The Sounds at Work

The universe’s superpower

It’s no secret that I’m an artist, but what might not be known is something about how I work. The major impetus to my creating art is a superpower from the universe – music, which always relaxes me and cheers me up.

In my world, gone are the stereotypical swaths of silence and furrowed brows of an artist concentrating on a piece of work. This may work for other artists, and I respect that. For me, the silence and furrowed brows have been replaced by lyrics, harmonies, powerful beats – and sitting in my ergonomic chair, my right hand steady, focused on the canvas, and my legs moving to the beat. And sometimes I even sing along, badly, as my 20-plus years of teaching has, to a large extent, destroyed my voice.

Continuous music amplifies my artistic voice – the louder the music, the better. And that relaxes me and improves my concentration, even on the most minuscule details.

When I’m alone at home, I blast the music in my small bedroom studio during my entire painting session(s). When I’m not alone, I listen to music through my noise canceling headphones, disappointingly keeping the volume at a reasonable level. A splash of music always accompanies splashes of paint.

I favor songs by artists popular in the 1970s, when I was a teen, but I also adore current artists like Olivia Rodrigo (thanks to my daughter for introducing me to this artist). Lately, I’ve been listening to other great artists such as Gavin DeGraw, Pink, Sister Hazel, Rod Stewart, ABBA, Electric Light Orchestra, Meatloaf, Simon and Garfunkel, Cat Stevens, Barbra Streisand, Boston, Elton John, the Bee Gees, as well as classical music such as Vivaldi and Bach. These are just a microcosm of the artists that inspire me.

Music has also taken care of me during cancer diagnosis and treatment. I remember the difficult walk to my car after receiving treatment, feeling defeated, depressed, afraid, and hopeless. Even to this day, I put on the radio right after starting my car, and throughout my cancer trauma, a Rolling Stones song would frequently be on, and suddenly my anguish would dissipate somewhat, as I got lost in the energy of their music.

But only one song became my anthem during cancer and still remains so today — it is “Drive” by Incubus. The lyrics center around trying to handle fear, and the theme is only strengthened by the song’s haunting melody. Ironically, “Drive” played consistently during my drive to and from treatments, medical appointments, and just about anywhere else. The lyrics spoke straight to my heart and mind. And though my fear could not be erased, the song’s lyrics would calm me down, helping me cope with whatever I was experiencing and trying to handle what the next day would bring.

Here are some of the song’s lyrics that inspired me to endure and to feel some hope during cancer.

Sometimes, I feel the fear of
Uncertainty stinging clear
And I, I can't help but ask myself
How much I'll let the fear take the wheel and steer
It's driven me before, and it seems to have a vague
Haunting mass appeal
But lately, I'm beginning to find that I
Should be the one behind the wheel

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there
With open arms and open eyes, yeah
Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there
I'll be there, oh…

It's driven me before, and it seems to be the way
That everyone else gets around
But lately, I'm beginning to find that
When I drive myself, my light is found

To hear the song, click here. This link leads to an artsy (Just my style!) YouTube video where the group is singing.

Overall, I believe one creative act begets another, and music is a life force that inspires me to create visual art, where creative energy is channeled through my pencil or brush. No matter what challenges life hands me, the one constant is music.

I want to thank Stephanie Raffelock, whose wonderful essay Never Too Old to Rock and Roll inspired me. Her joie de vivre, as well as her love of music and dance as part of that, are always so inspirational and important, but especially so, given these difficult times. If you haven’t yet read it, please check it out. You will be glad that you did.

Art

This week I focused on First-Year Ballerina, and I’m almost finished. Below is an earlier version of the painting awhile ago:

Here is the same painting, revised:

I repainted skin and the ballerina’s outfit, adding sequins, and I really worked hard on her hair and face – so much of the reference photo was blurry that I had to do a lot of guesswork. The face, particularly the nose and mouth, are not ideal (you can tell that I worked and overworked it), but I think I did a nice job on her eyes:

Although I generally paint eyes last, this one turned out to be an exception. My daughter told me that without completed eyes, the girl seemed possessed by demons or seemed like a creepy doll. And this motivated me to finish these eyes as soon as possible. Note that I still need to correct one of her shoes, and that I deleted the weird rubbery arm on the ballerina’s reflection. Anatomy doesn’t work like that.

After the draft dries, all I have to do is repaint the background, possibly add some bluish highlights to her hair, and I’ll be done. Perfect painting? No. Does it really look like my daughter? No. But I loved working this way, with so much detail, and perfection doesn’t really exist. After all, it’s art.

Speaking of art, I blasted Pink and Elton John while I gratefully painted the ballerina.