With few exceptions music has been for some centuries the art which has devoted itself not to the reproduction of natural phenomena, but rather to the expression of the artist’s soul, in musical sound.

A painter, who finds no satisfaction in mere representation, however artistic, in his longing to express his inner life, cannot but envy the ease with which music, the most non-material of the arts today, achieves this end. He naturally seeks to apply the methods of music to his own art. And from this results that modern desire for rhythm in painting, for mathematical, abstract construction, for repeated notes of colour, for setting colour in motion.

–Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art

Much like the artist indicated in the words above from Wassily Kandinsky, I have always envied the way in which music elicits deep emotion in a non-material, almost abstract manner. To attempt to draw similar emotions forward as an artist who deals in the visual without losing their impact to the weight the subject matter creates is a difficult task.

As a result, somewhat like Kandinsky, I have over the years looked at my painting as a form of music. Using the flow of lines as rhythm, the arrangement of forms as melody, and colors as notes. The repetition of elements are choruses and themes in the body of my work.

I believe this equating with music is the reason I often think of a painting as a performance of a composition that is unique to its time of creation, with new improvisations and changes in tempo and tone.

Though the subject matter is often repetitive– Red Tree, Red Roofed House, Red Chair, etc. — they ultimately are the mere armature on which the music surrounding them is composed. They are important, yes, but they serve the emotion of the music of the colors, textures, lines and forms around them.

It’s a difficult thing to describe and I don’t really think much about it except at times like this when I am trying to give some insight to others. Most of the time, it is an ingrained part of the process.

I do what I do and hope for music.

Sometimes it comes and it is good. Sometimes it doesn’t and the result feels more like noise than music.

And sometimes it is a music that approaches silence. And that, ultimately, is what I am seeking.

Here’s a fine video that intersperses music and the work of Kandinsky. Might be worth a moment of your time. He is another of those artists whose both work and words strike chords in me.