A Day In The Life – Musical Inspiration

Inspiration, where do artists find it? For myself, it comes from many sources, but for this article, I’ll focus on music. I listen to a wide variety of styles and musicians – jazz, funk, rock, blues, folk,and the classical composers Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Telemann, and Vivaldi.

Recently I ran across Jeff Beck’s version of John Lennon’s song “A Day in the Life”, and something clicked. I immediately returned to a print I had been working on, As the Crow Flies, and it seemed that Beck’s guitar was suggesting a different focus, admittedly a dark one. I started thinking about fires in California, floods in Kentucky, war in Ukraine, gun violence, political divisions, and more. I started collecting and creating images referencing the summer of 2022. The guitar chords, melancholy and repetitive, also suggested colors, tones, and opacities that reflected what I was feeling. The music played on. One advantage of the digital workspace is that you can instantly change lines, colors, tones, sizes and shapes with a click of the mouse or stylus, while still preserving previous versions on layers that can be turned on and off.

As The Crow Flies

This greatly facilitates spontaneity, as multiple versions can be saved, combined and viewed at a later date. I played the Beck guitar music half a dozen times – adding, deleting, substituting, and moving parts of the image. I also changed color, value, and intensities throughout the composition. All this happened very quickly as the pieceevolved. The entire process took about 2 hours.

I stopped for a break, came back and viewed my work. Mostly, I was pleased. As I do with work that happens quickly and spontaneously, I put it away to be looked at in a couple of days, and when I returned to it, I made only few minor alternations.

Admittedly this print is pretty dark, today’s world can be a total “shit show.”

But, on a bright sunny morning when I look out my window at the flowers in the garden, as I walk along the river smelling the damp brackish freshness of its water, or at midnight when I listen to the wind in the trees, a different frame of mind occurs. I am reminded of the harmonies in Georgian chants. This musical form inspired my print Keeping Faith, a place of peace and solace. Just as there is much sorrow in the world, there is also much joy as well.

Proverb One

The same process (mostly) occurred with my print Clouds in my Coffee. Here it was the lyrics of Carly Simon’s song “You’re So Vain” that provided inspiration. Although the reference to vanity is but a simple sun symbol, Louis the 14 th was called the “Sun King” and few rulers in world history have commemorated themselves in as grand a manner as Louis. The clouds, the coffee cups and the coffee color all are in recognition of the lyrics – clouds in my coffee.

Clouds In My Coffee

A few years ago, the music of Bruce Springsteen lead me to create my print, Tunnel of Love. My intention was to visually interpret the narrative of the song, but also to create an image interesting in its own right which could be enjoyed without any previous knowledge of Bruce Springsteen’s song.

Tunnel Of Love

I am fairly certain some other artists are similarly inspired by music. When I came across the print by Chris Ballantyne, Parking Lot with Palm Trees, 2013, I immediately thought of Joni Mitchell’s iconic hit song of 1974, “They Paved Paradise to Put up a Parking Lot.” While I have no definite proof that Joni’s song inspired that print, I certainly think the similarities are really remarkable.

Parking Lot With Palm Trees

The same could be said for Willie Nelson’s “Angel Flying too Close to the Ground” when compared with Ginger Crawford Tolonen’s print, “She’s Free Flying.”

She’s Flying Free

When I look at this final print, The Flood, (part of an installation) by Sean Caulfield) I cannot help but hear Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. The richness of the orchestral instruments and the pounding pulse of Beethoven’s composition is (for me) captured in the print’s rich texture, and in the exquisite condemnation of a human adulteration of the biosphere and nature’s righteous outrage.

The Flood

Artists draw on many sources for inspiration. I hope this article will inspire you to explore whether music could provide you with rich visual associations for your printmaking. As you consider the content of a new print, listen carefully to some music that you find appealing; consider the lyrics, the sound of the voices or instruments, and the musical composition. I think you might be surprised and pleased where the music may lead you.