Playing by Ear, Playing by Heart

I was invited to join some incredibly talented artists and musicians at Conception III. Since it’s a group show, there’s limited wall space, so rather than just put one or two up, I decided to get some new, smaller works ready in time. I had a few smaller canvasses that had been abandoned lying around, and this was one of them: an improvisation that went nowhere, originally titled “Improv in F.”

I started by flipping it, painting the parts that I didn’t like blue, and adding a violin’s F hole. Still not much happening. The big inspiration came when I realized that the painting needed heart. Heart looks like an octopus. Hmmm, this needs a tentacle. Somehow the violin made a reappearance in the end of the tentacle. Came up with the title “Playing by Heart.” Now the blues started to look too plain so I started messing with them. That seemed to carve out an upside-down ear shape on the left. So I went to work on the ear, but to do that I flipped the canvas over. Now I liked it better this way up. Maybe I’ll call it “Playing by Ear” instead. I’m not sure. I guess it can go either way, so I think I’ll label it both ways.