Music and art production notes for current projects.
Introducing in 2013 The "Jamming With..." Series: remix "jam sessions" with artists that I would like to perform with, or would like to have performed with if they were still around...
I hate skinny blogs... don't you?
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
The last painting that I was working on and "got stuck" with how to finish it, is shown below. This painting, oil on masonite board, had started off with multiple glaze layers that seemed to glow nicely, but then when I tried to add the Antelope image, the entire painting seemed to collapse. It is obviously too large for even a foreground presence and must be modified or eliminated from the painting.
The subject of the painting is "Temple Mountain" in the San Rafael Swell area of Central Utah, near Goblin Valley National Monument (Northwest of the monument).
Since the subject is Utah desert sandstone and limestone formations, we can use poetic license and exaggerate the coloring a little more on the red side. Also, it is difficult to posterize the edges to explain the rock crevices and cracks, but this is a central requirement for the finished painting.
Here's the painting on the windshield of my car. Notice the disproportionate size of the Antelope and difficulty in presenting the rock crevices.
Now I'll use Photoshop to define what it needs for a finished painting:
Now we're getting somewhere. If I can finish the painting like this, then it would be adequate to the vision of the location that I was trying to portray. The question is how to posterize the edges correctly to create the desired effect? Maybe a very dry brush and ink? Or, maybe it has to be an extremely large mural sized painting to allow for the brush to define the edges correctly. Or, maybe it will now live in the digital realm and get printed as a large-format painting as if finished as a painting.
Does it really matter how we arrive at the image we are trying to create? As long as the journey is taken and the desired image is available for replication and enjoyment, what difference is there in dabs of paint or finishing extrapolation of edges via photo editor tools? There are very fuzzy lines here for an artist like me that just wants to see the envisioned end-product created, regardless of convention or mandatory procedures from antiquated academics.
Now is the time to return to fine art painting, and I have the perfect project planned to get back into the groove. This next piece will be oil on wood-panels with several layers of acrylic glazing for the under-painting. I started this type of preparation on the last art work that I started, and now I need to go back to that process and refine it further, and also to finish that piece in the interim. (click on picture to see in full-screen)
This sketch provides of some of the ideas I've been playing out in my head:
- Side panels of looking up into Redwood trees
- with lens flare lines that extend into the middle panel to have the eye follow into the middle panel.
- Side panels on wood to be able to cut out for curvature to provide 3D visual effect.
- Center panel to introduce butterfly elliptical shapes, with textures for metal, rock, and other earth elements.
- White line concentric circles to imply acoustic events taking place, and drum beats.
- will also include a spiral shape of similar style (no shown in this sketch version).
- Middle panel with complementary colors from trees
- The sketch is not rendered accurately to color balance; will be worked out in painting.
- The side panels will be finished first and can be hung independent of the middle panel.
- The middle panel can include different versions to change the mood of the environment.
Purpose and Manner:
The
painting will represent the mental transformation experienced with
being in a Redwood forest and looking up into the trees and experiencing
a moment of inspiration. The shape of the side panels will suggest a
panoramic view and dimensional illusion, while the center panel will
focus the eye on a fixed space with multiple textures that contrast yet
complement the softness of the forest colors.
The hues will be somewhat subdued to allow the viewer to gaze as if in a
dream-like state of mind. When viewed laying down and looking at the
wall, the illusion of being in the forest with a magical twist will be
the desired result.
Process:
The
colors will be matched better in the painting, and may be done with
acrylic-based paints, with perhaps some oil glazes over some sections of
the middle panel. Scumbling
and other randomized rendering techniques will be used to build
texture, while the precise lines of the concentric circles, outline of
the elliptical shapes, and spiral shapes will contrast to the other
earthy organic shapes.
The
lens flare lines will extend from the side-panels and encroach into the
middle panel to suggest that there is unity in the middle image
that appears in the middle of the trees.
The use of wood panels will bring out colors better than canvas.
Another Collaboration Piece with Nick Gent Whenever I collaborate with other musicians, I never know what to expect, but Nick Gent has always been a good collaborator. I like his voice and his composition style. He should be signed with a record company already, in my opinion. Here's the latest mix on "Respect, Then Love" song.
Accelerated Practice and Chord
Modeling Techniques
APP REVIEW: ProChords for iPAD
I downloaded the iPAD app called “ProChords” that allows you
to stack up chords with chord suggestions, modify and arrange the voicing and set the octave, etc.,
and then email as a MIDI file. This is a fun program to play if you want to
hear how different chord arrangements sound, but if you want to understand why
you should use a certain chord pattern, then this app doesn’t inform well.
The app doesn’t suggest common stylistic progressions (folk,
jazz, rock, blues, etc.), so we need to look for these from other
references.With some stylistic
references in hand, this app will be more useful for someone trying to output a
song structure to work from. For example, how do you make chord progressions
for jazz music? The starting point for traditional jazz music is to follow the
ii-V-I chord pattern, so making some reference MIDI files from “ProChords” for
these patterns would be a nice educational training exercise. Also, jazz music
rarely uses triad chords, and so the 7th note, and/or extended
octave notes are usually included in the chords.
Towards this goal of creating or using “Jazz chord
progression” reference material, I found a great video presented by GuitarLessons365.com on how to practice traditional jazz chord progressions using the
circle of 4ths/5ths, by cycling through the ii-V-I chord patterns.
While going through the mental exercise of ii-V-I patterns
through the circle-of-fifths, and input of this chord sequence into “ProChords”
app, I realized that putting this in shorthand in a text document first, may be
another good mental exercise. So here it is:
ii-V-I chord progressions in Major keys, Cycled through the
circle-of-fifths, starting with C Maj with Mixolydian (lower 7th interval) mode chords:
The trick here is that the minor (ii) of the chord
progression, will be two notes away in the clockwise direction of the
circle-of-fifths from the tonic (root or I), so visualizing the
circle-of-fifths, or using as a reference, will quickly generate this chord-pattern
list. Another way that works for me is to visualize the violin finger-board,
since the strings are in ascending fifths/descending fourths.
Now I’m going back to the “ProChords” app to input these
sequences, and then record with a “guitar-like-strumming” rhythmic patterns, so
that the MIDI files could possibly be useful for a guitar part later in the audio editing
program. Ah, there might be a way to make "ProChord" more professional here.
Whether or not the "ProChords" app can be a useful educational tool completely depends on how you come to terms with each suggestion being made. For this information, you can engage in easy to understand resources that explain how the jazz scales fit into chord patterns used in jazz. To write a good jazz song, we need a good understanding of how a jazz musician can move through the chord changes. These are good references to build this understanding: http://www.thejazzresource.com/jazz_theory.html
From this chart, it is easy to see how the ii-V-I jazz chord progressions fall into place with the natural movements of tonal harmony. Conclusion: For ProChords and other applications that attempt to give us some insights on how chord progressions work, it would be nice for the authors to go full-circle (pun intended), and give guidance to assure that we are using chord progressions that create good songs. Otherwise, we may fool ourselves into believing that chord progressions in music composition are just a gimmick. Movements do matter, after all, and the wisdom of the ages in music composition are important regardless of the fluid nature of musical preferences. People always prefer music with good solid chord progressions that are pleasant, and fit the natural harmonic progressions established over time.
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
New Collaboration Session on Indaba Music
A very talented song writer, Nick Gent has written a great song called "Respect, Then Love". He has given me an opportunity to record some violin tracks for the piece. Over the weekend, I came up with an interesting track to complement the varied styles incorporated in the piece. "World Music" is the genre that he labels the piece, there is a strange latin-jazz, European cafe vibe, but the basis of the piece is from his interaction with a friend from India, so I added a little "Raga" style too!
Here's a sample mix of Nick Gent's "Respect, Then Love" with Kevan Paul on Violin:
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Embedded Playlist.com Playlist (oops) for the Chopin-Transformed Project:
Prior to June 2012, you could embed a playlist.com playlist on a website and reference the playlist without leaving the original website (traditional flash-player type widget).
There should still be a way to embed the playlist, since the playlist.com site is supposedly now HTML5, but the reference site would have to support the HTML5 player, etc.
The playlist.com site support forum just writes that it is "restricted"; I'm not sure if this means can't be done at all, or if you have to get your own HTML5 widget code; maybe they just don't want to answer questions regarding how to do this.
Meanwhile, here's the playlist.com playlist I created for the Chopin Preludes, so that I can play from anywhere to listen and get ideas for the KP5-Album "Chopin Transformed" project. I'm looking for other options to embed.
This is really an advertisement to buy the code from svnlabs for $25 because it prompts through the playlist creating process to save in proper XML format, etc. But at least we can see how people would use this.
Back To My Current Streaming and Embedded Playlist Issues:
To stream audio from blogger, I tried to store the .mp3 files on Google Drive, but Google Drive blocks streaming audio. So, I can't use Google Drive as a .mp3 file repository and stream audio.
Google obviously has to cover their ( \ ) and assume that all .mp3's are stolen goods... I'm creating my own content here!
Why can't Google allow G Drive streaming just for Blogger?
Google really needs to catch up to WordPress on media support.
I created a DropBox account to stash my files in a public folder. Now I can stream from there. (Thank you, DropBox!)
I couldn't use Amazon Cloud Drive, because there are no public-share settings.
On a side-note, DropBox has two-factor authentication via your cell phone now, and I immediately set that up. Way to go DropBox! Other websites need to follow this lead; this is one way to get control of our personal security again in the cloud. Passwords are not enough!
I could also use my Indaba Music account to store the files, but I won't do this unless this turns into a more lively collaboration project.
I understand that MixPOD.com is another option for an embedded playlist, so I'm going there next to try my Chopin playlist.
