Slowing Down Art: Oil Painting, And Music Composition Require Multiple Sittings
Slowing Down Art: Oil Painting, And Music Composition Require Multiple Sittings

Monday • July 12th 2021 • 11:13:37 pm

Slowing Down Art: Oil Painting, And Music Composition Require Multiple Sittings

Monday • July 12th 2021 • 11:13:37 pm

In this text, I wanted to give a couple of examples,
of removing frustrations from art creations,

Above all creating Art is a multi-day expedition,
our mightiest works of art require sitting down to them multiple times, from multiple perspectives.

First allow me to make a note on the Subject of Oil Paining,
and then forgive me, for babbling on about computer programming in relation to music composition.


To be fair to your self and your Oil Painting, your next great creation,
especially if you are new to painting, but this works really well for masters too, take all the time in the world.

Know your colors, don't sit there mixing them,
know exactly the number of colors you need, and pre-mix them long before you sit down to the painting.

Create a few abstract paintings that have the paints that will touch in your final masterpiece,
touch in some novel way, and then ask your self, if there is anything you can do to improve your colors.

Go to a Hardware Store, get some large sheets of Plywood,
and paint a portion of your painting, maybe lips nose and eyes on a 4ftx8ft Poplar Sanded Plywood.

And create several miniatures,
as those are sure to refine your color composition to perfection.

Approach the subject of your painting with multiple paintings,
don't ask about the color during a sitting, have your palette mixed, and refined.

Use a Movie or Office Projector, to save yourself time,
when copying proportions.

Use GIMP, to explore the shapes and composition,
by applying filters that pixelate or lower the number of colors in your subject photo.

Don't forget about the old masters,
starting out with a gray under-painting will answer all the rest of the questions.

And please, time lapse all your projects,
and create a series of videos that document your exploration of the subject and the final masterpiece.


My recent study of music theory, was not just about learning,
but checking how useful music theory is in composition.

Here it took multiple days,
begun with The Learning Music Tutorial and Closed With Music Theory Tutorial Videos.

I found that LMMS makes it so that there is no need to practice the Piano,
and that the next step should be replacing LMMS with an Object Oriented Programming layer over Tone.js.

And now I determined that the best way to approach song creation,
is to build a code generator not unlike Yeoman.

It will ask some questions,
and then neatly spread out all the little code files needed to make a song.

Digital Audio Workstations like LMMS, require that you sit there and click all the little buttons,
but this program, will randomize all the necessary button clicks, and even pick at random from a library of sound samples.

The song it generates requires editing, as some of the things picked at random,
may sound odd, or maybe there are better sound samples that would really make the song go.

I tried several times to make a song generator in a singe night or two,
and I was surprised and quite satisfied with the success, but it required to much to actually generate entire albums.

Using this approach I only issue one command,
that by default will set everything randomly and ask no questions.

The result I am seeking is my own, private, high quality, and original workout music,
that perfectly fits my evolving routine.


In Closing, it is neither fair to our art nor to ourselves,
to attempt to create a work of art in as little time as possible.

My first instinct when time came to paint,
was, that a painting not only required multiple versions, but several months of sketching with pencils too.

Finding the subject of your painting,
is the same as creating a plot for a book.

The same goes for the structure of computer programs,
it takes a long time to find the right combination of sub-components.

It took a long time to realize that I don't need a user interface,
that editing code made by my generator was the fastest, and most powerful way of creating unique songs.

Think about all the works of art that could have been,
but fell apart in the hands of their creators because someone tried to go too fast.

Finally, adventure goes well with art,
taking your drawing board or notepads, or diagrams out to the Lakes or Seas, Mountains, or Woodlands will help you evolve them into the timeless masterpieces that they deserve to become.