I'm Painting for the Symphony!

Soap Bubble Nebula

I was approached last week by the New West Symphony to take part in a project. Yes, they called me.  Who gets a call like that?!!!  They are inviting a handful of artists to create work inspired by Gustav Holst's The Planets orchestral suite next month.    Be sure to get tickets right away and tell me when you're coming so I can look for you at one of the performances.  Here's the link.  I should be at all three venues and I'll keep you posted on details.  I'd love to have as many friends as possible come!

I'm pretty excited about the project. I get to choose any planet I'd like...when I heard Mars I couldn't resist.  It's big, rich and glorious.  The music actually inspired some of the theme music John Williams wrote for Star Wars.  It's remarkable how modern it sounds even after 100 years.  He wrote it in 1914-16.

Mixed Media/ Oil 4"x4"

A piece that has that kind of cultural impact for generations is pretty special and to have the opportunity to take on a commission for a symphony orchestra is remarkable.   So I've gotten started with a vengance and the whole thing has captured my imagination like few other subjects ever have.  

As much as I love landscape I've discovered something that is probably pretty obvious to anyone who has explored space.  There's no horizon line.  Nope.  None.  And that has set my imagination free like nothing else ever has.  

Even as an artist I've tied myself to so many "shoulds."  I should paint things people can understand.  I'm not a real artist unless I can do everything.  If I show people how I really see they won't "get it."  

Pluto, What's not to love?  Check out my brilliant son's site:  Is Pluto a planet?, It's not included in the symphony as it wasn't discovered until 1930.  And, of course, we know what's happened since then.  Not a planet

The more I paint as a professional the more I know this.  What I think matters.  What I feel matters.  When I expose my feelings I open other people up as well.  My vulnerability opens up possibilities that wouldn't exist if I wasn't willing to be seen.  When I see deeply I help others see in new ways.  When I engage my imagination others do as well.  So....I need to get over myself and get to the paint.

Pluto-Not a Planet, 3"x3" oil, I
just couldn't leave it out.

Being a knowledge fiend but knowing that I didn't have time to search for images and get started with painting I got my cousin Ben Green on the job.  He spent a precious Saturday morning downloading images from Nasa sources and giving me some basic insights into the "look" of the planets, moons, astroids, etc.  It would have taken me a month to get through all of that.  Pays to have a good researcher in the family.  I got a crash course in the solar system.  Thank you Ben!  The images here are only a handful of what he found for me.  

I glanced at what I downloaded from Ben on my phone and tried not to absorb too much information before setting out to create mock ups for future paintings.  The little jewels I painted were a pleasure to create and much more than just practice.  They are the beginning of something very special.

I forsee creating a long term project from this tiny beginning. This has captured my passion and my imagination as no other project I've ever done has.  The synthesis of music and painting along with the landscape of space are compelling to me.

Io, one of Jupiter's moons

 The thing I've found the most remarkable is how I felt when I began to paint landscapes without horizon lines.  I basically blew the lid off of my approach to painting "things" "out there" when I painted space.  It's hard to describe, but the horizon line has created a sense of separation for me.  Earth from sky, sky from ocean, it's all been distinct and delineated. Space...is free.  I feel I can paint without boundaries...Color, texture, sensation are all that exist.   This is going to be a joy!

This One Captures My Imagination,

I thought it was Titan...but that was

before I went back to read the labels on my reference photos. It's a detail of  Io,  one of

Jupiter's moons.  I think I'm just 

making this stuff up as I paint but Nasa says otherwise....

So, save the dates:  Performances of The Planets by the New West Symphony are March 27-29 in Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Santa Monica.  My, as yet uncreated painting, Mars (oil 30"x30) will be on display.  I'm looking forward to seeing you at one of the performances!  Below are a few more photo references and paintings from my first series.  I'll have them on my web site asap and they are all available for sale.

Here's a little bit of insight from Wikipedia, "The Planets", Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst.*

To a large extent Holst was inspired as much or more by the mythological aspects of each planet, thus the symbolic meaning attributed to each movement.  The symbolism is inextricably bound up in the sound.  For me that will express itself in abstract, gestural paint dominated by color and texture.

With the exception of Earth, which is not observed in astrological practice, all the planets are included in the symphony.*

Mars, the Bringer of War

Venus, the Bringer of Peace

Mercury, the Winged Messenger

Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity

Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age

Uranus, the Magician

Neptune, the Mystic

Venus, 1 of 2 paintings, 3"x3", oil
by MG King

I've done other work with the New West Symphony.  They are a pleasure to work with.  Their dedication to creating and supporting classical music, outreach to the visual arts community and service to the public are evident in everything they do. 

Their free lectures and "meet the artists" events are worth putting on your calendar.  Check out my previous blog post:  Fuel for the Creative Fire

Just listening to Mars again and it is absolutely amazing!  My painting for the symphony will be 30x30 which is smallish for what I'm feeling but this is just the beginning....If you could see my face right now I'm smiling as wide as I can while I listen to storm troopers tromp around the planets.  Boom boom BOOOOMMMM!

This is a diagram of the sixty photos Voyager took while on its trip around the solar system 25+ years ago.  Might be a decent layout for a series...I see a lot of square formats.  It's interesting that the pattern of photos shown in the diagram among the planets Saturn, Venus, Earth and Jupiter looks vaguely like a symphonic hall.  And, of course,  the fibonacci sequence crosses over all of the patterns related to this subject....music, movement and visual patterns.  Look at it all spinning!

On that note ;) here's a link to something that blew my mind.  Look for the spiral pattern of the letters that correspond to the musical chords on the keyboard.  Yup, there's that shape again.  Spacey ;) Sylvain Lalonde's Fibonacci Sequence in Music.  Genius.

Be sure to "like" my Facebook page to keep up to date on this and other projects I have going on!  Mary-Gail King's Facebook Page

*

Everyday Beauty, A Visit to the Masters of the American West at the Autry Museum in Pasedena

George Carlson's
Witness of Time, oil on linen, 42 x 42 in.($65,000)which won best in show and was
purchased for the Autry's permanent collection.

It's been far too long since I've written but I'm back and plan on posting again on a regular basis.  Lots of exciting things are going on but the most recent involved a trip to the Autry Museum in Pasadena, CA for the Masters of the American West exhibition.

I started the day meeting my friend and one of my favorite travel buddies, artist/ veterinarian Kathy Jonokuchi.  Today we hopped in her Prius and hit the 101 to the 134 with NO traffic.  I think there was a giant cultural event going on today that emptied the freeways....It involved some deflated footballs and a bunch of guys hitting each other repeatedly.

Some of us with George.  L-R Dorene White
George Carlson, Me, Diane Nelson Gold

                                                We skipped that and met up with a number of friends at a Pasadena home where we were treated to an amazing collection that included numerous paintings from artists in the show.  The collection even included original cells from Disney animations signed by Walt Disney.

My personal favorite, also George Carlson
Basalt Cliffs, oil on linen, 42 x 42 in.($62,000) 

As a special treat we got to meet some of the artists and their families.  If you're a football fan think of meeting the big guys on the Patriots or Seahawks team in the home of a personal friend.  This was the artists' equivalent sans drama.

The sweeping canyon vista George Carlson painted that you see at the top of this blog was stunning and the perfect choice for best in show.  George is an outdoorsman from Idaho and has an obvious love of the land.  He was also a sculptor for 45 years which shows in his masterful control of the paint.

I personally enjoyed Basalt Cliffs more than any other painting in the show because of the variety in the brushwork, the negative shapes and color harmonies and the almost abstract composition punctuated by the aspen that are the focus of the painting.  I was mesmerized and spent a lot of time with it.  George has a sensitivity and refinement that I enjoyed. It's very different from my bold, assertive approach. I'd like to add a bit of this to my own work.

I found myself viewing it next to Aaron Westerburg  at one point intrigued by the same area and asked him what he saw. The work around the top of the aspen to the right was what I was specifically curious about. 

He noted that the play of yellow paint on purple background (both neutralized and grayed down) made the area look more three dimensional due to the play of complementary colors with each other. The visible surface included exposed linen from the underpainting up to thick paint throughout the piece but he left more underpainting showing around those branches where he carved them out of the background than in some other areas. The branches looked layered and dimensional also because of scumbling and transparent layers. Beautiful brushwork.

Daniel Pinkham, Renewal
oil on linen 30"x24" $18,000

• Renewal, oil on linen, 30 x 24 in. ($18,000)

• Renewal, oil on linen, 30 x 24 in. ($18,000)

• Renewal, oil on linen, 30 x 24 in. ($18,000)
  
  

Daniel Pinkham is a painter who my mentor David Gallup considers one of the best living representational painters.  He is from an old North Carolina family and is related to Robert E. Lee.  His colors are pure poetry and the sense of wonder he brings to the canvas is something I enjoy.  I also like the tension and interest he adds to his compositions with things like the beautiful little evergreen in the foreground of Renewal.  Imagine the painting without it and, while beautiful, it becomes somewhat ordinary.  Also note the negative shapes, the variation in the whites, the mood....He's a natural storyteller with words and it shows in his paintings.

Geological Illusions, oil, 38x34, $32,600

The last painter whose work I spent a lot of time with was Len Chmiel.  He has a wonderful family that includes four daughters and has a passion for making wine.  I enjoyed the traditional California coastal piece and alpine stream in the show (you can see them by following the link just above) but fell in love with his very abstract painting Geological Illusions.

I am happy to see work in the show that bridges abstraction with realism.  In my mind it's a contemporary, fresh approach to the realism that is very much what these painters do.  You can feel the love and skill these painters have for the paint and the passion they feel for the land.

Here are a few photos from a post on FB by Marian Fortunati that illustrate the skill with and love of the paint George Carlson has. 

So what a day.  I thought some of you would enjoy a glimpse into the appreciation we have for fine art.  I am constantly refining my eye and enjoy looking for the next surprise whether it is a striking vista or a stroke of the brush.

We have so much love and respect for each other and for the leaders in our field.  Collectors, artists and appreciators alike enjoy seeing the world through eyes that spend years looking at the land and playing with the paint.   This was a yummy, satisfying day right down to the smell of paint in one corner of the museum where a newly hung painting had just come fresh from the easel!  I stood in a corner to take a whiff of it and anchor my experience in yet another sense....I believe I covered them all.

 "When love and skill come together expect a masterpiece."  John Ruskin

BTW, I've been working on some little sketches that are intimate, everyday works on paper that I'm now selling on Etsy.  My shop is MarygailSketchbook.  Pieces in the shop have already been featured in four treasurys and I'm enjoying the little production line I have set up for order fulfillment.  There are some nice valentines waiting for you!  Check it out.  You can help support the arts and the artist with your purchases!

• Geological Illusions, oil, 38 x 39 in. ($32