Music drives the piece

I love to listen to music while I am creating my artwork and usually cycle through many different genres in an afternoon. I find that although music can be very inspirational while working, it can also be a distraction. Ultimately those distractions can change the direction of the piece! Sometimes that can have disastrous results. Ok, maybe I was being a bit dramatic by calling the change of mood disastrous but still, it can change the mood.

Since a painting is the essence of a thought I decided that I should try to verbalize that essence at the onset of the piece. To me, haiku is also the essence of a thought. If you do not remember what I haiku is, let me remind you by writing the definition of a haiku in that poetic form.

The haiku rhythm

by syllables in each line

are five, seven, five.

Fun right?

So I decided to write a haiku for each piece. Then I can have it there at my work table to read if I feel that I need to recenter my focus on the piece once again, rather than drifting off into a thought pattern of the musical art that i love to listen to.

Speaking of music, I often wonder what the lyrics mean to the songwriter, do you? I know what melodies have come to mean to me, but often I wonder if they are in sync with the artist singing the song. We are all different people, so even though there is a connection, it is never exact as we all experience different things in life. This quandary has also led me to wonder about the power of naming a piece of art. I feel that this is why some artist have pieces called Untitled 4 or Composition No. 9.

How much power does a title have? Most likely, a title of a song or a piece of art can mean a lot. When you add a poem of 17 syllables to the title, how much power does that have?? Perhaps too much, as living with art is a personal choice and each one’s interpretation of the piece matures and grows with them.

So I wonder if folks, who buy the artwork will want the haiku as well as the piece? I will have to ask each person I guess!

The real thing is this… If you think the piece is about this and that , well it should continue to mean this and that. Then your artwork is yours - all yours.

Why would I want to tell you it is about the other thing if it now belongs to you? Hmmm
It is an interesting thought isn’t it?

Music & Haiku Inspiration