timnyberg

I call the event "Art and Music Jam." It's the experiment that's held every Saturday during the tourist season at my Juddville, Wisconsin gallery. You might also refer to the event as "Paint by Number" (musical number that is). As guest musicians (most of them accomplished jazz players) play their initial notes, I stand facing  a large empty canvas - eyes closed - listening to the first few bars of the music - and wait for an image to come to mind. I grabs the first inkling of an idea and start flinging paint.

Sometimes it's a shape, sometimes a color, a texture, a rhythm. Whatever the music gives me. The trick is to get it onto the canvas quickly - before it disappears.

I work fast, often in time with the music. The image appears quickly, then changes, and changes again. I turn my head, then the canvas, and keep painting.

During the process, the music often takes different turns sending my thoughts in new directions. Or what appears on the canvas - which is usually quite abstract - seems to work better sideways or upside down from the original orientation.

Working in acrylic, I work fast and don't mind changing direction mid-course. SometimesI'll spray a mist of window cleaner on the painting, let it sit for a second, then grab a rag and wipe. The smear becomes a rich base for new visual ideas. More paint is applied, I smeared with my fingers, scrap with small pieces of wood, scribe with the opposite end of the brush or most often with my finger nails.

The paintings seem to build themselves. Sometimes they're successful, sometimes it was just a fun few minutes of observing whatever happens.  But it gets really cool when the musicians watch what's happening on the canvas and start to improvise to what they see. That's what really makes the process a dance of creativity between artist and musician - both of us taking turns leading.

When it all works just right, the painting process ends perfectly with the last note of the music. The dance ends, the "dance" partners look at each other and smile (or sometimes shrug their shoulders and laugh). The onlookers applaud. 

see when the next art and music jams are taking place by clicking to GalleryFortyTwo.com

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