Waves of Leaves
Silver Sky of Sadness
Goblin Hot Pot
Dancing around a fiery cauldron bubbling with delicious goblin cuisine ingredients is in stark contrast to coping with real time global dangers that encroach upon our conciousness. Living in art and music is starlight as darkness and its inky blackness thicken and roll out the last glimmers of the day.
And then there is music for the next morning…
“The Mermaid” (Child No. 289) from the Ballad Book by John Jacob Niles
Oh the stormy winds do blow,
with the landlubbers down below,
And the sailor-men a-climbing to the top,
To haul in the riggin’-o.
T’was Sunday night, our sails were set
We hardly cleared the land-o,
When we spied a mermaid a-swimming by,
A comb and a glass in her hand-o.
The captain plumbed with a lead and a line,
He plumbed for to reach the sand-o,
While the winds and the waves did toss and roar,
We knew we’d never see land-o.
Then three times ’round went our gallant ship,
And three times more went she,
And the mate and the cabin boy said goodbye,
As we sank in the salt, salt sea.
Two dancing pigs
“Two Dancing Pigs” was improvised by playing harmonica and guitar simultaneously. Any discomfort in physically managing two instruments was alleviated through closed-eye visualization of two dancing pigs squealing with delight in each other’s company. The artwork is a detail of the pastel drawing used in my previous post, “The Listening Drum.” Looking closer allows one to see two dark pig-like shapes appear (among other creatures such as a spider, a bat, or a raven’s tail). Perhaps, rainbow colored waves are perceived as dancing while the pig duo floats and soars overhead in sea spray and thermal undulations. A colorful drawing appearing to depict a single slice in time awakens and sequentially shape-shifts to melodic rhythms of musical joy.
You can find “Two Dancing Pigs” and other pieces on Sandy Bender’s album Terrain.
Long snowy walk home under a crescent moon
Dance with an Octopus
She runs through my mind like an apparition
Serenade
This artwork came about during my fine artist days in Manhattan, while I was attending both New York University and the Art Students League of New York. I was also studying music in the former institution which required an explanation in a master’s degree thesis of how art and music may be interrelated. My research included biographical as well as theoretical investigations into the paintings of Wassily Kandinsky and the musical compositions of Arnold Schoenberg, both of whom found inspiration within the interplay between painting (and drawing) and music. In my case, I found expression and solace in the practice of both mediums, whether or not I could describe rationally the necessity of dual participation. Although art is primarily associated with the visual sense and music with the aural sense, they both share commonality in the tactile sense.
This musical composition includes guitar, my primary instrument, banjo, a secondary plucked string instrument, and concertina, the most recent wind (bellows) instrument in my musical arsenal. “Serenade for guitar, banjo, and concertina” is reminiscent of various styles in jazz, blues, folk, and classical music. The music came together in this manner through improvisation and just hit the right spot for me.
Creekside
I just bought a 40-button “Anglo” concertina a week ago. Wind instruments operated with bellows and their “old world” sound had intrigued me for quite a while. I was also fascinated by the difference of this instrument from the harmonica and clarinet where I have to rely on breathing and embouchure. Producing the joyful or wistful sound of a concertina would however, require the dexterity and theoretical understanding of pressing buttons on each side while pulling and pushing the bellows in rhythmic time. The painting “Creekside”, seemed appropriate to the music in its depiction of a meandering stream flowing through its carved channel of forested and stone armored embankment.