A Musician's Life

Finishing the painting, step 13

Well, it's done. I finished the sheet music, added a hinge on the cabinet, put in the wood grain and signed my name.

I like her title: "A Musician's Life." It says it all.

When I find an interesting painting to demonstrate, I'll do another one on this blog. Meanwhile, I have two more workshops coming up...one in Millwood, VA on the 16th and 17th of October and another one at Black Hill Regional Park, Boyds, MD on the 13th & 14th of November. For more information, go to my workshop page on my website.

Tools of the Trade, Step 25

Finishing the painting, step 12


I added more highlights to the clarinet and to the temple bells. Then with a lot of fortitude, I began the music. A few false starts, and I now have one page of the music done. I had to repaint the other page, because the gray bars weren't working at all. I discovered that with a itsy-bitsy brush I could actually paint the horizontal lines of the music bars...I didn't have to suggest them with a gray area. So with a fresh coat of white paint, I'll begin laying in the musical notes again when all is dry.

The door pull which I had carefully drawn and painted on the cabinet, was attracting too much attention. So I wiped it out, and with the inspiration of a William Harnett print, I have roughed in a cabinet similar to one that is in one of his paintings. It still need refining, though.

So at this point, I'm nearly done: finish the one page of music, refine the cabinet, and sign my name.

Tools of the Trade, Step 24

Finishing the painting, step 11

My goal today was to finish the sheet music, but it didn't happen. I changed the shape of the paper...I had some tangent lines and intersections that I didn't like. The paper curved over the edge somewhat awkwardly. But I did get the bars on the sheet music, and when that's dry, I can put in the notes.

I then tackled the credenza. Of course, that sounds easy...but they're are a lot of decisions to make. I said in the last blog, that I didn't like the color. I'm more interested in a redder, more mahogany look to contrast with the other wood tones in the painting. It took me a while to design the drawers, and put them in an interesting relationship to the rest of the painting. I then went around my house photographing drawer pulls, so I had something as a guide. The picture I got off the e-bay was basically useless for that purpose. The image was just too small.