Electric Blue

I’ve been working on a slideshow of my digital art to enter in an art show. It might get disqualified, because the digital frame I loaded it on needs electricity. I’m sitting on pins and needles until I find out if either this or my other two pieces got into the show.

 

Strange Costumes Part III: Playing the Field – The Music

Kev cradles his bass paternally…….

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally found some time to put the finishing touches to the third instalment of the Strange Costumes ‘Altered Book’ project that I’m working on in conjunction with Atlanta-based artist and writer Shelley M House. There will be a video version of it later.

As with the previous two, the rhythms are very African influenced. To create the rhythm track, I recorded four or five ‘live’ drum parts using a multiple drum pad module that you play just like a normal kit. for each track, I altered the parameters so the pads triggered different drums and percussion effects. The final, multiple drum track is quite insistent and chaotic, so I opted to overlay a vocal in a sixties, psychedelic ‘lazy’ style, to balance the speed of the piece.  The lyric is dictated very strictly by the words Shelley gave me, in her meter and order, and this, above all else, gives these musical pieces their unusual structure and form. I cannot escape into a chorus, and I have to find ways to fit words in that may conflict with the rhythm. It’s a lot of fun!  You will notice that some of the lyrics are hard to understand. That is because I have gone for an overall feel for the track, and to clearly enunciate them may have compromised that. The music is designed to be listened to in conjunction with reading the lyrics within Shelley’s art pieces. I’ve reproduced the lyrics below, with the small changes I made highlighted in blue:

Fantastic information we find in the field.
Tasty instrument, hear it play, food he likes. (Tasty instrument, hear it play)
Searching shallow ends for frogs and fish, we get too close and find that edges have snapped.
In scenery sharp and strange we play;
very vivid, very thin, and very fond of fruit.
I hope the tree-top toucan can support all the weight.
See the colorful two, overlap and sway,
planting the seeds of the future.
Penknife and pine, the hungry fulcrum faintly tips.
Our friends are prying and peculiar. Stories are told. Perfectly attractive, bold and yellow, red and blue.
We pick out our decorations so carefully.
We find seeds and weeds for large appetites, all of them eating out of habit.
Muddy mouthfuls make it difficult to speak.
Entire worlds are reduced to hums and beats.
Hands and arms, legs and feet, tiny twitters, a deep low beat. (tiny twitters in a deep low beat)
Graceful games turn frantic in a storm.
Run and frisk, high and low, coming in and out of sight. Quick and urgent, they cry, they cry.they cry, they cry…cry…

Words by Shelley M House, Music by Kev Moore

The breakdown in the middle begins with the gradual layering of sampled African choral vocals, mixed with tribal drumming and nature samples steadily building in intensity to re-introduce the main theme.  As the track fades, it departs a little from the trance-like single chord structure and I introduce some changes in the synth chords underneath, so that the lead guitar can be more expressive. The bass line remains the same however, and its always a nice effect, to keep the bass the same and change the underlying chords.

So there it is……enjoy!

You can listen to the first two parts of the series by clicking on the links below:

Strange Costumes

Draped in Strange Feathers

Kev Moore

Strange Costumes: Chap. 3 – Playing the Field

I just finished the art for Chapter 3 of my altered book project. The text is small…here it is so you can read it:

Chapter 3: Playing the Field

 

          Fantastic information we find in the field. Tasty instrument, hear it play, food he likes. Searching shallow ends for frogs and fish, we get too close and find edges have snapped.

          In scenery sharp and strange we play; very vivid, very thin, and very fond of fruit. I hope the tree-top toucan can support all the weight.

          See the colorful two, overlap and sway, planting the seeds of the future. Penknife and pine, the hungry fulcrum faintly tips.

          Our friends are prying and peculiar. Stories are told. Perfectly attractive, bold and yellow, red and blue. We pick out our decorations so carefully.

          We find seeds and weeds for large appetites, all of them eating out of habit. Muddy mouthfuls make it difficult to speak. Entire worlds are reduced to hums and beats.
          Hands and arms, legs and feet, tiny twitters, a deep low beat. Graceful games turn frantic in a storm. Run and frisk, high and low, coming in and out of sight. Quick and urgent, they cry, they cry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~In other news~~~~

Five feet of separation

I was 5 feet away from Jane Fonda the other night! I donated art to a fundraising auction she was hosting for G-CAPP (Georgia Coalition for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention). It was an inspiring evening, and I got a nice pic of Jane when the guy behind me had the winning bid on her clock:

 

 

 

The theme was “It’s About Time.” IKEA donated clocks to the artists to use in their creations. Here is my piece, “Dear Mr. Time”:

This is what the art looked like before I put it into the clock:

Murky

My butterfly has been quite reluctant to emerge. This is what she looks like this morning. Murky.

Where’s the Butterfly?

I pulled this photo of mine out to create a background for some butterfly art I started working on. But after playing with the colors, I decided I want to leave it like this, and turn it into a wallpaper border for my bathroom.

The weather here is beautiful today, and I shouldn’t be inside on the computer anyways. My kids gave me big, blue, fluffy slippers for my birthday, and I got two big chocolate bars as well. We’ll be going to my favorite restaurant for dinner tonight. Life is good.

Best wishes to my coffee-loving friends!
~Shelley

Slipping into that Green Pool again

Hello friends! Spring has been a busy time for us all. I’ve been working on new art, but I haven’t posted much of it yet.
I was excited to get a chance to participate in a fine art fair for interior designers, going on this week. It opened over the weekend, and I took a couple pics to share with you.

It was interesting to note which piece is getting the most attention here at my second show. Last time it was my Meditation on a Coffee Cup #6. This time it is the one I translated into French, Green Desire, inspired by one of Niki’s paintings.

I was excited to get a photo of a rainbow this morning. My camera didn’t catch all the colors, but it was neat anyways.

Best wishes to you all!
~Shelley

Happy Earth Day!

Hello everyone! It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since I first drew my “Butterfly Flower” in honor of Mother Earth. The original idea behind it was based on the “butterfly effect” and Chaos Theory, the idea that one butterfly could eventually have a far-reaching ripple effect on subsequent historic events. The flower is my representation of the Flower of Life, a sacred geometric shape found in all major religions of the world. I want everyone to know that each and every one of us, through our loving creative thoughts, has the power to create the vibrations that will heal our planet.

Cafe Crem is the place where I feel most connected with this world. The creative interaction here from friends all over the planet feels strong, and always warms my heart.

Thank you, everyone, and have a beautiful day, in honor of our Earth!
Peace and love,
Shelley

Coffee Love 300

Do you measure time by how much coffee is left in your cup? Do you know it’s time to eat something after you’ve had your 3rd cup of coffee?

It seems like it’s been 300 cups of coffee since I’ve chatted with my friends here at Cafe Crem, but the coffee love is still strong!

Coffee hugs all around!
~Shelley

Ginger tea, and 3 hearts in a pan

When I was pregnant with my second child, nauseous with morning sickness all day long, a relative showed me how to make ginger tea. I’ve been waking in the middle of the night lately, wishing I had fresh ginger root in the house. I’m not pregnant right now, just…busy.

Matthew, my second-born, is 5 years old now. He took some pics of me a few days ago:

I signed up to make a treat for Matthew’s class for St. Patrick’s Day. The room mom sent instructions for a cute cupcake decorated with rainbows made with Airheads candy. Could I pull this off?

I had my doubts, but it worked out in the end.

Sugar, sugar, sugar!

A mom can hardly go wrong when lots of sugar is involved. I used the leftover cake batter to make a few heart cupcakes.

I was excited to finish my Sleeping Fairy jigsaw puzzle yesterday. I started it last fall, but had to put it away to use the table it was on for the kids’ birthday parties, and then the Christmas tree.

I might frame this one for Nicole’s room. It was tougher than I expected. I don’t think I’ll want to put it together again.

I’ve been working on a couple new poems. One of them, Orange Day, is almost ready to post. I still need to work on an image for the other one, Fighting Dragons.

Time for me to get back to work!

The Dream Van

This is what Nicole wants my van to look like.