Night Song

Big paintings are always a challenge for me. I print in small letters, about two lines to the standard one, I admire miniature things, and I used to paint exclusively with a size 0 brush, regardless of the size of my work. Well, I have evolved- I hope! I now appreciate the impact of larger pieces and the way they draw you in and create a place or state that exists upon even the shortest of glimpses. But as with anything new, there can be challenges and production of this painting was truly a conversation between me and the canvas. At first, the canvas protested my large and simple brushstrokes trying to feel their way through a purple mandate, and later, it screamed of repetitive details. I added texture and contrast- I removed texture and contrast. I added new hues- I blended existing ones. Alas, the background was complete and satisfactory, but only that. It asked, nay begged, to be more. I’m not sure if the photo resolution you see here is enough to show the little “balloons” and the roughness of the palette knife “trees” but once they were added, the canvas simply sung! It reminded me of an album from the 90s, “Night Song” by Nusret Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook. The collaborative efforts of these two geniuses is simply divine. I know it’s music so it of course sings, but believe me, the composition and the raw talent just sing through the music. This piece is a lowly offering to masterpiece and incomparable in beauty to the album it is named after but, when I was done, I really felt like it just sang- a sweet, dreamy, complete, moving Night Song.