Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse
16" x 12"
oil on canvas board, 2011

It was hard to resist. And I was not going to waste any of that little will power I posses on trying. Amy Winehouse died Saturday and I painted her just three days later. I didn't know much about her, I hadn't listened to her music much, I usually avoid the stars, the charts, and the Grammys,  and I still couldn't resist to paint her. Commercial intentions? Perhaps. Was I moved? Yes. I like Amy Winehouse's music you know, it may even make it in my list of 100 this year. The song? Back in Black.

I made the painting as a demonstration on portrait painting in a summer class for teens I teach in Bonita Springs. The class is a lot of fun, I had not taught teenagers before. The students knew about Amy Winehouse, they probably heard her music more than I did. Amy Winehouse may well be the only musical interest I have in common with these students. I started the demonstration by sketching out Winehouse's silhouette by means of the background. Not the background I found behind Winehouse in the photo, that was just gray, no I painted the lush green palms of Bonita Springs that I could see through the classroom windows. Next I painted the face, neck, and arms with a bright pink. Then her shirt in white and blue, followed by her hair in red and dark blue and the under painting was done. I picked it back up a half an hour later and spent another hour on it. Later that night I took it to my studio for another hour of refinement before I finished it the next day. If Back in Black will make the list depends on the next 6 or 7 months. The song now needs just one more point to make it (according to my ranking system: Once or twice a week I make a top 10 in which #1 receives 10 points, #2 gets 9 and so on. The following list is my 15th and latest top 10.)

1. Frances Bebey – La Condition Masculine (see previous blog; the one with the boobies on the cover)
2. Amy Winehouse – Back in Black (from her magnum opus Back in Black)
3. An outi solo from Crete (from A Collection of Traditional and Popular Songs and Dances of Greece)
4. Sinead O'Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U (another mega hit to charm me, what a week)
5. Beth Orton – Worms (opening track of Comfort of Strangers "Chickens don't fly but they got the wings... They got a wishbone where their backbone should've been")
6. Shelley Winters – Lie to Me (a thrift store find: Ladies of Burlesque, the song reminds of that joke in which a woman sleeps with Pinocchio—too raunchy to publish here)
7. Joanne Woodward – Something's Gotta Give (from the same album as above)
8. Mulatu Astatqe – Asha Gedawa (a beauty from Addis Ababa, from Ethiopiques 4)
9. Michal Michalesko – Yoske der Pedler (at the Yiddish Theater)
10. Arwiha and Ouled Sherif – A'yiti Ma Tkhebbi (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Francis Bebey

Francis Bebey
16" x 20"
oil on canvas, 2011

Francis Bebey (1929-2001) was born in Cameroon, he was an Afro-pop superstar, recorded more than 20 albums, yet I had never heard of him before. A post featuring the album Akwaaba on the site Awesome Tapes From Africa that I follow, changed all that and Bebey now will be forever a part of my musical appreciation history cemented in the Top 100. So far two of his songs secured a spot within the hundred this year. The first song to enter is the title track from the aforementioned Akwaaba, the second the title track from his LP  La Condition Masculine, that comes with a bare breasted cute African girl on its cover. More to come about that one later but first things first: Akwaaba was released in 1985 by John Storm Roberts, a Britsh musicologist who I discussed at length earlier this year http://berrystop100.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-pop-part-2.html, on his Original label. The painting above, still wet, features the green backdrop of my own backyard (as if he were playing his acoustic guitar right here in front of me—in a painting anything can happen, I wish it could be true for real, but Bebey is no longer with us and even if he were... my backyard would be a most unlikely place for him to visit.)

Rumania

Romanian Village Musicians
(from a photograph by Bela Bartok)
20" x 16"
oil on canvas, 2011

Romania was still spelled Rumania when Bela Bartok took the photograph from which this painting was made after, and recorded the music that appeared on Folk Music of Rumania (1951). From that album the same Folk Dance in Hora Style, that entered last year's 100 in January of this year, is back in, and I used the same image to illustrate it. Scroll back to January and click on Bela Bartok to see the first painting and read more about the album Folk Music of Rumania, a story about classical music and vampires.

A Zulu Princess

Princess Constance Magogo
8.25" x 7.5"
oil on wood, 2011

The Princess' name is Constance Magogo Sibilile Mantithi Ngangezinye kaDinuzulu (1900-1984). Quite a name indeed but not even close to that of her fellow South African singer Miriam Makeba (1932-2008): Zenzile Makeba Qgwashu Nguvama Yiketheli Nxgowa Bantana Balomzi Xa Ufun Ubajabulisa Ubaphekeli Mbiza Yotshwala Sithi Xa Saku Qgiba Ukutja Sithathe Izitsha Sizi Khabe Singama Lawu Singama Qgwashu Singama Nqamla Nqgithi, who is of Swazi and Xhosa descend. Miriam isn't even part of that name! My name is Lambertus Gerardus Martinus van Boekel and it really falls short in comparison.

The first recordings of Princess Magogo were made by Hugh Tracey in 1939, it was the start of a long  career in traditional Zulu music while defying Zulu gender traditions. The Tracey recordings are exquisite and the featured Top 100 track Umuntu ehlobile singem jabise yini tina? is only one of the 39 he recorded, and one is even more beautiful than the other. I've already mused about Tracey a month ago and further examples from the thousands of discs he recorded in Africa are to follow in months to come. Supplemented, of course, with painted renditions of Tracey's photos or other photos of the musicians Tracey recorded.

A do-over

Beth Orton
48" x 12"
oil on wood, 2011

Not happy with last week's Beth Orton portrait I decided I needed to do a do-over. A painting hiatus of almost a month caused a rustiness that only could be loosened by painting a large painting. Such was my conviction after reviewing that portrait published in that last blog that I had worked on for so many days. So I set off with a 4ft plywood in front of me and this do-over on the left is the result: the brushstrokes are more decisive, it is looser, and the colors are more vivid than in the previous one. Still not that masterpiece that I'm always striving to produce but I'm back in the studio routine and I'll proudly include it in the series of a hundred paintings that make up the Top 100 2011. The song Shopping Trolley is a repeat from last year's list of one hundred and comes from the CD Perfect Strangers which was one of last year's top albums.

Shopping Trolley

Beth Orton
20" x 12"
acrylic on canvas, 2011

It has been a while, a little too long perhaps, since I painted. We packed up our belongings, the home, and the studio, and unpacked it some 1200 miles south. It will all be worth it in due time. From the Olentangy tom the Caloosahatchee, from pine to palm, from rent to own, it’ll be just fine, all in time, all in time. I think I’m going to paint the palm trees in my backyard. It’s all about them you know, and her.

Beth Orton’s Shopping Trolley has been my theme song for this move we’ve been through. Just watch the video for it on YouTube and I don't need to say no more.

“I think I’m Gonna Cry, but I’m gonna laugh about all in time, all in time”.

Rahsaan

Rahsaan Roland Kirk
20" x 16"
oil on canvas, 2011

The lions disappeared altogether from May's Rahsaan painting. But June came and the lion is back in the newest painting of Rahsaan Roland Kirk. It returned bigger and stronger and it plays the saxophone. Rahsaan looks on. Palm trees appear in a horizon that is vertical. A rainbow is black and white and Rahsaan said:  "I don't give a damn". God wanted there to be jazz, and Rahsaan played Three for the Festival. All in all it's a bad painting, the technique is lousy, too many ideas and none resolved, but I too say: "I don't give a damn". I just made a jazz painting.

Improvisation: not to reject any idea but to explore its possibilities.
"Heraldry is both a science and an art form". (Heraldic Dictionary)

Swing Street

Thelonious Monk
5.5" x 8.5"
watercolor and pen on paper, 1995

Saturday is the last day before Hopkins Hall Gallery closes their doors. The long lasting gallery serving the arts at the Ohio State University ceases to exist and will morph into a smaller space off campus. It's name will be Swing Space but I will not be a part of it. I've worked 12 years at Hopkins Hall Gallery and I put in my resignation this week. I will seek part time teaching opportunities in my new home town of Fort Myers but no more exhausting gallery jobs for me. Painting is what I want to do more of. Of the shows that have passed through the gallery over the years one was called Swing Street, all about jazz: jazz paintings on the wall, live jazz music, and when there was nobody performing, sounds from the radio show Just Jazz with Ed Beach was heard over the speakers. Packing up the Hopkins Hall Gallery archive these tapes with Ed Beach's Chicago based radio show popped up. I copied one, somewhat randomly from the stack of ten: Thelonious Monk 1947 – 57, Pt. 2. So nice to hear all these great Monk tunes again. I hadn't listened much to his music for a long time and it was certainly enjoyable to pick it up again. What a genius! One exciting track after the other, and the one to top the top 10 list this week is an old favorite of mine called Blue Monk. While packing up the archives at work I also started to pack up my own archive of Top 100 materials. And what pops up? A reproduction of my illustration for Blue Monk done in 1995! I can't pass up the opportunity to score with the goal wide open, can I? Keep throwing me those bones, please.

Art 570: Figure Drawing

Amy Alwood (The Alwood Sisters)
8.5" x 6"
pen and pencil on paper, 2011
(signed by Amy Alwood)

I took my drawing class out on a field trip to Woodland's Tavern in Columbus last week. Several bands played that night to benefit WCBE, the Columbus' public radio station. Teaching figure drawing has been my favorite pastime at Ohio State University and in my final weeks at the job I decided it was time to let the students see what I do and do what I do too. This quarter I didn't give a whole lot of instruction but tried to make it a fun experience and I did some figure drawing in the class myself. As an experiment I had the model that was assigned to me for the Thursday evening sessions, be fully dressed. The idea was to achieve intimate figure drawings that were about the sitter's personality (her name is Darrilyn) rather than about the formal properties of a nude model. I'm not sure how well my intentions came across or were understood but I believe it was important enough to stick with it all quarter.  My students have made some fine drawings nevertheless. One student made a very nice drawing of the Alwood Sisters that night at Woodland's. I didn't think my own (the one above) was very successful and I spent a few hours the next day touching it up which (as usual) didn't make it any better. I wanted to go to the Alwood Sisters mainly because a friend told me they were good and I really ought to see them before I left Columbus and this was my chance. Besides that I have known Jovan, the drummer for the Alwood Sisters, for a long time so it was good to see him perform again too. He used to play in Gaunt, a band I really liked. I talked to Jovan and Amy for a little while after the concert and they gave me their cd Black Falcon & the Forest Spirit. It was a lovely concert and ditto cd. I've played it many times and therefor the song Summer Winds will become a part of the list of my hundred favorite songs of 2011. I'm not sure if the drawing above will be the illustration for the song or if I will do a painting later on. Their website features gorgeous paintings of all four band members and I'm gonna have to ask Jovan who is responsible for these. It will be hard to make a painting of them that can live up to such high standards. The drawing certainly doesn't but Amy was nice enough to sign it anyway. Now I'm going to have to grade my student's portfolio that may contain more drawings of the Alwood Sisters. I think I might have to give out some A's tonight.

p.s: The performance of Whoa Nellie later that night at Woodland's was awesome too!

Hugh Tracey

Top 100 2001, #99: Hugh Tracey
(Ombiza Charles – Masida Ngalina)
11" x 8.85"
ink and pastel on wood, 2002

Pulled one again from one of the many boxes in my attic that store the paintings from past Top 100 years. The occasion was a radio broadcast of Georges Collinet's Afropop Worldwide dedicated to Hugh Tracey. Tracey, the Alan Lomax of Africa, cut thousands of discs, field recordings from the 1920s through the 1970s. I have quite a few of those, scattered on different formats, all exquisite. Now a good many of the recordings are available on a cd series, the last (22nd) installment of which was just released. I have found my first music this year to match that of Roland Kirk. In fact Collinet likens one of the tracks he selected to the music of Kirk. It concerns a flute recording made in Congo, twenty years before Kirk came to the scene. Other highlights from the broadcast include a female duet from Malawi, a Xhosa solo on a one string bowed instrument from South Africa, ocinaras from Mozambique, aah too many to mention, but my favorite must be the tune Chemirocha by a Kipsigis woman from Kenya. The song is a tribute to Jimmie Rodgers (Chemirocha is how Jimmie Rodgers is pronounced by the singer). Chemirocha was in my list list of 100 twice before as it is featured on an original 10" disc from The Music of Africa Series that I have. Every song on it is introduced with wit, humor, and knowledge by Tracey himself. To make paintings illustrating the music from Tracey's archive will be a lot of fun again. Often the performers are anonymous or never photographed and I am free to use those images I deem appropriate. Chemirocha did already lead, in 2002 and 2003, to two nice paintings of a Kipsigis woman in full ceremonial regalia. I can't wait!

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Rahsaan Roland Kirk
20" x 9.75"
oil and pastel on canvas, 2011

The lion on his pants may have to move to the background, maybe one on the left and one on the right, but here's the first painting for the Top 100 2011, the first of four Kirks I intend to do over the next week or so. Now I think of it I believe one lion should be painted black and the other white. In the photo I painted from, two lions are embroidered on his shirt but I liked the shirt without lions when the painting progressed. Kind of a Star Trek outfit it turned out, an homage to Captain Kirk maybe?  

Does Your House Have Lions? is title of a Rahsaan disc and also the title of a blog on Kirk by May Cobb "dedicated to the enduring spirit that is Rahsaan Roland Kirk" as she puts it. She's working on Kirk's biography and in search of anecdotes about his life. If you know of any... please visit her site (do it anyway if you—and how can you not—have a warm heart for Rahsaan.)

One of the four Kirk tunes in the list so far is Many Blessings from The Inflated Tear. This painting then will be forever linked to that track. It a sweet title, a beautiful way to get a new series of 100 paintings on its way.

Bright Moments

Top 100 1999: #12 
Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Rip Rig and Panic
8.6" x 8.8", ink on paper, 1999

I can hardly fathom it but a time of nearly two months has passed without any interest or enjoyment in listening to, and seeking out new music. Needless to say that in stead of my usual routine in the studio, I have not painted any material for the new music year yet. A bright moment in my dull musical universe has been the music of Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Of the six tracks likely to feature in the new Top 100 2011, four are from the Ohio born jazz man. For weeks on end the only music I played were his The Inflated Tear and Bright Moments albums. All the other music I've heard in that spell seemed lackluster by comparison. It has been a joy to paint Kirk in the past and it's starting to itch now. I got a few canvases ready to go and tonight I'll find out what it's like to paint after such a long dry spell. Inspired by the music of Kirk and some of my own bright moments illustrating him (like the 12 year old ink drawing above) I'll get busy. Welcome aboard dear followers, here we go again!