I finished my painting for Contextual Studies this evening. I have to say, it turned out a bit differently from what I expected before I started working on it. You see, I was working in Life Drawing class today, and we were working to music to see how it affects your style. Now, I live for music – it’s my life blood. I always paint to music, and I usually put my collection on random order, so the mood constantly changes. However, today we worked for half an hour to ‘relaxing’ music, half an hour to ‘aggressive’ music, and half an hour to ‘dark’ music. It really depends on how you look at music. The relaxing music was Ravi Shankar, which I found to be quite up-tempo. The aggressive music was by Animal Collective, which was more avante-garde and slightly disconcerting, rather than aggressive, and the dark music was by Massive Attack, which to me is chillout music but with a hint of darkness in it. Most people would call thrash and death metal aggressive. However, I love both of them, and generally don’t find them aggressive. I hear the melody in it, and I relax to it. So I guess it’s all relative.
I found it difficult to paint in a relaxing style, because, well, it’s not really me. The aggressive style suited me far more, because it’s more expressive. I also found the dark style to be too hypnotic so I don’t feel that the darkness comes across in my painting. Unfortunately, I forgot my first painting, so I can’t show it just now, but I’ve included the others.
This one is painted to Animal Collective, and is supposed to be aggressive. I personally love this one. The style is completely different for me, and I absolutely loved painting it. I just got lost in the music.
This next one was done to ‘dark’ music – Massive Attack – but as you can see the painting isn’t very dark, and to be honest, it’s not a particularly good painting either. There are so many mistakes in it, but I know what corrections I need to make.
Which brings me back nicely to my painting for Contextual Studies. As I said, this turned out completely differently from what I expected. I was heavily influenced by my life drawing today, and sought to bring that into this painting. This is quite dark, but I was painting to different types of music, so there are many styles here. I’m really pleased with this one also. Since I am basing this on several paintings by Dali and Picasso, two of which feature the imageries of war, I feel that this expresses those sentiments fairly well. I am becoming much more comfortable with being expressive and trying different styles of painting – coming out of my comfort zone, I suppose. As usual you can click on all of the paintings to enlarge.
Going back to the idea of music influencing painting style: do you listen to music when you’re painting? If so, what kind of music do you listen to, and what does it do for your style? Perhaps you don’t listen to music. Perhaps you can try, to see how it affects your style. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
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Hi Heather! Thanks for stopping by my blog. These strong, moody pieces should serve you well! It's excellent to feel and express it in your work!
Hi Peggy! Thank you so much for stopping by. It’s so good to paint again after all the design stuff I’ve been doing for the past week!
I like to listen slow music when i paint
Sometimes even rock balade.
It relaxe me a lot and inspire me too.
Your new paintings are great.I like that aren't soo black.You've played with the colors and in the end it looks great
Thank you for share it
Have a special day!
Thank you Alina! I’m glad you like my work. I worried that it may have been too dark, but I like my paintings dark anyway.
I listen to every type of music imaginable when I’m painting. Anything at all. The mood changes with every song – just the way I like it!
Thanks for stopping by.
This is great.
I'm wonder something now: D
Can you describe what do you feel when you listen music and you paint in the same time? How do you feel when your painting is finished?
For example when you listen relaxation music what kind of painting does you create? I mean what colors do you prefer to use?
Have a special day, Heather!
Oh wow, how do I feel when I listen to music and paint? That's a bit difficult to answer. I always become completely absorbed in my painting and my music. It's as if they become one, and I become one with them. I always feel uplifited and a calmness, regardless of the mood of the music, and whether it's fast or slow. I can paint aggressively whether I'm listening to slow or fast music, and I can paint softly if I'm listening to fast music. The reason for this is probably because I love all the music that I listen to. For instance, when I listen to thrash metal, most people hear it as a cacophony of sound, but I hear the melody instantly because my ears are attuned to it. My music collection is tailored to fit me. It doesn't matter if it is classical, jazz, pop, thrash or death metal. I love them all equally, and I feel a sense of calm when I listen to all of them. I will also use colours irrespective of the music style. All of my colours tend to be dark shades or they are subdued. However, if I were to listen to music I hated, then that may change how I paint. I may have to test that out and write about it. Thank you Alina, for such great questions!
Have a great evening!
A sunshine award for you,my dear friend http://2a24.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/a-new-award/
I love the first one.I like the variety of shape and line in it and the tilt of the figure's head. I listen to music, frequently while drawing and painting. The only time I listen to loud and fast is when the subject I'm rendering needs that. Most of the time, I listen to music I like. My paintings and drawings aren't interpretations of music so the music creates a nice space for me to be in when I paint or draw. Excellent post and discussion. Thanks, Heather.
It's strange to think, but I don't seem to vary my style according to my music, probably because I love all the music I listen to. None of it makes me feel agitated or aggressive. I take it you don't like the loud and fast music and that's why you use it for certain paintings? I agree with you about your paintings not being an interpretation of music, but rather a space to be in. I find it to be the same. I'm absolutely certain it influences me at a subconscious level, because it is (and has been, probably from the moment of conception) such a major part of my life. However, importantly, music is somewhere to lose myself. My music is pretty much all dark, even though I find it immensely uplifting. I'm drawn to music that is played on the minor scale, which is always more dolorous. I think that I'm just drawn to the darker things in life, whether in art, music, comedy, or film. Thank you for your input Leslie. This is turning out to be quite fascinating!
Yes, I do like loud and fast but not thrash and not to paint to unless it is something I'm rendering with a little more speed than I usually paint. My body and mind are affected by my surroundings and I tend to paint and draw more quickly to loud and fast. It is an interesting conceptand one that I believe has been studied. I know there are plenty books written on music therapy. Supposedly we all vibrate at certain frequencies (our energy bodies).Because of that, we like different tones and vibrations. What one of us can not stand for long, another can go to sleep to. I find that fascinating.That means it really is not all about choice but part of who we are physically as well as spiritually and mentally. Great post, Heather.
Nice work Heather! I like them all!!
Thank you Pam. Great to see you back again!