Painting Lines and Colour to Music
Painting Lines and Colours to Music
Inspired by my recent visit to the Kandinsky exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney, I was reminded that one of my most popular YouTube videos that I created as an online lesson for my art students during the long Covid Lockdowns in Melbourne where I live and teach. It was simply called Drawing Lines to Music and is a video of me drawing different types of lines to different pieces of music. It’s simple and fun to watch but also easy to follow along with. It was made for my junior students but I found my older students self-selected the activity too.
After visiting the Kandinsky exhibition, and his bright colourful shapes and lines I filmed this new video I’ve called Painting Lines and Colours to Music. I simply set up a royalty free playlist, got my watercolours ready and went for it.
In the video you will see me change colour and mark making with my brush depending on the style and rhythm of the music. As the music changes, so does my brush’s reaction to it. There was no pre-thought or planning to this painting, it was purely about process. The artwork is completely improvised. What I didn’t expect was just how much fun it was to make, and how pleased I was with the finished work. So fun in fact I plan to do more and so pleased I popped it in a frame and hung it near my art station at home. I hope you have fun watching it. Have a go at using the music in the video and paint along. This is a great warm up activity to a longer watercolour art class, and a way of freeing you up for more work- I’m sure the ideas will start flowing from this simple exercise.
It is believed the painter Wassily Kandinsky had synesthesia, where he saw colours when he heard music and heard music when he painted. How do you feel when you hear different music, do you ever see colours?
Give it a try. Stay open to reacting to the music and just go with the flow of the music without over-thinking. Don’t make conscious decisions, just react and respond. It’s very freeing.
This is a great introduction to abstract painting and a very fun and accessible way to introduce it to children. The best thing is, by changing the music styles- the opportunities to repeat the activity are endless. Go dark and dramatic movie soundtracks, light and bubbly pop, create a whole series based on different music styles. What a wonderful way to integrate the Visual and Performing Arts. Maybe you could work with the Music teacher to have students create their own compositions and accompanying paintings. Feel free to use my YouTube videos in class, or the accompanying shorts to tune kids into the process.
I’m so glad I revisited this activity. It’s given me some fuel for my own creative process. I hope it does the same for you.
You can read more about Wassily Kandinsky’s exploration of music and colour in this article from the Denver Art Museum or this more academic article from the Guggenheim
The Kandinsky exhibition at The Art Gallery of NSW is on until the 10th of March 2024.
