I fell in love with Sweet Addiction the first time I heard it.
It was a couple of days before Christmas… andLa Belle Femme was in the early stages of conception. I had received a commission for a large nude painting in landscape format. So not being someone who does things by halves… I decided instead to paint three! [I know... I know]
As I was sketching out ideas… and deciding on how I would approach the series… this piece of music dropped into my email inbox via Facebook.I had it playing in the background on my laptop… and listened to it over and over again. I never tired of it. Before long I was completely beguiled by the sound. It was indeed a “Sweet Addiction” [grin]
The making of the Music…
Sweet Addiction was created by Daniel Marolla… a young man who is definitely going places! He created and recorded this piece of music one afternoon in mid December using [keyboard drums and base guitar] an Mbox and Garageband… then shot his video for You Tube from the built-in camera on his laptop and edited it in Final Cut Studio. If all that sounds like double dutch… well… don’t worry. Just listen to the music… it will speak for itself!
The making of the Art…
The first in this series was initially a commission. The paintings were relatively large for watercolour at 76cm x 38cm – [that's 30" x 15"] with the figures approx. 1/2 life size. It was so much fun working wet into wet in the initial stages… just allowing the paint to flow and directing it where I wanted it to go.
It’s fast… it’s fluid… it’s free and wow… you just gotta love working in watercolour!
Willow charcoal of course… adds another dimension. It’s a style I have been working on for a couple of years now especially in figure and life work.
The pics were taken on my humble little Panasonic Lumix and assembled as a slideshow in iPhoto. I purposely kept the photos edgy and a bit blurred by movement with [perhaps] some “debatable” degree of success!
And of course… iPhoto is no precise science but that’s about the extent of my techie expertise at this time. I am however willing to learn. Note to self: Get Final Cut Pro… there has GOT to be a better way! [Grin]
By the time the three paintings were done… the music had weaved it’s incredible magic into them all.
Consequently… what you hear and see here is the end product of an [unintended] creative collaboration between paint and music. It was entirely unintentional of course.
Daniel could not have known that his music would so happily “belong”to these paintings that afternoon in December when he brought this music to life! He was afterall on his own creative tangent … and the paintings did not [as yet] exist! But somehow… still… the paintings and the music seemed strangely made for each other!
Enjoy the clip! Let me know what you think… leave a comment here!
Some mornings I wake up with my central line channelling directly from the source. This was one of those mornings!
I penned this poem in the early hours of this morning. It’s essentially about the relationship between me and my creative self [but not in the egoistic sense] Rather… it is an acknowledgment of the creative source within… and the eternal search for my own quintessential truth. Yes… kinda deep I know. But you know artists… [grin]
Yesterday I completed the third in a series of nudes that represent a distinct shift in my watercolour process. I am very excited about what I have managed to achieve in these three artworks. Above is a sample… [just a peek for now] as I have some plans for these works.
A friend of mine… a gifted musician… has agreed to allow me the use of a beautiful piece of music he conceived just before Christmas to use in a clip of my paintings. The paintings were actually painted while I was listening to the music on you tube! LOL So in many ways the images became the music… and the music became the images. It was a joyful process. And I am so very pleased he has agreed [very generously] to allow me to do this.
But just for now… you will need to watch this space! :-)
If our daily lives were put to music… what would be the soundtrack of your life?
Not sure if it had anything to do with the recent celebration of (yet another) birthday… but this was the question I put to friends and family recently with some “surprising” results. After some thought… most said that there was more than one… (soundtrack that is). That depending on the mood… or the day… the soundtrack they might choose would be entirely different.
But surely there was some enduring theme? A song or a piece of music that defined it all? I am still awaiting answers here… (chuckles)
So what is the soundtrack of YOUR life?
No… I’m asking… seriously!
I love music. It makes my world go round. I love all kinds… from rock to opera to classical to new age. You name it… if it’s got a beat… some heartfelt lyrics and a half way decent melody… I’m in! Music shapes the world in which we live… whether we know it or not. We are in fact… the sum of what we listen to. Surprising… but true.
Music has the capacity to lift us up… and to drop us right back down. It can fire up the imagination and transport us to a place even beyond our experience. It can change the way we perceive the things we see… hear and do.
Years ago I remember watching a documentary about the role of music in film. It looked at the varying emotional responses we have to the same scene when different music and sound effects are applied.
The scene was a quiet leafy suburban street. The first piece of music was edgy suspenseful and slightly sinister. Viewers were immediately placed on guard… expecting the worst at any moment.
Then the same scene was shown with different music. This time the music played was bright and happy… innocent and playful. It surprised me how quickly and effortlessly we viewers were manipulated and coerced into a dramatic shift in perception!
To me… the saddest piece of music ever written was this [Gymnopedies No. 1 played by Jean Yves Thibaudet]. Achingly beautiful… but I can’t hear it without feeling as though my heart is being sucked right out of my ribcage through a thin plastic straw… urghhh
And after much interrogation the consensus here for the happiest song ever written (amongst a vast array of potential contenders) was this [This Will Be - (An Everlasting Love) sung by Natalie Cole]
Hmmm… I might have said “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves but hey… that’s just me… (had a chuckle at the funky 80s film clip)
I reckon the ultimate “power” song (and one I love to paint to) is Push It by Garbage… but the film clip is just too weird to put here in this otherwise happy [relatively] well-adjusted space! LOL
So come on… what will it be? What’s the soundtrack of your life? I’d like to know…
I ain’t got no home, ain’t got no shoes
Ain’t got no money, ain’t got no class
Ain’t got no skirts, ain’t got no sweater
Ain’t got no perfume, ain’t got no beer
Ain’t got no mind
Ain’t got no mother, ain’t got no culture
Ain’t got no friends, ain’t got no schooling
Ain’t got no love, ain’t got no name
Ain’t got no ticket, ain’t got no token
Ain’t got no God
Then what have I got?
Why am I alive anyway?
Yeah, what have I got?
Nobody can take away!
I got my hair, got my head
got my brains, got my ears
got my eyes, got my nose
got my mouth… I got mysmile!
I got my tongue, got my chin
got my neck, got my boobs
got my heart, got my soul
got my back… I got myself
I got my arms, got my hands
got my fingers, got my legs
got my feet, got my toes
got my liver… I got my blood
I’ve got life… I’ve got my freedom
I’ve got life!
I’ve got life… and I’m gonna keep it!
I’ve got life… and nobody’s gonna take it away
I’ve got LIFE!
Nina Simone – Ain’t Got No/I Got Life
artwork & content Copyright Jean Burman 2007
I went off to Boarding School at the tender age of 12. Life was very simple back then. For 15 weeks straight… three terms per year… we weren’t allowed out of the grounds. I learned all about homesickness… and the true meaning of “heartache”. I learned what it was to be hungry (although you could never have said we were deprived – nonetheless the Boarder’s collective starvation was the stuff of legend in the Day School! LOL) We were laughed about and pitied… (it was only as adults we learned how the day girls admired us and envied our life as Boarders at our school). Consequently I learned what it was to be alienated. I learned what it was to be cold… and knew how it felt to be lonely. I learned what it was to be sad. I learned how to live in a small space… and how to consider others. You could say I learned a lot about life!
It wasn’t that Boarding School wasn’t fun… it was. And coming from a family of boys… it was wonderful to find myself all of a sudden with so many “sisters”. It was the place where I learned to live simply. I learned to find joy in the company of others. I learned what it was to long for home whilst at the same time being “at home” already. I learned to be happy doing fun things together… planning concerts and movie nights… dances and games nights… and silly things like pyjama parties… and the conspiratorial camaraderie of the midnight feast!
I even learned how to short-sheet a bed!
The best thing about it was… I survived. We all survived. Some people aren’t so lucky. There are tragedies in life that some may never recover from. But even the scars that never quite heal serve a purpose to shape us into the people that we are.
However… I believe as a whole we Boarders came out alright…. and despite the intervening years and our vastly divergent paths… a small group of us now get together once a month for coffee and a chat… over 1200 kilometres from the school whose goal it was to shape us into educated “young ladies”!
Our first few conversations after all those years consisted of reminiscences of our time at Boarding School… but over time that changed. Now when we get together we talk about life and the living of it here and now… the occurrences and happenings that pile one on top of the other to form “the stuff” of our everyday lives now. We remember the good things. And the bad things… (like only being allowed to wash our hair once a week) are now just something to laugh about. Thank God for rose-coloured glasses!
Those years taught me how to laugh and they taught me how to cry. In a way… those years fitted me out for life… and the ebb and flow of the human experience. More than anything the experience taught me “gratitude”. And that’s a lot for a kid to learn.
Artwork & Images © 2010 Jean Burman
Artwork & Images © 2010 Jean Burman
image Copyright © 2010 Jean Burman
