Project origins
The pieces in this project reflect my efforts to preserve two endangered pillars of our society: the environment and classical music. I believe both of these are worth saving and showcase their beauty in my work.
Many of the works of art are inspired by a combination of Colorado landscapes and Beethoven’s compositions, hence the name “Beethoven and Brushes”. I lived in the country of Beethoven for 11 years and enjoy playing his sonatas, so I have had plenty of sources of inspiration. In Germany I got to know the works of many other composers as well: Bach and Brahms, who are amply represented in my plans for future projects, but also composers from neighboring countries, like Satie and Chopin.
Sonate 14, second movement by Beethoven
Acrylic on canvas, 18″x36″. $600
I did not like the second movement of the so-called “Moonlight Sonata” when I started playing it in 2001 or 2002. It seemed frivolous, but my teacher explained that the lightness was necessary as a contrast between the brooding first movement and the Sturm and Drang of the third.
I used the bleached colors and wavy textures of our fall grasses in Cherry Creek State Park to express this lightness. The drama of the third movement is looming on the horizon.
Seventh symphony, second movement by Beethoven
Specifically, Ferenc Fricsay’s version of this movement: slow and stately.
What I have painted here is after what I consider the “summit” of this movement, so to speak. After the motifs mount, the piece features forceful pleas or wails from the strings that usher in a new section of the movement. I have always imagined the strings as expressing a storm of emotions, so I have painted the aftermath of that force here: snow settling on the Colorado plains after a cold and gusty storm. The force of the storm is still there, but it is receding into the background behind the Rocky Mountains, much as it does in the final measures of this movement.
Acrylic on canvas, 14″x18″. $160
Colorado Pastorale
On February 16th, 2017 I saw Beethoven’s Pastorale Symphony in the Laieszhalle in Hamburg. I plan on painting several large canvases celebrating Colorado and illustrating what I associate with each of the movements.
The field in front of Meyer’s Ranch, the setting of a hike, delivered just what I needed to express the strings playing the main theme of the first movement: grasses in gold building up to the majesty of the Rockies.
The first movement of Beethoven’s sixth. Acrylic on canvas, 36″x48″. The original is reserved for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra Guild Shop, but prints are available at www.saatchiart.com/prairieandpeaks.
Composition studies for the first movement. Graphite wash on paper, 11″x15″, $125.
I approached the second movement in a slightly different manner and wish I had remained truer to my color study, which is based on the other side of Meyer’s Ranch. The original is reserved for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra Guild Shop.
Colorado Pastorale, second movement. Acrylic on canvas, 18″x36″, $775.
In contrast, I think my study for the storm near the end of the third movement is spot on.
Study for the storm in Beethoven’s sixth: the field and hills behind Red Rocks Ampitheater. Pastel on paper, 12″x18″. The original is reserved for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra Guild Shop, but prints are available at www.saatchiart.com/prairieandpeaks.
Satiescapes
The series “Satiescapes” was inspired by Gnossiennes written by Eric Satie that I enjoy playing on the piano, though I have adapted at least one for the cello as well.
The three here depict two extremes in Colorado’s weather and reflect what I see when playing Gnossiennes 3, 5, and 2 (from left to right). The echos at the beginning of Gnossienne 3 appear as reflections in the marshes during a polar vortex in Cherry Creek State Park, the colors of the sun shining on a receding snowstorm glitter like the light-hearted passages in Gnossienne 5, and the disorienting “heat fog” that I experienced during hot and bright days on the prairie after 12 years in Northern Europe harkens back to the questioning semi-trills at the beginning of Gnossienne 2.
Chopin at sunrise
A nocturne at sunrise? This painting of Mount Blue Sky was originally supposed to be another attempt at the second movement of Beethoven’s Pastorale. About halfway through the work, however, Chopin’s 20th nocturne, a piece that I have played, came on the radio and got stuck in my head. The cold, distant nature of its opening and cascades of notes towards lower tones influenced the final shapes of the ridge and ratios of napthol:white:indigo in the snowier areas. The real colors are somewhere between the three images of the work in progress gallery and the high-resolution image below. One camera picked up the napthol and alizarin too much, the other the indigo and ultramarine.
The original is reserved for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra Guild Shop, but prints are available at www.saatchiart.com/prairieandpeaks.
“Chopin at Sunrise”, acrylic over pastel on canvas, 30″x40″.
