This entry was originally posted on Monday, October 1, 2012
Grand Prismatic Pool
Yellowstone National Park
25×40″
Earlier this year I wrote a post suggesting that music should be listened to while painting.
In the past few posts I have discussed the influence that music can have on your painting and the concept of synaesthesia.
Although Kandinsky painted music in an abstract form, the mood that music creates can affect more realistic paintings as well.
When thinking about your painting, perhaps choosing a theme song or genre of music will help you capture a mood easier.
For instance, in the painting of the Grand Prismatic Pool pictured above, I knew that I wanted an epic painting to portray how grand and epic Yellowstone National Park can be.
I was also painting a much larger painting than I usually do.
Knowing this, I purposely listened to epic music (Immediate Music). It is the kind that is played for movies and makes you feel like a superhero. I chose to listen to only this genre of music while painting it.
I even listened to this music while thinking about it.
I like to think it worked.
A student recently told me she wants her paintings to feel like Michael Buble songs.
Was she listening to Michael Buble while she painted?
No. Not yet.
But I have a feeling her paintings will have more of the feel of his music once she listens to him while painting.
Then her painting will have a theme song to be heard by those who see it.
