This morning I am working on some new pieces for the May 7th Parallels (the music of Yes) performance at Seattle’s Columbia City Theater. I have been told that there will be a 6′ x 12′ screen behind the stage and I will have carte blanche to create any images I like for the setlist. Amazing. How many artists get such an opportunity? Many of my works are inspired by and painted while listening to Yes music. Now I get to display these images with this very music in a live venue with an audience of 300 or so people. I am especially excited to do images for “Into the Lens”, a song that I love and have listened to hundreds of times, both the Yes version and the Buggles version. My take on this song is that the mind is a camera and all is reflected therein. A dozen morphing flash animations would do justice to this music, however I will have to be content with several still images and hope they will serve.  Will post them here after the show.

So the self doubts are coming up before I even start….notice them and be aware of their passing nature. And get to work, because every brush stroke, every cut and paste is not a step toward a goal, but the goal itself. Here I would give a bit of advice to other creators…..whatever it takes, learn to be one with your process, because herein lie the real riches you seek. A deep sense of satisfaction can be found at every step of the Way, to the degree you can step out of time while painting, or dancing, or living!

I have already completed the four paintings for “Into the Lens, as of Sat, Apr 17, but having difficulty envisioning a sequence for “Close to the Edge”, one of the greatest of all Yes songs, about 20′ in length.  This number deserves something special visually…..perhaps something nature based, since it has lyrics about rivers, etc.  I may be tempted to go galactic and do a series of abstracts based on nebulae. 

Here’s the final image that will be on screen before the band enters.  Then it will segue into the Close to the Edge” sequence. 

Parallels Concert, May 7, Columbia Theater, Seattle

Parallels Concert, May 7, Columbia Theater, Seattle