Inspiration is a funny thing. It can happen at any time, for any reason, and take any form. But for this rain of inspiration to be succesful, it also must find a fertile ground and the seeds of creation somewhere within it.
This is basically what happened last week. Looking to generate the mood for my previous blog entry ( A jazzy and colorful Lisbon Spring), I got caught in the beauty of a live performance by Michel Legrand and Stephan Grappelli of “How high the Moon” , recorded in Concert in London more than 25 years ago. So much so that I chose that song to accompany my entry and my painting “Water in the Moon” (featured there and part of my Lisbon Exhibit), over Duke Ellington’s “Misty Moon”, which was the song which had inspired that work of mine some time ago.
The song got stuck in my head, and the more I played it, the more I felt that I had to explore on canvas all the things that tune made me feel.
And so was born “How high the Moon”, a 50cm x 50cm painting, mixed media on canvas (acrylic, printing and Indian inks, on canvas), from March 2012. This painting has a connection of sorts with another reacent painting of mine entitled “Toulouse” ( La ville rose) and it is showing a new development in the way I am expressing my art.
As I said before, this painting was inspired by a very particular rendition of a Morgan Lewis’ tune, but since it is already a part of my previous entry, I thought of accompanying this new piece by a different version of the same song.
So here are the great Lester Young and the revolutionary Miles Davis playing their own version of this classic, live in West Germany, in 1956! I hope you enjoy it.
Until the next storm of inspiration catches me unaware!
Ignacio
IGNACIO ALPERIN: THE ART OF THINKING OUT LOUD / EL ARTE DE PENSAR EN VOZ ALTA 