One of the greatest pieces of music of all time has to be the intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana. This gorgeous melody comes out of nowhere and as I recall from seeing an English National Opera production of "Cav and Pag" in London some 30 years ago, it plays over an empty stage when all the happenings are going on (offstage) in the village hall. So it's full of mystery before it even begins.
But, how do you put that into something visual? In the end I decided that it had to be about something convoluted happening in the middle of something. Driving two solitudes apart. The opera is about broken relationships and hearts (of course - what else?); boy meets girl, boy gets engaged to girl, girl marries another boy when boy#1 is away, boy#2 comes back and takes up with girl #2, girl #1 gets jealous and then has an affair with boy#1). Etc. I decided to use a violet blue and the light coral to represent the boys and the girls.
Just to review - that is within the colour parameters. I am still sticking to a colour scheme that involves emerald green and coral. I have just split the green into yellow green, blue green and blue violet, to make a neat kite tetrad. The square still needs to blend with the other 143 squares in the quilt.
Regarding the central shape with the doodling - a friend has introduced me to Zentangling. This is a meditative doodling technique invented by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, and it is copyrighted. There are a couple of demos on YouTube which I enjoyed, and you may wish to find a local trained instructor to teach you how to do it properly. But I thought it suited the mood, and I didn't feel like scouring quilt fabric shops looking for just the right print, in my colour scheme. I needed a small patch that says "tangled", "boy/girl", "rural", "Art Nouveau-ish" etc. Easier to just draw it!
So, this is the result:
The other square I have just finished is the Rite of Spring by Stravinsky. I have never seen the ballet, but it was fascinating researching it, and discovering that the first production was done (1913) at the same time that the world was still adjusting to Picasso's shocking Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907). Using cubism on the human figure - it must have caused quite a stir.
That first production was choreographed by Diaghelev and Nijinsky danced in it. The sets were designed by Roerich. You have to look him up - the sets will remind you of Emily Carr and various members of the Group of Seven. ( But of course - they had been to Paris, and many G of 7 artists had been war artists in France, etc. Isn't it fascinating how we all influence each other!)
Anyway, I felt I had to portray dancers, but I didn't want to work from Picasso's Demoiselles, so I chose a more subdued threesome of muses by Delauney (Ville de Paris, 1912) since he was working around the same time, and had clearly been influenced by Picasso and the new Cubist rage.
So here is my Rite of Spring. My brief (this is a commissioned square) was to "use mauve, and black and white, and be exhilarating and chaotic." I hope I have achieved it! Same colour scheme as above by the way, but with more white.
Well, that's all for now. Percolating in my mind at the moment is another commissioned square, The Trumpet Shall Sound by Purcell. Have you heard the new CD (by the same name) with Alison Balsom and Iestyn Davies? It is just wonderful.
More soon - keep listening to your favourite music. E-mail me if you would like to learn more about how to produced a piece of visual art inspired by music, or if you would like to contribute to the quilt.
Susan
<rooster@quican.com>
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