¡¡ Creativity Resumes !!
Music + Art = Unexpected Combinations
I have long said, “when I run out of wall space, I stop painting.” This has meant I really haven’t painted much to speak of since the end of the millennium! Seriously!
Most of my stuff is from the late 90s, and a few things are from the early 2000s. But then I ran out of wall space. Well, I did paint 3 paintings for each of my boys to welcome them into the world when they were born, and another 3 when we moved to a home with fewer stairs.
I wrote in one of my recent newsletters that I put a bunch of art up at a local salon in Belle Plaine, Kansas. So my walls are mysteriously (not mysteriously, but it’s a good word anyway, right?) empty right now. Well, not completely, but pretty darn empty compared to where they were a week ago.
So I painted this early today - and I like it so much, I’m sharing it with all of you and going to put it on a pair of earrings some time soon.
[vivid Jodi-colors - almost every color of the rainbow. Colors shoot off like fireworks with trails beneath them. Vibrant colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, turquoise and pink.]
I have started a whole new art and writing project as of today, though I mapped out about 95% of it a week ago - the book project part is called “Pockets of Happiness,” and the art gallery showing will be called “Blood and Sea.”
[Blood and Sea - a banner Jodi made to inspire her for her art show she is starting to create.]
Blood and Sea is the story of the women in my family - me, my mum, her mum, and her mum. Augusta (Granny / my great-grandmother), Helen (Grandmother), Miriam (my mum) and me. I will be sharing more of it over time.
Today was as good a day as any, to begin doing the art project. As I looked over my notes, I realized a clear part of the story was missing - my violin (and the violin playing of all the folks in Nova Scotia where my great-grandmother and my grandmother spent the majority of their lives, and where my mum grew up), and also the stringed bass of the jazz clubs my mum used to take me to when I was a little kid.
So today I decided to start painting the violin portion of the art exhibit. I thought I would do a small piece to just map out what it might look like when I do a big one. I’ve heard that’s a good idea to do - small drawings called “studies” of art before doing the big piece.
[a photo of my violin art, in progress. Showing the bones of the artwork.]
Well, I like what I did so much that I share it here - and I started on the next piece too - the stringed bass.
Speaking of bass clef instruments, I am also doing a cool thing this week and next — you’ll never guess what!
A new friend of mine is a bassoon player in my orchestra - the South Kansas Symphony. She and I friended each other on Facebook a few months ago. And she has been seeing my artwork and vibrant colors. She is a rainbow-gal herself - her glasses are rainbows and until recently, her hair was every color of the rainbow too.
She has a bassoon recital next week. She invited me to come and do artwork for the bassoon recital! It’s going to be a tie-dye themed bassoon recital. I went to a rehearsal for it 2 evenings ago. Kind of cool to see my conductor (the teacher of the music class at that college) on the piano! I knew he could play saxophone, but I didn’t know he could also play piano! It shouldn’t surprise me - he is quite a musician.
It was so much fun to hear all the percussion instruments and learn a new instrument completely — one of the percussion players had a xylophone (a bit bigger than the standard one made by Fisher-Price for toddlers!) and he played it with an acoustic bass bow! It makes quite creepy, high-pitched, eerie noises! Now I want one!
Have I ever mentioned that I also know how to play the saw? That reminds me, I am on the “Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone” podcast this week - playing the slide-whistle. I don’t know if you’re going to want to hear it. But this is something Paula said on the podcast -
“If I ever get married, and I won’t, the only instrument I want at my wedding is Jodi Rose Crump’s slide whistle.” - Paula Poundstone
That’s got to be a quote I should drop in all over the place when I can find places, right?
Seriously. That’s on the podcast. You can listen here -
And now, for my new art. Here is the violin artwork:
And here is the good start on the upright bass artwork - and I tried to paint with a palette knife for the first time ever with this piece! I am liking it so far! We’ll see where it ends up!
I kind of like how the upright bass has a “woman’s face” quality to it. I am curious to see where it goes! I did the blues on this painting with the palette knife. Just experimenting & see where it all goes. The very top right has some dark purple over top of the blue, also put o with the palette knife.
I am liking where my new art is taking me. I am trying new techniques just to see what happens, and not feeling stuck in a rut of “I don’t know what to paint.” I have paints & canvasses and I am opening up some long-closed floodgates. Let’s see what pours out!
Oh, and of course while I was typing this, my brother, Tim Crump* sent me this photo of him at Paula Poundstone’s show tonight. Serendipity. Or something like that!
My brother, Tim Crump with Paula Poundstone. Tim’s shirt says, “It was the Gouda that got him.” It’s a joke for the folks who listen to her podcast.
*Tim is releasing an album next week!! Seriously!!
Tim’s new piano album comes out May 15, 2026: