Tag Archives: Arts

Just What I’ve Been Waiting For

A few years back I wrote a handful of strange prog-rock tunes. I had been composing classical music for years and was doing a switch-over to more popular music. I played some tunes for a friend. She gave me a weird look and asked, “Who’s your target audience?” What? I wrote the music I wanted to hear.

“Fine,” she said. “If you want to go on writing music for yourself and playing it for friends and family the rest of your life, OK. If you want to go beyond that you need to define a target audience. You need to study the music they listen to and write something like that.”

The same thing happened when I started cranking out more fiction. Who is the target audience? What genre are you in? OK, after writing The Fireborn, which is an urban fantasy, I read a lot of urban fantasy. Hmm. I like some, some I don’t and some is OK, but none of it is anything like The Fireborn. The Fireborn is sort of like if Douglas Adams decided to write an Indiana Jones story in Dirk Gently’s universe and then had it rewritten by Stephen King. I’m not saying it’s of the caliber of their stories, I’m saying that is where it would fit in the Universe of books. So what is that called and who writes like that? Continue reading →

Dabbler, Hobbyist, Amateur or Pro (Again)

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(Note – This was originally posted on January 15, 2014 and has been reposted twice before. Yes, it is an old standby, but I like it ;) I’m sorry if you’ve read it too many times. If you haven’t read it before, I hope you enjoy!)

I’ve participated in many of the arts and have had formal instruction in a few. I’ll admit that I’ve discovered a problem with trying to be a Jack of All Artistic Trades: it’s very easy to fall into the trap of Being a Master at None. Continue reading →

Renaissance Painting Class

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Years ago I took a Renaissance Painting class. What do I mean by “Renaissance Painting”? First, it has nothing to do with subject matter, it was purely a class about technique.

I’ll give a brief rundown on this technique. First, the artist needs a very smooth surface. Many Renaissance paintings are done on panel for this reason. For the canvas paintings we put layer after layer of gesso on and sanded between layers. Then the picture is painted in black and white. Well, it is greyscale, like a black and white photo. We could add a little blue or red (not much!) to the paint to make the final warmer or cooler. The last step is to put a color glaze over the black and white under painting. If something is green, you use a green glaze and the underpainting will take care of the different shades and highlights.

When you look at a Renaissance era painting it almost seems to glow from an inner light. Well, in ways it does – you are seeing the shapes and shading through a layer of colored glaze. Continue reading →

Finished? I Don’t Think So… (Again)

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(Note – This was first publish in January of 2014. Something reminded me of it so I decided to bring it back)

“OK, I’m finished.”

The painting instructor came over to look at my work. He studied it intently, his brow furrowing. After a few minutes he asked, “You’re done? Is this a study? I think this looks pretty good so you should continue working with it.” He left to check someone else’s work. Continue reading →

Topic Switching Part 2 – Large Scale (Again)

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(Note I posted this about a year ago. Truthfully, I’m in the middle of a large scale topic switch – I am writing and playing music and have no time to write. So, another summer rerun.)

My last post was on the subject of topic switching. A person who topic switches will change the subject of a conversion repeatedly and seemingly randomly. It is as if her mind is racing so far ahead she doesn’t realize she’s skipped big chunks of the conversation. Or that he is so impulsive he spits out anything as soon as it comes to mind.

This post is about something completely different yet, in a strange way, related. I will call it “Large Scale Topic Switching”. Continue reading →

Making a Practice of Practicing

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An ancient bad joke: “Can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?” “Sure: Practice, practice, practice.” And then there is the even older saying, “Practice makes Perfect,” which is clearly untrue since there is no such thing as perfection in the arts. But the point has to be taken – no matter how much natural talent you have, you need to practice to gain skill. And not just have to practice, you need to practice a lot. For instance, a professional musician often puts in far more than the normal work week of 40 hours in practice alone. That is not including rehearsals, performances and recording sessions.

I put a lot of emphasis on my blog about my new studio setup. I’m finding I had reason to make a big deal about it as I’m now beginning to reap the benefits of the new setup. I have been practicing more and better. I have continued to do my scales, finger exercises and classical songs, but now I often just rock out. I’ve been learning new material and creating new music.

Of course practice goes far beyond music. I have written over 70 new short stories for this blog in the last year and a half. To me this is fantastic practice for when I want to write longer forms. I’m also about to reach my 500^th post on the blog, again great writing practice. I sometimes cringe when I reread some of my earliest short stories, but I’m sure I’d cringe just as much if I listened in to some of my early music practice sessions. My work is getting better.

I’ve been skimping on my visual arts practice lately, but in the past I’ve spent hours drawing studies of mundane objects. Before I make a painting I might do a dozen drawings and studies. I’m now out of practice so it would take me a while to get back into it, but if and when I return to the visual arts you can be sure I’ll put a huge amount of practice in before I post anything.

I am far from perfect in any art and will never come close even if I quit my job and practice full time. Still, I can see the benefits; the results are tangible. I really notice the results when I stop practicing. My writing becomes sloppy and my playing is no longer crisp and clear.

How seriously do you take your practice?

Studio Reorganization, Part II

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About 2 weeks ago I put up a post about my “studio” reorganization. I post a picture of the old layout (see below), with it’s Rick Wakeman influenced circle of keyboards. Of course most of those keyboards weren’t being used, but who cares? It looked impressive. Just look at the photo below this paragraph. Continue reading →

I Want to be a Rock Star!

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Back in the very early days of my blog I wrote a post called “Pruning the Possibilities“. The idea behind the post was that as we age and see some of our dreams die we should use it for the positive, to put more energy into our remaining dreams. Here are the last two sentences of the post: If a dream dies don’t let that be an excuse to become depressed. Make it an opportunity to make another dream come true.

It quickly became one of my more popular posts. I had a lot of people on Facebook talk about it. Of course “a lot” is a relative term, as is “popularity”. At the time I posted it I could count my followers on my fingers and toes and have some to spare. I was happy with 7 likes and zero comments! Continue reading →

Reorganization

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I’m reorganizing my creative workspace. It’s a long, hard haul, but it must be done. But before I go into some of the reasons I’m reorganizing, I need to explain the picture at the top.

This picture was taken in 2011 after the last time I reorganized. I had been composing classical music and had decided to switch back to a more pop/rock/jazz sound. I wrote my classical music directly onto manuscript paper. At first I really did use paper, but later I used a program with virtual paper. I had a single keyboard set up so I could play parts to make sure they sounded right. When I moved to the more performance orient styles, I need a performance oriented set up, which I created, as witnessed by this photo. Continue reading →

The Magic Wand

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Almost exactly a year ago I started work on a picture story, the magic wand. I posted it May 2, 2014. However, in ways I like the colorized version better. If you have time, look at both and let me know what you think.

1. “Where have you been, Edward? We haven’t seen you in days.”

“I’ve been too busy to come out and play. Last week I received a magic wand for my fifth birthday and I’ve been practicing.” Continue reading →

Trent's World (the Blog)

Random Ramblings and Reviews from Trent P. McDonald