Painting With Music

Bought myself a 24x24 inch canvas and three A3 ones. Really excited for this assignment as it'll be my first time painting with acryllics. Also, I've been assigned to pick the songs to be put inside the contemporary songs playlist. Another playlist is for classical music which Ms. Lisa herself will be picking the songs.  Before we paint anything we're given a minute to actually get a feel of the music.

The first playlist to be played is the contemporary playlist. The first song to be played was 'A Sky Full Of Stars' and the in my head was to paint stars. I didn't know how to though, so I waited for the next song to play. It was a bit difficult to actually be spontaneous about the painting because these songs were my own songs and they evoked a certain image that I had in my head. I tried to portray that image in my head according to the music. It was a bit stressful as songs that were appropriate to a certain shape or colour ends before the shape I want is completed.

In a way, I wanted to be in control of the image. It doesn't help at all when some of the songs are my own and has been embedded in me that it only shows what I want to see and nothing more. However, the music does have an effect of the movement of my hands. Moving against the rhythm feels forced and uncomfortable. So, my first painting wasn't as successful as I wanted it to be.

Next up, we have the classical music playlist. At first, I was still quite reluctant to let go of my arms and actually feel the music. I was looking for an image to draw out from the music. It feels forced as well and still very uncomfortable. 

In the middle of the painting, I was sternly told to let go and feel the music. I dropped the brushes and began painting with my hands. This time, I just painted what I felt like painting. I didn't have a clue of what I wanted in my head and just went with my gut. I even felt like every different parts of the song demanded different type of colours. Using my hands, the colours got mixed up and it created texture that I didn't expect to create. I even used my nails for some parts of the painting.

For the first time in my life, I've created something abstract without having to go through a very deep thinking process. It was like just me reacting to the music through colours, and I was quite happy with what I produced.

In a way, it kind of tells a story of a man who wants control to be able to succeed. He was given a choice to stick with his character and abilities or to just let himself flow and not be labeled or characterised in any shape or form. 

To be honest, that's what I went through actually during my experience on painting with music. Sometimes, you only need to let go of yourself to truly find who you really are. Not everything is written on a piece of paper for you to learn from. Some things are found not from far away places but actually from inside our hearts. In the words of Ashton Kutcher, "You think you know me? I don't know me!"