Acrylic on canvas panel, circa 1972.

Around this time, music started to take on an increasing significance for me with my study of the classical guitar. I chose the violin for this painting however, because violinists usually make a greater display of intensity as they are playing.

I was also interested in studying the flexibility of the acrylic medium for handling parts of the body, such as the face and hands, as well as for hard, precise objects such as a musical instrument.

Unlike many of my paintings that were done from photographs or from actual subjects, where the composition was complete, this one was a composite where different parts were taken from a variety of sources. I made an initial sketch to integrate all the parts into one composition and painted from the sketch and the other original materials.