Gary J. Kirkpatrick Art and Travel Blog
Expressionistic art
These are preliminary to a possible larger painting to once again look at music. Strong blocks of color contrast against the shades of black in the piano and the colored shapes of the background. Even though version 1 is quite rough it’s still quite lively and perhaps even more so than than Version 2, which took quite a bit more effort.
Art meets string theory
This is another in the Pianist series. The dancers whirling dervishness calls forth a parallel universe. My painting Pianist Singer Dancer https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/pianist-singer-ballerina/ first evoked that universe, The energetic dancing brought forth the more intense intrusion of a parallel universe.
The contrasts: between the representative and the abstract, the muted values and the blaring, the forms and motion, the unusual view from behind the performers.
Ballerina: Vencerem (We shall overcome) was produced for the 13th annual Art al Career (Street Art) fair in Picanya, Spain. It is organized by the Dones de Picanya (Women of Picanya in Valencian) . Picanya suffered significant losses in the floods in October 2025. There is still much work needed there: houses, bridges, businesses and much more. The metro is still not working.
This painting is about the overcoming the obstacles on the path to recovery, symbolized by her dancing on the fender of a wrecked car. The lettering in the painting is actually straight. Getting a perfect photo was not possible in my studio.
This is the third painting featuring the pianist. The first is a realistic depiction
The second, completed just a month or so ago, appeared in the Street Art Fair in Picanya, Spain
This expressionistic piece combines imaginative and realistic elements such as we see in the dancer, from the performer’s point of view. The stained glass look continues, muted in the dark theater as is the audience. It’s about the challenges of cooperative performance. Without an audience there is no performance.
Light and dark interplay. Shafts of light downpour, adding to the pressure. The spotlight’s on you. Do it. There is one escape: that open door. But to get there you are judged more harshly.
Last year’s event here Dones de Picanya 2023 and 2022 here Dones de Picanya 2022
For several years I made drawings while sitting in the audience in the Palau de la Musica in Valencia, Spain. In the darkened auditorium I could not see very well, so I would find out what I had drawn. I used both hands. In one I held a Pilot pen and in the other a brush with a water reservoir which I used to create the washes and shadows.
Here you see the result in an 8 minute video set to Libertadores by Oscar Navarro, who is from Valencia. We have been there when this piece was performed and Oscar was there too. It’s a wonderful piece. I hope you enjoy it and the drawings.
The pianist is our friend Husan, who is an opera voice coach. She has a sound proof room so in addition to seeing her on stage we also have sat in her small room while an opera singer flooded us with the fabulous voice of a trained singer.
“Nice perspective and contrast in that piece, they all look good, but that has “pop!””
“These works are truly astounding. I can appreciate, even though I am not creative on my own to depict dancers atop a violin or looking out the window of a purple house or project the feeling of actually being onstage with Husan.,, Keep sharing your work. It’s stunning.”
For years we danced with various International Folk Dance groups in the US, France and Spain. Here they dance to the violin.
This one has a ton of movement. I did the hands/fingers two ways. I think that adds interest, variety. It looks great on our wall here. Lots of color. The violin shines, which you can not see in the photo. the wooden part of the bow has three facets, hard to see in the photo.
This piece started with a print of the fiddle player, done originally in the audience at the Palau de la Musica. I then added the acrylics and the ink drawing outside of the fiddle player.