Some thoughts on music and artMy fascination with the medium of watercolors is deeply connected with my sense of musical expression. The transparency of the paint prevents extensive reworking of the painting’s surface, which means that every brushstroke becomes a part of the final spatial interplay of line and color. Watercolor speaks very clearly of the speed, intensity, and rhythms of its brushwork, and I find that many of the same techniques that are necessary for drawing a well-articulated bowstroke on my violin are also applicable to the handling of a paintbrush. Watercolor painting depends both on a strong commitment to a central theme, color, or motivic center and a flexibility or willingness to move in new directions in response to the unexpected—a process very similar to that of musical performance. The resultant space of a finished painting provides a way back into the time of its unfolding, a retrospective glimpse of the performance process.
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