“Rain light” drawn and painted with ink and water color by Sanford Ross Bender
Rain light
Lycanthrope
Lycanthrope
Darting furtively through the mist
Cursed under lunar brightness
The valiancy of my heart
Slashed by razor teeth
Became my darkest side
Evil enclosing
My nocturnal lair
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mud tracked prints
Find me sprawled
In the dawn of twisted sheets
Like tormented trees
Gnarled from remembering
What blackened life
Is forever gone
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
But only the music
Of wind and owls
And the crackling rain
Had abided my incessant howls
Until yet another night
When gliding clouds
Reveal another full newness of moon
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
S.R. Bender, January 8, 2011
Silver Sky of Sadness
Pictures from from an unknown place
The Mending Meadow
Dance with an Octopus
Clarinet, Concertina, and Guitar Trio in A minor
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.
Recovery and Relief (Sea Mountains)
