Started painting again in 2018 after not having painted for several years. However when I was at Wits University in the 70s I was playing with the idea of expressing music in art . The areas of special interest to me are the avant-garde, music, art and colour.
Now I had to find a language (technique) to express the music on paper. For me the wonder of music is the emotional effect it has on one. In order to captivate this form of expression no representation can be contrived as it deadens the emotions. It has a sterile effect. Emotions are instinctive and the response is spontaneous to the stimuli put out by the musician. Each person will react to the stimuli from his own background and free association and is involved in the creative process. I began to look at child -art, (art done by children) as it is instinctive and spontaneous. They use their hands and fingers as paint brushes and have a spontaneous inclination towards colour. In the painting "Music' Art and Colour" my hand-print plays the piano. This method of painting drawing with its freedom allows for the atmosphere and the magical element of music to be created on paper which is enabled by the use of mixed media – gouche, pastels and collage. The aim is to create the feeling rather than the perfection of realism which denies the spontaneous emotional reaction but rather to give an impression of it.
Children smudge the paint and drip paint which is apparent in my work "At the Printers". When painting the "Rain Song" it was the sound of the rain and water pounding on the surroundings which was super imposed on the chorale praying for rain. The overwhelming sound effects was aided by the use of mixed media – soft pastels was ideal for the rain and gouache for the clouds.
The music of Vivaldi's Four Seasons is conveyed in my painting by the lightness of colour in different seasonal changes. The colour conveys the mood of the music. The technique is lyrical with the free use of mixed media. The paintings will arouse some kind o emotional response from the experience of viewings the artworks which will be determined by each viewers personal background and free association.
