My inspiration for the Music Series comes form listening to classical music while I'm painting. The composer Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures in an Exhibition" started me thinking about the reverse of music made from visual art. I realized that I am seeing in my mind's eye the color, movement, pattern, rhythm and energy of the music transposed into 2 dimensional images.

Mussorgsky's friend Viktor Hartman, an artist and architect, died at the age of 39 leaving his friends devastated. An exhibit was organized of over 400 pieces of his work and after touring the exhibit, Mussorgsky wrote "Pictures in an Exhibition" as a tribute to Hartman.

My work is not just a tribute to music but an actual visual representation of what I'm listening to. Initially I see music in color. For example, when I'm listening to the Russian composers I see a full range of colors: reds, yellows, blues, greens etc., while Chopin is mute pastels. Bach has always been black, white and gray with some small accent colors. Some of the symphonies of Mozart are frilly pinks and pastel greens since he seldom wrote in the minor key.

From color I move into the actual act of painting where I incorporate the other elements including: pattern, movement, rhythm, and the energy of the music. 

Carolyn Hoyle