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This is the difference the music makes

Yesterday I made a comment on Facebook that I didn’t know whether to carry on with finishing off a painting I had almost completed but was stuck for motivation regarding it, or do another painting altogether.

Most of the supportive and  helpful comments I had was to start another one, and leave the other.

But, I knew that if I did it would annoy me. Because when I start with a job I like to complete it. It’s just in this instance, that the painting in question had been put to one side as I had, nicely, three commissions to complete. And commissions always take priority.  But now they are done, I can go back to the seascape. Except I had lost the momentum for it, the motivation, the oomph, the creative juices, the inspiration, the crux. Whatever you want to call it, it wasn’t there.

But I knew how to get it back.

I don’t really know how this works, but it does. Well, it works for me, every time. Guaranteed!

I just put the right music on, and I have a good selection of what I consider the right music. Some of it is rock, some of it soft rock, some of it dance music, ranging from my favourite Paul Rogers (Alright now, Honey child) to Jackson Browne (Barricades of heaven, Shape of a heart) to AC/DC (Let their be rock, Whole lotta Rosie), Bon Jovi (Bed of roses, Its my life, One wild night) Shania Twain (Man I feel like a woman, Forever and for always), T.Rex (Thunderwing, Rapids, Baby Boomerang), Black box (Ride on time), Elton John (Chapel of love), Queen (Tie your mother down), Gary Moore (Parisienne Walkways), Sweet (Wig wam bam, Little Willy), Jennifer Lopez (On the floor), Pitbull (I know you want me), Sak Noel (Loca People), Public Service Broadcasting (Go, Spitfire, Everest)……. the list goes on…………. but they all have a good beat to them….. one that gets my heart racing, the blood pumping….. and …

I stand infront of the picture, usually with a mug of tea in hand. And I look at the picture that I am struggling with. And I look, and listen to the music work its magic on me, and I stand concentrating on it….

until……

the ideas come…..

Let me take one last look  half doneAnd when they come, I’ve got my inspiration back. I’ve got my creative juices flowing again. I am lost in the artistic flow. And I can start painting again. The music is still there, it is still loud, and rocking, and filling my head.

And it was that, yesterday, that finished this painting off.

I can say in all honesty, that without the music, it wouldn’t have ended up looking as good as this.

The painting, now that I can tell you about it, is a seascape done in thick acrylic paint on  a 20 x 16 inch canvas. But, just to add a bit more atmosphere to the painting, in the foreground I stuck on beach sand, using PVA glue, and also, because I really liked it… a tiny shell. A real shell, that once was alive in the ocean, but now is the a large part of my painting.

The first picture here, is how far I had got to, up until yesterday when I was stuck for inspiration. Some sky, some sea, a horizon line, beach, and a shell. Not very inspirational at all. Flat and lifeless.

But….. after putting on the music, this is what I have done with it. Its come alive. Let me take one last look

The finished painting, still has some sky, some sea, a horizon line, beach and a shell. BUT, the sky is alive with sunlight spotlighting the sea, the sea is alive with waves, and speckles of sunlight, the waves are foaming up and crashing on the beach, the beach is wet, with foam, and the shell… well…. its still there, its just highlighted more, because of what else is in the picture.

I have thought of various titles, but the one that I find most important for this picture is… “Let me take one last look”.

So, completed!  I painted it with the aid of music, and what a massive effect it had on it!

 

 

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