The Composer Project

The Composer Project

So here's how it happened:

My sister Bonnie, who is a fantastically talented violinist with a master's degree in performance from the University of Maryland, opened up a new music school in our home town Alpine. The Medley Academy of Music. She already had a large studio of violin students, so she also hired several teachers (of various instruments) to teach under her and provide lessons, classes, and performance opportunities. Furthermore, she also bought out the local youth orchestra, the Timpanogos Chamber Orchestra (TCO). In other words, she's kind of a big deal.

As a result of this endeavor, Bonnie decided to dedicate her basement as a music studio, and set about deciding how to decorate it--which is where I come in. While sneaking some free food from her fridge during my lunch break one day, she asked me how she should decorate her spacious, but bare studio space. She had one silly little painting of Mozart and a couple black note laminates. After looking a while, I had the idea, "We should get you more composer paintings to go with your Mozart!" And so online we went, to try to find more composer paintings. 

To our consternation, there were none. Wherever we looked, you just couldn't buy something like that. Like, maybe you could print an enlarged version of the portrait they have online, but nothing as stylized as the Mozart she already had. 

That's when I had the idea, that I would make it myself. I had done it before when there were other paintings I wanted, but could not find. And so for Christmas that year, I set about painting my first composer portrait as a present for Bonnie.

Johann Sebastian Bach, Dec 2015

One of my favorite comments on Bach was, "He looks like he is saying, 'Did you practice this week? Grrrr.' Perfect for a violin studio:)"
I tried to make him look classical and prestigious. Also I listened to the MOST GORGEOUS organ pieces by Bach while I painted him!! I could die and go to heaven, I love the organ so much--something I first figured out in the Churches in Vienna a year ago, but happily brought home with me to America:)
Then, I gave him to Bonnie and she liked him so much, that she commissioned me to paint an entire timeline's worth of  composers!! 16, to start with--though I didn't promise to paint them all in order. Obviously I was super stoked--I love the composers too--so I set to work on my next one right away.

Ludwig van Beethoven, Jan 2016

Beethoven was next. I tried to tie the two paintings in together using some metallic colored paints for the background, doing their hair with thick globs of paint, and adding a touch of glitter to their outfits. Cause they're composers, they are allowed to be eccentric.

Beethoven was rather a grumpy man. Being deaf, but also a fantastic musician, you can imagine how frustrating it would be to play something and not quite be able to hear it. He is reported to have broken many piano strings slamming the keys too hard in an effort to hear them. Beethoven was a genius, but a frustrated man.

When I brought Beethoven to Bonnie's house, her students got excited and said, "You got another one??" Because the composer wall is what they look at during each lesson. Bonnie said it is really fun because as each new one appears on her wall, she gets to tell her students all about them, and introduce them to some of their music. Perrrrfect:)

Johannes Brahms, Feb 2016

For Brahms, I had gotten so much positive feedback about the textures in my paintings (I knew texture was something Bonnie loved) that Brahms may have gotten a little wild.  However, he was super fun to paint, and also ended up being my favorite so far.

Brahms composed some killer violin concertos, which I slobbered over as I painted. He also was an incredibly stable and kind man, which is pretty rare for composers.

There is a beautifully tragic story involving him and Robert Schumann, which I will sum up for you. Schumann, a famous composer, opened his door to a knock one day to see young Brahms on his door asking to be taken on as a pupil. He was so clever on the piano and dedicated to his work, that Schumann and his lovely wife Klara gladly took the boy in. They were as happy as anything, Klara and Robert desperately in love, and their adoring young pupil learning quickly, until a mental illness drove Robert to commit himself to the insane asylum so as not to hurt his beloved Klara. He died not long after. Brahms, always in love with Klara from afar, asked her to marry him--but she was still dedicated to Robert. And so the two simply remained close friends for the rest of their lives.

I did this painting quickly, and only ended up taking 6 hrs to paint him start to finish. That makes ME excited because it means I am getting faster! In the past, to make any sort of decent painting I took the better part of three whole days to finish it. To finish Brahms in 6 hrs means I might be able to start cranking the composers out much faster, and start and finish one in a day. Wahoo!!:)

Here is the start of the timeline for her wall--soon to get much, much longer.

My next project will be Pyotr Tchaikovsky, which I am excited for, because I love me some good Tchaikovsky music to listen to:) Sleeping Beauty, baby!! And then perhaps I'll allow myself a Vivaldi painting, haha, which will be fun because he was known as "the red priest" because he was a priest at a catholic girl's school and had SUPER bright red hair! Which, if any of you know me you know I LOVE red hair. And at some point, I have a sketch planned out for Liszt, who will be hysterical to paint, because obviously I am going to do a profile painting of him. He thought he was just soooo handsome, and loved his profile so much--that he started the tradition of having the audience see the pianist from their profile while they played! Haha!

Anyway, it should be a blast! Let me know what you think!