Watercolor
Watercolor
I’m a nudgy guy. I like my tooth paste cap on tight and I bought some of those little squeezy roll-up things that keep the tube full and the toothpaste at the top. My studio is neat, clean and I dust every three days – dust being the enemy of electronic equipment.
I work with a software program called Logic in my studio that organizes all my music into logical elegance and as I work, everything is precise, laid out in a relative perfection, and totally in my control. It’s the only way I can work.
I’m not mathematical, but I must be highly organized; otherwise, I’m not a happy creator. Organization and the ability to be in control of my art form are two of the keys to my work.
I probably drive my wife a little nuts with my nudgy-ness. She’s more of an artiste, a little wilder in her affairs, and as a result, less of a control freak. But we both like order. All you have to do is look at the Watchfire Music website – over 1300 pages of order, everything organized and in its place, everything working.
So it’s all pretty amazing to me when I consider the work of a watercolorist. I’m not a visual artist at all. I can’t draw to save my life. My son picks up a pencil and draws something and it actually looks like the thing he drew. I say, “How’d you do that?” Amazing.
When one paints a watercolor, you expect the medium to get away from you a bit. The paint is sometimes in control – it runs away from you a bit. I’m sure that a good watercolorist will tell you that they stay in control, but it’s the nature of the game that there must be moments when the water makes the choices. I find this fascinating – a little scary – but fascinating.
I suppose that in music, improvisation runs a parallel track. As an improviser, you’re out there on the edge, not quite sure where you’re going, but cruisin’ along loving life on the edge of the cliff. I take my hat off to those of you who can run that tightrope.
I suppose this song is a metaphor for life. Many people, over the years, have told me so. I wrote it about the painting process, but as usual, people see way beyond the intention. Make of it what you will.
If you want to hear the song, click here.
If you want to purchase the song, simply click on: Thru Me
Watercolor
Music and Lyrics by Peter Link
Soft white cinnamon
Sufferin’ blue
You’re a strange design
You give me life and I give you you
And I’m lost in a watercolor
The water runs and the edges roll
And for that bittersweet second I lose control
Cinnamon crashes into sufferin’ blue
And I’m lost in a watercolor
Images and imaginings blending in a tango
Carrying me with them
Where I’ve never been before
Dancing across the paper
In a maddening fandango
Swirling through the universe
Like a thunderstorm
I am falling falling
Help me I’m falling
I’m lost in a watercolor
I am falling falling
Help me I’m falling
I’m lost in a watercolor
In this confusion of light and shade
I can’t find my way
Stumbling on though I’m unafraid
I am lost in a watercolor
This balance of chaos
Impossible yet
I’ll take the chances I take
And get what I can get
Smoke dreams fade into ivory jade
And I’m lost in a watercolor
Images and imaginings blending in a tango
Carrying me with them
Where I’ve never been before
Dancing across the paper
In a maddening fandango
Swirling through the universe
Like a thunderstorm
I am falling falling
Help me I’m falling
I’m lost in a watercolor
I am falling falling
Help me I’m falling
I’m lost in a watercolor
Thanks, Carol, for passing along a most interesting thought. Bob Brookmeyer (born December 19, 1929) is an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, and arranger. A great innovative force in Jazz music, he was born in Kansas City, Missouri, where he first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan’s quartet from 1954 to 1957. I’d like to mull this concept over a bit and see where it applies. Again, many thanks for your contribution.
Kudos to Julia Wade for bringing this topic to our attention. I have often thought about Peter’s ideas as they are stated in this article, and how they relate to my own creative process. My teacher, Bob Brookmeyer, said that in the composition process, you often come to a fork in the road. The piece will tell you where it wants to go. He said, to follow that direction is taking the easy way out for a composer, but that is just what most songwriters do and that’s why so much of what we hear on the radio is derivative and devoid of any freshness. As composers and artists, it is sometimes good to lean against the natural tendencies the art makes and be in control of what is going on. We should mold the piece according to our own design, rather than let the creation create itself. It’s a controversial concept I know, but I think Brookmeyer has a good point!
Peter- thanks for exploring the truth of the risk of going for it as an artist, be ye watercolorist or musician. You’ve touched something important here which is the trust of the process. “This balance of chaos, Impossible yet, I’ll take the chances I take, And get what I can get”.
Ahhhhhh, Watercolor. The soundtrack of my childhood. I still sob when I hear this song! Sooooooo beautifully written and sung. Peter Link, my uncle, my hero. Hugs
Peter, I think the water color used for this blog is just beautiful, so is the song!