Sharing Ludovico

 

Ludovico Einaudi is an Italian pianist and composer.  I have been hearing his beautiful music coming across my Pandora stations for a while now.  I shared a couple of pieces with my son who is also a pianist and he told me that one of his students is learning to play this one called Night.  The music and this visually stunning video was mesmerizing.  The simple and multiple symbols and trees and marks were all drawn by Ludovico.  

This quote is from the description on YouTube:

Says Einaudi: “I saw new frontiers – on the edge between what I knew and what I didn’t know – that I had long wanted to explore: creation myths, the periodic table, Euclid's geometry, Kandinsky’s writings, the matter of sound, and of colour, the stems of wild grass in a meadow, the shapes of the landscape. For months I wandered in a seemingly chaotic mix of images, thoughts and feelings. Then, gradually, everything came together in a dance, as if all the elements were parts of the same world, and myself within it.”

October Paintings and a Bit of Life

Bedroom With Starry Walls
acrylic on wood
sold

 October was a beautiful month in Kansas.  There was a nice mix of warm and cool days, and I spent as much time outside as I possibly could taking long walks in various local parks, sitting on the porch sipping coffee, sketching at the Botanical Garden and on my own patio in the evenings.  It has been a month full of activities and time spent with family and friends either in person or virtually.  Life is good.

Hammock
acrylic on wood
available on Etsy

There is Beauty in Fading
acrylic on wood
available on Etsy

detail

After spending time at the botanical garden, I am even more fascinated by spent flowers and leaves.  There is a beautiful elegance in the way they curl and their faded color.  I tried to add this fascination in the above painting.

Morning Light
acrylic on wood
(sold)

Mornings are spent inside now, cuddled beneath a fuzzy blanket with a cup of coffee and Hurley at my feet, and sometimes Mitsou in my lap.  Peet does his own thing pretty much all day.  He's earned the right to in his 17th year as a cat. 

Serve
acrylic on wood
available on Etsy

As I scroll through the pictures on my phone I am reminded of all the wonderful things that happened this month.  I took the initiative to get really active with all the events and places my city and beyond has to offer.  Trying new food, exploring museums, gardens, shops.  I went where I could, when I could and it filled my heart and inspired me so much.  I get in a rut sometimes, and exploring my own area always does the trick to pull me out of it. 

Bartlett Arboretum
My first visit to this beautiful place.

One of the events I attended was a symphony concert in a small town nearby.  I was telling my son, who is a musician that it would be great to find a podcast that discusses specific pieces of classical music for people who want to know more of the history about it.  Of course in this world there IS one that exists and I found just the perfect one in my search.  It is called Classical Classroom , and Dacia Clay does a wonderful job interviewing different musicians, directors and such about various topics, pieces of music, composers and instruments.  It is really educational and so interesting.  I started with episode 72 about Beethoven's Fifth.  Eye-opening!

Until next time!

Lisa

New Painting in Progress and the Song That Inspired It

WIP
oil on cradled wood 20 x 16 inch

This past summer while cooking dinner, I was listening to the Nina Simone station on Pandora like I usually do, and the song "Making Plans for Nigel" ( the Nouvelle Vague version) came on.  I swayed and twirled and cooked and listened, and as I did a vision of a young boy and his parents came to mind.  I saw basically what you see here in the beginnings of this painting...the boy in his bed with the covers pulled over his head...a tuft of hair sticking up (eventually)... and his parents standing outside his door discussing his future.  Nigel has hopes and dreams of his own, but his parents know what's best, don't they? Or do they? I sketched this scene out that evening and the ideas of painting it have been dancing in my head ever since.  I'm excited to finally be working on it.

I don't believe this is the true meaning of this song, but it is what I saw when I heard it.  My challenge for this piece...the challenge I am giving myself...is to paint light.  I see light coming down from the hallway light, onto the parents heads and faces, and spilling into the room.  The relation of the doorway and the room of course isn't right, but it's the only way I could get this down with my limited drawing skill.  It's the light, the characters and the overall atmosphere I care about.  I am not sure I can succeed with painting light, but I am going to give it a try.

Wish me luck.

Below is the Youtube video of the song.  Enjoy and have a great weekend!