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Posts Tagged ‘Bill Evans’

Harmony in Blue and Green

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on June 5, 2025| 2 Comments »

Harmony in Blue and Green— Soon at Principle Gallery

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony.

–Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island (1955)

This passage above from the late mystic monk/theologian Thomas Merton remains a favorite for me. It sums up everything I hope for in my work– balance and order and rhythm and harmony. These elements do indeed create a pathway to happiness, as I see it.

Maybe happiness is not the right word here.  Maybe a term like joyful awareness or even the word contentment better suits the product of these elements. Because that is what happiness is– the product of many contributing factors, not a quality unto itself. It only exists if we create an environment in which it can exist. Inevitably, happiness exists when we recognize that, in the moment, our lives have balance and order and rhythm and harmony.

And as Merton asserts, it is not a matter of intensity. It need not be a peak experience that comes complete with fist-pumping celebration, crowds cheering, and brass bands playing.

No, often these moments come to us quietly and unexpectedly.

That’s what I am seeing in this new painting, Harmony in Blue and Green. There is an exuberance in it for me, but it is of the quieter, more introspective variety. It definitely creates an atmosphere and environment in which I might find happiness of some type.  It’s one of the few paintings I have done featuring a tree that is not the Red Tree. Just this moment, I wondered if perhaps this tree was once a Red Tree and has begun to unite and harmonize with its surroundings, allowing itself to reflect the common bonds it shares with all things. Just a thought.

Harmony in Blue and Green is 12″ by 24″ on canvas and is included in my solo exhibit Entanglement that begins one week from tomorrow, on Friday, June 13, at the Principle Gallery with an Opening Reception running from 6-8:30 PM. This painting and the other work for this show will be delivered to the gallery on Sunday and will be available for previews, though the show will not be hung until later in the week.

The day after the show’s opening, on Saturday, June 14, I will also be giving a Painting Demonstration at the gallery. The demo, my first there, should run from 11 AM until 1 PM or thereabouts. 

Here’s a favorite composition that contributed to the title of this painting. It is Blue in Green and is best known from Miles Davis’ 1959 classic jazz album Kind of Blue. This morning, I am featuring the version from pianist Bill Evans, who co-wrote this composition with Davis. Fine example of balance and order and rhythm and harmony. Good stuff for an early morning.

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Invocation in Blue

Posted in Event, Favorite Things, Music, Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 27, 2021| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- Invocation in Blue sm

A certain blue enters your soul. A certain red has an effect on your blood-pressure.

– Henri Matisse

Matisse certainly had it right.

For me, blue is the color of the soul and spirit and red the corporeal, the blood and body. Blue is the ethereal. Red is the carnal. I think that is why both colors play such a large part in my work. Actually, they play large parts in the work of most artists. They are two of the three primary colors for a good reason.

But in my work they often symbolize those two parts in us as individual humans– the body and the spirit, the carnal and the ethereal. Having the two come to terms within the picture and within myself is often part of my aim, something I usually don’t recognize until I am examining the painting after completion.

I think this new painting, a 16″ by 20″ canvas that is part of my new show at the Principle Gallery which opens next Friday, June 4. This piece is titled Invocation in Blue. I see it as dealing with that space between the spirit and the physical in each of us, about how we aspire to our higher aspects but are bound by our earthly desires.

Head in the stars, feet in the mud, figuratively speaking.

And that is sort of what I see here. The Red Tree aspires to the ethereal calm found in the endless blue of the night sky and the peaceful presence of the moon. But it is still rooted in the earth, still comforted and sustained by its earthly needs and desires. The patchwork of reds and purples seem almost like a quilt or comforter that mainly warms and protects but also restrains.

But even so, both of the worlds attached to each color have an appeal of their own. And in this piece, they dwell side by side, as they often do within some of us. It is a painting that has an acceptance of its place in the universe, that recognizes that we can and do exist in both the ethereal and the corporeal worlds. It is a painting of the peaceful balance that can exist between the two.

But, as always, that’s just my opinion. You might see it as something altogether different. And to that, I say, Good for you. That’s just as it should be.

Okay, here’s some music to accompany the painting. It’s also a great song to sip coffee by. It’s the great jazz piece Blue in Green. It is most often associated with Miles Davis. He is credited with writing it and his version is iconic. Brilliant. But I also like the version below from pianist Bill Evans who played on the Davis recording and was later revealed to be the true composer of the tune though he never received credit on the label or in royalties. It’s just a beautiful piece and I like to think it sums up the balance between the two worlds I discussed above.

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The Peaceful Stillness

Posted in Biographical, In the Studio, Music, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , on May 12, 2021| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- The Peaceful Silence sm

“The Peaceful Stillness”

I want to be quiet this morning. No, I need, not want, to be quiet this morning.

Need to be quiet.

It’s one of those days when I wake up in the dark of the early morning. My dreams, which evaporate as soon as my feet touch the cool floor, have somehow dashed any facade of confidence I may have been wearing and I am already a bit glum before I have even seen the first light of morning. I slip on my jeans that are covered with paint and as I slide my right leg in, my toe catches a small tear in the pant leg. For some reason, my jeans always tear in this same spot, just above the right knee.

But this morning my toe catches that tear and in the darkness I hear it rip even more. I feel anger and frustration layering on top the glum blueness I woke up with and I want to just let my toe rip the hell out the jeans then throw them across the room in the dark. And scream so hard that my diaphragm aches and my throat burns from the effort.

But I don’t. I restrain myself and just stand there in the dark stillness, taking a long breath of cool air. Then I calmly ease my leg into the torn jeans. My eyes adjust a bit to the dark and I can see out the window that morning light is beginning to sift through the trees. The sun will soon be up.

I tell myself there’s still time for hope. I just need to be quiet and let it find its way here this morning.

I make my way along the path through the woods to the studio and I feel much of the frustration and anger slip away. I am still a bit glum and blue but lying on the kitchen floor with my Hobie, the faithful and loving cat with which I share my space, helps. Her loud purrs of satisfaction are like an elixir. I am tempted to click on the news to catch up and immediately turn it off after about 45 seconds of it make my blood pressure tick up a few notches.

I need quiet but I need some music. I remember this piece from the great jazz pianist Bill Evans, Peace Piece. I put it on and its quietude and gentle tone bring me back. And the music keeps playing and I know I have dodged a bullet of sorts. My blue is okay now. It’s like an old grouchy friend who I know how to deal with.

I can manage this. All I need is some quietness, some light, some hope.

I am showing a new piece at the top, one that I call The Peaceful Stillness. It’s 18″ by 24″ on aluminum panel and is part of Between Here and There, my solo show at the Principle Gallery which opens on June 4.

I wasn’t planning on writing this blogpost for this painting but it seems to work with it. I know I felt an easing of my angst and frustration on seeing this painting. It mirrored my attempts to find that quietness within. So, while I should probably talk about the process or meaning or symbolism in it, I am going to let it stand as is this morning.

It did what I wanted it to do. No, what I needed it to do.

Here’s Peace Piece from Bill Evans if you need some help on your end.

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My Foolish Heart, Again

Posted in Music, tagged , , on September 14, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Bill Evans a

Busy this morning and this week with some much needed projects around the studio and the home. But I thought that this morning I would feature the piano of the great Bill Evans (1929-1980) and the song My Foolish Heart. It’s a song that I featured here about four years back

As I said then, I chose this song because it’s a fairly good live recording and I like watching the hands of musicians, especially guitarists and pianists, when they play. I don’t know much about music in technical terms but the differences in the way musicians play is striking to me, adding a whole new dimension to the work. For example, when I watch legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson play I am struck by the fluidity and nimbleness of his hands. They have an extremely delicate and graceful bounce, especially for a large man.

But watching Evans perform this song is, to me, more about those unplayed parts of the music– the pauses and silences that fill the air of the piece. Couple this with his body movements and positions and it makes for a mesmerizing performance.

So take a look and give listen.  Hope you have a great day…

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My Foolish Heart

Posted in Music, Video, tagged , , , , , on August 21, 2016| 2 Comments »

Bill Evans aTime for some Sunday morning music and the gray skies here today along with everything else that is going on call for something a bit slower and quiet in tone.  I thought I would feature the piano of the great Bill Evans (1929-1980) and the song My Foolish Heart.

I chose this song because it’s a fairly good live recording and I like watching the hands of musicians, especially guitarists and pianists, when they play.  I don’t know much about music in technical terms but the differences in the way  musicians play is striking to me, adding a whole new dimension to the work.  For example, when I watch legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson play I am struck by the fluidity and nimbleness of his hands.  They have an extremely delicate and graceful bounce.

But watching Evans perform this song is, to me,  more about those unplayed parts of the music– the pauses and silences that fill the air of the piece.  Couple this with his body movements and positions and it makes for a mesmerizing performance.  Really nice stuff for a gray Sunday morning.

So take a look and give listen.  Hope you have a great day…

 

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