Saturday Night Action-Painting with Audiofeel at D-vers Festival 2011

I'm not quite sure how it happened exactly but last September I found myself having a twitter conversation with David Plantaz, singer-songwriter of the band Audiofeel... to discuss the idea of painting LIVE at their d-vers festival acoustic gig.

(I've been painting to their music at home, and blogging about it - see previous posts - but going from that to what we ended up with on stage, well, it wasn't exactly obvious! Or, as various people in the audience said: "You're gonna do WHAT???")

IDSensitivity CarolinevanKimmenade 

HS Painter: Live Painting on the 15th! @audiofeel 're:crowdpainting' (lol) maybe if enough people wear white cheap t-shirts/meedoen #dvers

David, Eelco and Marcel. Soundcheck.

It's one thing to have a "wouldn't it be funny/weird/cool/different" twitter idea-pingpong, it's something else to actually DO it.

Do what? We didn't really know for sure until 3 hours before the live gig! And we didn't really know whether it was going to work until the performance itself. (The back-up plan consisted of David's hat and my acrylic paints). One thing we did know for sure, the stage was WAY too small for a canvas...

So, we came up with something better, and I have to say, the whole thing worked seamlessly. If you ever need someone to give an advanced focus and concentration workshop, get David. He didn't flinch. ("Won't you be very distracted???" I'd asked him beforehand. "Nah"...he was "looking forward to the challenge". Ok then...)

30 minutes of live music and paiting at cafe Der Gulden Haen in Sittard
...and... we're off!

The paint is water-based body paint. The same stuff you'd use for painting clown faces etc, although, I probably used a better quality paint than the local elementary school would...

Rodger (left), me (middle), David (front), Eelco (back)

Apparently, David didn't even notice that he was being painted half of the time (so I heard afterwards). Sure, he whacked away my brush a few times mid-song with some unexpected hand-waving... and I think I caught him once or twice in an away-from-that-brush reflex... --->

But apart from that, easy as a canvas.  Ok, well, moving canvas that is. Many a line ended up being different than I had in mind due to a sudden move...

(I love improv!)

Did I mention that the surround-sound was brilliant? I had the best "seat" for sure!

Also, hats off to Rodger (left, above pic) for swinging his guitar out of the way like a saloon door whenever I needed to pass mid-song. At some point I figured out a way to dab my brush in fresh paint located off-stage while standing on stage, but nevertheless, I needed to get on and off quite frequently. He didn't miss a single note.

Erich (back left), David, Eelco, me, Marcel

David had said beforehand that he wanted his WHOLE upper body painted...So, after I ran out of space on his arms and back, the chest it was...-->

I was asked by someone in the audience whether I "always do this". Ha! Seriously though, wouldn't it be awesome to have a whole troupe of action-painters, painting bands while they're playing live? It would definitely highlight that art is an experience. Take it out of the studio, make it off-the-wall.

Besides, I still owe Erich a monkey on his forehead.

For a picture of David's painted back click here.

thanks to Rene from www.renebradwolff.nl  for the photos!

Audiofeel: www.audiofeel.nl is David Plantaz (voice, guitar), Rodger Plantaz (guitar), Erich Mestriner (keys), Marcel Schurer (bass), Eelco Dautzenberg (drums)

<--- note the 'abdominal art'...it was tricky to execute!  

If you missed the earlier posts, click here for how the audiofeel-painting started in the first place!

Pictures taken at cafe Der Gulden Haen, 15th October 2011. Festival D-vers, Sittard, Netherlands.

Flying There and Back - (Audiomuse no.3) -

Sometimes, my own paintings give me a headache. It's a sign that they need work, if I'm not dehydrated that is. Why that particular kind of useful info cannot come through by means of a more pleasant signal is a little mysterious to say the least. (but maybe musicians get real earpain from songs that aren't quite 'right'?)

Anyway...I'm making this post into a page from one of those holiday books for kids...spot the differences...Below is the finished painting, the older versions are underneath.
(oh, and do let me know if the old versions of the paintings also give you a headache...that will provide some interesting brain research stats!)

Flying there and back, acrylics on 2 canvases of 75cm x 115cm, October 2011




Inspiration Details: Both canvases were painted to the music of Audiofeel. Left canvas was painted to "sweat", the right canvas was painted to Officer in Command, Nugget, Disco, YSD

And here's the older versions:

J-Fish....is not a rapper, 6 1/2 guidelines to being a serious art critic, pink socks and The Story



J-Fish, acrylics on 4 canvases of 40x50cm, October2011


Random Comment:
- you got some crazy, zoned out spider going on there!

Random Reply:
> I know...and some kind of alien thing, or maybe it's a jellyfish

Random Response:
- where's the alien thing? Ooooh, I see it now...
　

Bonus: 6 1/2 Guidelines to being a Serious Art Critic.
(from the MC chat)

- ART IS SERIOUS! (1)

> Exactly. Spectacles ON please (2)

- I have them on...wait, let me get my ART spectacles... they are black and have thicker rims (= 1/2)

> Good. Pouting your mouth? (= 3)

- Then (4) place hand under chin in thoughtful, contemplative gesture.

> Good, good. Tapping pen against teeth...(= 5)

- (6) proclaim said piece of art "a thought provoking insight into difficult socio-economic conditions is the south of Holland".
　

*pink sock diversion*

(from the uncensored photo) ---->

THE STORY
~by Mattline Kimmick

The art critic takes a generous swig of free champagne from the nearest waiter... god, he loves gallery openings. The free booze, the inflated sense of importance...what a life it is... the life of an art critic......Still, he couldn't quite stop thinking about her socks. Whatever was she thinking...if she wanted to make it as an artist, she'd have to smarten up... get some fashion advice. Then there was that little voice: 'She'd need to be safe in such a bad neighborhood though, glow in the dark socks...what else can a girl do?' Very little, he thought to himself. Ha! To have to sacrifice fashion for one's own physical safety! 'Must be rough in the South' he mused... and with a gallant swing he swooped his elegant scarf over his right shoulder.
Weeks later he is still haunted by her dazzling pink socks. After three weeks of begging, she finally sends them to him in the mail. Needless to say...they are smelly. He never quite recovers...his sense of smell never does return. As he wanders through the neigborhood at night...looking lost...all people notice are those socks...hanging from his ears...it is a difficult thing to watch. A man forlorn, fallen from grace... once the figurehead of the arts community... now a love lorn straggler, communing with the night and the bottle of vodka clutched tight to his chest.

-The End- (please don't cry)

Peacock



peacock, acrylics on 60x80cm canvas, October2011



Turn-painterism DIY

One of the simplest ways to "change" visual material is to turn it.



red and yellow, acrylics on 60x80cm canvas, september 2011



Which is why...abstract painters have more fun...

Abstract painters have turn-painterism contests...it involves a lot of quick spinning, and hanging upside down for inspiration...

Yeah, it's pretty intense.

Don't try this at home with your figurative landscape painting or Ikea cityscape!

You never know what might happen...

The Greatness of Smallness: Mailbox Projects & The-Here-and-Now

'openings', acrylics on 3 canvases of 20x20cm, September 2011

It helps to have simplistic challenges. To make work small enough to fit through a mailbox, that was the
practical aim... 20 x 20 cm canvases...




Paw Opening, acrylics on 20x20 cm canvas, September 2011

 It's different from painting big canvases because small ones get crowded a lot more quickly. There's no space to "paint around", allowing a theme to develop. The first stroke IS the theme, take it or leave it.

'Clouds Opening', acrylics on 20x20 cm canvas, September 2011

It's like that with a lot of small things in general.

'Jump Opening', acrylics on 20x20 cm canvas, September 2011

That one thing you say to your neighbour, that one look you give the woman standing next to you in line
for the supermarket check-out, that one phonecall...

'Melons and Such', acrylics on 3 canvases of 20x20cm, September 2011

Small gestures, no space to 'improvise until you have what you want'... if you considered what it is you want, that is.

'Bit(e) of M', acrylics on 20x20cm canvas, September 2011

Are small daily gestures creative acts? I think so.

'And Such', acrylics on 20x20cm canvas, September 2011

It just happens right there and then and has whichever effect it has...pretty direct.

'Melon', acrylics on 20x20cm canvas, September 2011

It's not nessarily about getting things right, but it is about paying attention. About being
present for all those little moments that make up a day. Whatever they are...

'Yep', acrylics on 20x20cm canvas, September 2011

BIG canvases and other BIG creative projects are great, because you get to keep redesigning them until you're satisfied. Who wouldn't want to be able to live a day like that? To keep tweaking it, until it's just right...and then keep it.

(But sometimes, that's too romantic. There's too much yearning.)

'Fff', acrylics on 20x20cm canvas, September 2011

SMALL canvases and SMALL creative projects are great because they pretty much happen in-the-moment
there is no time to wish anything were any different.

It's live jazz versus the studio album.

Painted to the music of Audiofeel. Speaking of which...I'll be painting LIVE to their acoustic gig on the 15th this month. Crowdsurfing on canvasboard? Crowd painting? ...who knows? (I think live painting as such is already pretty exciting though!) Check it out if you happen to be in the southern part of the Netherlands!

More AudioMusings



Bah, acrylics on  75cm x 115cm canvas, september 2011

And here it is... Session Two of the Audiofeel Painting Project. Two canvases that eventually became one...(oh, how I love happy endings...)

(There's some 12 more half-finished paintings in my paintingstudio-which-doubles-as-an-ironing-room at the moment. This week I discovered the ironing board is really handy for putting canvases on that need to be out of the way to dry...the iron has some paint on it now, oh well...)

If you're thinking "audiofeel paintings, huh?" then read more here and/ or check out the previous painting blogpost.

Booh, acrylics on 75cm x 115cm canvas, september 2011

It took some time before I could see the possibility of these two canvases side-by-side, and that it would only take a little to connect them. (Yes, been doing a lot of connecting these last few weeks!) It was all about taking the time to wait !
....*taptaptap*........................*filing nails*...(ëcheck out the article on creativity and waiting too...) 

 


Booh & Bah (connected), acrylics on 2 canvases of 75cm x 115cm, september 2011

 

Booh & Bah (separated), acrylics on 2 canvases of 75cm x 115cm, september 2011

Audiomuse

I've written about my painting/creative process over on The Happy Sensitive, and how, I've recently been painting to music. Nothing new about that. But, I've found it's pretty hard to find the right kind of music. I mean, it needs to be music that inspires and resonates, but not the kind that makes you wanna lounge, or drown in it, or wish you were a better person (yes, some music does that, don't ask me how they do it). So it's been a long long time since I remember finding a band that remained fresh everytime I heard it, that stirred something prompting me to paint, and that is danceable too (too much sitting will kill you). So, here's the first of a series painted to the music of Audiofeel. I'm still experimenting with the power of shapes, lines and colours...how far can you pull the canvases apart without destroying the overall image? (I need a camera with more Zoom!)



O, acrylics on 2 canvases of 50 cm x 70 cm, september 2011



O (separated), acrylics on 2 canvases of 50 cm x 70 cm, september 2011



Making Connections

Art is all about making connections. Between your hand and your heart, your eyes and your impulses, the different shapes already on canvas, and the different shapes still announcing themselves. It's fun to play with these connections. To take previously unrelated parts and connect them and to break old connections by turning canvases to reveal new possibilities. It's a lot like every day life: turning corners, seeking the bigger picture, finding new visions...islands, 4 canvases total size 1m x 1,10m, acrlyics and paper on canvas, august 2011

The Art of Finishing a Sentence

The other day, I was talking to someone about how art is a way to order thoughts, emotions and experiences. Sometimes, the ordering part of that process becomes very apparent. The series above consists of a collection of works that were originally separate and unfinished. Like sentences on their own, I couldn't finish them until I started to connect them and a bigger picture emerged.
Totempolar Connections, 5 canvases of 30 x 40cm, acrylics, August2011

A Walk through Paint

My paintings are often inspired by walks in nature. I love landscape-painters, but I'm not one of them. For me it's more the experience, the shapes, the colours, the light...I'd love for my work to give you that same kind of feeling you get from going for a walk in the woods, or through an open field, or barefoot by the sea. So, I'm not trying to achieve anything "conceptual". I think we do enough thinking as it is. The last thing I want is for someone to look at my work and go off on a long internal monologue. No! I want my audience to feel something, something good. And if, at times, that makes my work susceptible to a kind of that-would-look-lovely-above-the-couch-because-it-has-that-exact-shade-of-beige...then that's ok. I'll take that in my (mud-covered) stride...! Summer, 115 x 75cm, acrylics on on canvas, July 2011

Where did the saxophone come from?

This work started more than a year ago, and then stood there, silently. Hanging out as it were. It was only recently that I was able to finish it. Seems it needed a saxophone...no idea where that came from! But then, painting is like that most of the time: I have no idea where it comes from. I'm just glad when it arrives! (Although, now that I think about it, the place of no idea does seem to be where it comes from, but since I'm not thinking, I loose track, which, evidently, seems to be how saxophones can get through) saxophone, 115 x 75 cm, acrylics on canvas, july 2011

Prophetic Paint

Sometimes, a prophetic work like this will spontaneously develop. It is as if my higher-self is whispering: "get ready, something is about to show up in your life". A few days after I made this work, I ended up, through a synchronistic series of events, in a woman-I'd-just-met's home, listening to silent music and having my arms gently pulled (I'm not kidding, it's one of the latest healing modalities). Turns out I'd had a "vanishing twin" whilst I was still a tiny embryo. In my mother's womb, before the end of the second trimester, I'd had a twin brother. Can you see the dead fish in the centre of the painting? And I think, over on the right, that's me, swimming on... "birth process, 5 canvases of 40 x 50 cm, acrylics, July 2011"