: Portals of Joy

New Series: Portals of Joy

“Scatter Joy” 12” x 12” acrylic, papers, pencil on canvas

After filling many sketchbook pages with circles and grids, I finally admitted that my artwork was moving in a new direction. I needed to explore the use of geometric shapes and to get back to spending most of my time working on canvas. First I had to let go of my attachment to the Transcriptions series and allow a new creative flow to take shape. Once I explored the symbolism of this new focus, I was able to assign meaning to the paintings I would be creating and move forward with a new series. At the same time, joy had become more and more of a major influence in my life. This is how the Portals of Joy series came into being.

“Hooked on a Feeling” 12” x 12” acrylic, papers, pencil on canvas

This series is a reaction to the year we have been experiencing and the times we now live in. These paintings are created in joy, with a focus on joy, and with the intention of putting more joy out into a world at a time when it’s needed. The paintings each have a quote about Joy embedded into the background of the design, under the paint, present yet not readable… as JOY seems to be more often held under the surface this year, although still present in our lives. The grid of colors represents us as individuals but part of the whole. And the presence of the circular shape represents the wholeness, oneness, and unity that we all share, beyond the illusion of what we are seeing in the outside world.

“Uplifted” 12” x 12” acrylic, papers, pencil on canvas

“Ennobled” 12” x 12” acrylic, papers, pencil on canvas

“Third Story” 12” x 12” acrylic, papers, pencil on canvas

“Integral Flow” 12” x 12” acrylic, papers, pencil on canvas

The Portals of Joy paintings will be available here at the Website on December 5th. Prints and products of this series are currently available at Pixels.com

You may be interested in a recent post… Joy: a Morning Practice
and for more on these paintings… A Process Story

2020 Reframed

“2020 Reframed" 24" x 24" Acrylic, cloth, papers, strings, and threads on canvas.

“2020 Reframed” has been accepted into the MAH’s upcoming exhibit.

Exhibit: In These Uncertain Times
at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH)
beginning on January 15, 2021

2020 is no ordinary year… filled with layers of challenges and unlike any we’ve experienced. Early in the year, I started to notice an unusual presence of RE-WORDS showing up in my life and in the world around me. I am referring to an abundance of words beginning with the letters RE. (Retreat, rediscover, recreate, reinvent, recover...) It’s been a year in which we’ve all had reasons to RE-vise our plans, RE-assess our priorities, and RE-define our lives. We have waited for businesses to RE-open and wondered if and when we might RE-turn to “normal.”

"2020 Reframed” in process

Back in May, I created a RE-WORDS concertina sketchbook, an eight page book built to highlight these words. Once it was completed, I felt a strong need to continue working on this project, but in a larger format. So I printed my collection of re-words in different fonts and sizes and began constructing a painting. “2020 Reframed” is loaded with words appearing on layers and strips of raw canvas. The prepared layers have been stitched together and are sewn onto a 24” x 24” stretched canvas. The loose threads and textures further represent a time in which our personal and societal threads have been laid bare.

Here are some details of the completed painting:

AND not long after the completion of this painting, a new word emerged: RE-population. It’s used when fire evacuees are returned to their homes. (Luckier than many, we are very thankful to have had a home to return to.)

Breath and Beyond

“Breath and Beyond” 12" x 12" acrylic, cloth, threads, and paper on canvas.

“Breath and Beyond” was the first painting I worked on and completed after returning from packing up my parent’s home. (We were getting it ready for sale.) Although I returned with several new projects in mind, I decided to get busy with the raw canvas I had prepared before leaving. My first goal was to create a thread filled environment in which to paint.

“Breath and Beyond” in process.

I began by sewing lines of stitches in something of a checkerboard pattern, leaving loose threads at the ends of each line. I had already cut five squares into the cloth before the trip.

“Breath and Beyond” didn’t develop as I had originally envisioned. So, I let go, allowing the process to lead me, and I was able to enjoy every step along the way.

I kept adding color, then some text, and then more color. The background canvas became a deep brownish mauve to peek through the openings in the cloth.

The text in the painting is the mantra, So Hum, meaning: "I Am That." It is used in meditation as one focuses on their breath.

“Breath and Beyond” in process.

I always have a title in mind by the time a painting is complete… but not this time. The painting had journeyed so far from the original idea and I felt like I was just along for the ride, not knowing where we were going. I had to brainstorm ideas for a name.

When the title, “Breath and Beyond” came to mind, I knew it was right. I could see how the painted cloth had become a tapestry OR a tapestry of life. I had chosen a mantra that represents the breath OR breath of life. And the cutouts had become windows to the beyond.

Breath and Beyond is available for purchase, here.

“Breath and Beyond” in process. Sewing the painted cloth to the back canvas.

Painting with the Kaddish

"Kaddish 1" 12" x 12" acrylic, paper, string, and cloth on canvas.

With the recent loss of my parents, it seemed the perfect time to create a painting with a focus on the Kaddish, a Hebrew prayer often referred to as the Mourner’s Kaddish. I have always loved the flow of rhythmic sounds as these Hebrew words are recited aloud, particularly in a group. There is a cadence to these sounds that becomes a shared journey.

Text strips prepared for “Kaddish 1”

First, I spent a day preparing strips of canvas cloth for the lines of text I would be using in the painting. I probably created enough strips to produce multiple paintings. Hence, the name Kaddish 1.

Detail of “Kaddish 1”

While working on Kaddish 1, I never had a clear vision of where it was going. The painting seemed to keep showing me what my next steps were in it’s development. It took some time before the design layout for the text strips became clear. You might be able to see how the strips are not laying flat, but each one has an area which is raised up (image down below). And… I have to say, I became quite jazzed at the idea of adding the three lines of text to the left side of the background canvas, after placing single rows of text on the other three sides.

For now, this painting will remain with me and won’t be available for purchase. But I do plan to do more like it.

Detail of “Kaddish 1”

Mini Series

“Shivaya”

“Peace Kaddish”

It all started when I was thinking of doing a “30 Paintings in 30 Days” challenge. The idea of creating a series of 6” x 6” paintings on canvas intrigued me. Back in April, I had done a small group of works on paper in that size.

So, when considering the challenge, I decided to begin a series of Transcriptions Minis. Although small, they require many of the same steps in the process as those of the Transcriptions series. I quickly learned that unless this was my only focus, it was unlikely to produce 30 in 30 days.

“Peace and Tranquility”

As I write this post today, the next issue of the Shared Easel Newsletter is almost complete and the seventh small painting is about to be finished.

I may not be doing too many more of these, but I do get a twinkle in my eye at the idea of returning to this size for future projects. For now, I have loved using the sewing machine to attach the pieces of canvas cloth. I adore the stringiness I can create with the hanging threads. And I am surprised that I have enjoyed working this small.

“May All Be at Peace”

My goal for the month was to redesign the Shared Easel newsletter and produce the first issue using MailChimp. But first I had to learn how to work within MailChimp to create a newsletter template. Ugh!! I had just spent the summer learning how to create a website with Squarespace. Now I had to tackle another new platform.

I guess you can see why the idea of creating 30 Mini’s had to slip away. What I did realize was that these small paintings were perfect for balancing studio time with newsletter development.

Work in Progress