V1.Diligence
Art That Blows 2023
This painting is 1 of 5 in my V series for Art That Blows. Each piece represents a unique skill learned by practicing, then mastering, a musical instrument.
diligence: constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind.
Diligence is the first skill required to learn an instrument. There’s an awkward, this-is-hard phase of learning how to place your fingers, read music, learn timing/rhythm, then do all of those things at once. It requires perseverance to reach a basic level of proficiency, which is when this new skill begins to blossom.
The black mass of cello and violin strings represent the tangle of these new, difficult concepts. Diligence requires you to push through the discomfort in order to see growth. These are portrayed by yellow flowers, constructed of clarinet thumb rests, that appear like dandelions breaking through concrete. You can see the stirrings of them deep inside the tangle of strings, but diligence is what makes them evident to the world.
Like V2.Exploration, this entire painting is constructed solely out of reclaimed musical instrument parts provided by Band of Angels.
