Tags
art, music, nature, painting, photography, slide show, Thelonious Monk
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It feels incredible to be back creating art again. Ahhhh….
I always take photos when I am up at St. Dorothy’s Rest. I cannot help it! However, particularly because I have taken hundreds of photos over the last eight years, I do not necessarily have a vision for what the photos might become until later. Throughout this Labor Day weekend’s Artists & Writers retreat, I took photos of the paintings I was creating. There is something about capturing them while the paint is still drying, in the environment where they were created, that I just love. Then, on the last morning of the weekend before coming home, my lens was caught on the dance of shadows across every surface — the dramatic and delicate patterns in the contrasts of light.
Today, this slide show “shadow painting” was born. I did not know until I started composing the images that the photos of my paintings and the photos of the shadows would dance together.
I was delightfully surprised by how the music added another kind of magic. After I have put the slide show basically together I have a feel for the mood of the music even though I do not have a specific piece in mind. Browsing through our music library, an album name caught my attention instantly, “Genius of Modern Music Volume One” by Thelonious Monk.
Now my husband is crazy for Monk and listens to it almost constantly of late. So I am pretty familiar with Monk’s music by proximity. But I did not know when I chose this song that “Epistrophy” was Monk’s signature piece; Nor did I know that this just over 3-minute version was the first time he recorded it, before it had become his signature. “Epistrophy” as explained by Monk means “return”. You hear Monk return to the same signature motifs throughout the piece with added layers and textures. Gorgeous. For me, it was Monk’s playful approach to playing his piano, the tinkling and trilling rolls on the piano and vibraphone, and that distinctly modern yet light tone that provided the impeccably perfect accompaniment to my photos.
I hope you enjoy it!
St. Dorothy’s Rest, Camp Meeker, California in September 2013. All photos and paintings in the slide show are my own. This is art for art’s sake and no money is being made from this work. Please enjoy and share but do not profit, copy or otherwise use without my permission. For more information on St. Dorothy’s Rest please visit http://www.stdorothysrest.org/wp/home-1/
–lotus peach
