Deep Dive Prompt: Subhi’s Deep Dive into Art and Music

My Connections with Art and Music

Several months ago, I started to post every now and then a prompt called “ Deep Dive” to create bridges with other fellow writers, open discussions, exchange experiences, and a safe place to safely share writings, minutes, and parts of the heart.

I posted the last prompt several days ago

Here are my answers to the questions in the prompt.

1. What is your favorite painting? How do you personally relate to/connect with this picture? It would be great if you could share a picture of it and tell us more about it

I think it is Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent Van Gogh. Gogh says, “I don’t know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.” This painting is an embodiment of those words. This painting has caught my attention since childhood. Sometimes I think I developed throughout the years a syndrome called Starry Night Over the Rhone Syndrome, where I try to capture pictures of lights over the water. I did that in many cities and countries. I still like to do it even more. The mixture of water and light is appealing to the eye!

2. Can you write a text of fewer than 50 words explaining your favorite painting (the one in question 1) the way you see it?

While admiring the beauty of the calm water, the Goodess of Stars fails to notice that the water is simply a mirror reflecting her magic. It is she who sends the light to steal the reflection. When those two interact, more magic happens

3. Who is your favorite painter, and why?

I like many painters: Van Gogh, Dali, René Magritte, Gustav Klimt, and Picasso….etc.

If I have to choose one, then it will be Remedios Varo. There is something unknown that attracts me so much to her paintings. I can not only look at them. I need to stare, go into the countless details, get lost there, and then come back with some fresh findings or ideas. Remedios Varo was a surrealist. The nature of Surrlilaism can be summarized as allowing the unconscious mind to express itself. I think the inner world of Varo was tremendously rich, as she was a polymath and had a special relationship with science, magic and alchemy.

4. What is your favorite song? What are the connections you have with it?

I have many favorite music pieces that I love: Four Seasons by Vivaldi, Turkish Marsh by Mozart, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, Nocture by Chopin, the 5th Symphony by Beethoven, and many others.

The pieces of music that touch my soul deeply are the guitar pieces by Francisco Tárrega. I go back in time to meet my Andalucian ancestors, run in the beautiful fields of Andalucia, drink from the rivers, walk near the great Mediterranean, and smell intensively the aromas of millions of flowers each time I listen to Memories of Alhambra, for example.

5. What is the song that takes you back to your childhood? Tell us more

Certainly, it is Holiday by Boney M. It was played all the time in our family house. As soon as I play it, I return to the gardens of childhood memories.

6. What is the song that takes you to the memories or/ and status of love? Tell us more.

I am a big fan of Chris De Burgh. I am fond of many of his songs, like: Here is your paradise, lady in Red, Suddenly, love, carry me like a Fire in your heart.

Also, many Spanish songs take me on a first-class flight to the land of love.

7. In songs, what is your primary focus: the lyrics or the melodies?

“ In the beginning was the word” says the Bible. For me, words also come first. No one can undervalue the melodies, but words hold the real magic or the real “flavor.” as per the expression of a friend of mine. This friend always says, “ You can drink tea with sugar, honey, milk, etc. Those ingredients will add a lot to the taste of the tea, but before anything else, you need to have a good tea of superior quality to enjoy the taste. The same equation works for words, which is the cornerstone, and music, which amplifies the value of the words

8. Is writing more similar to music or painting? Let us know your perspective

In principle, all creative actions are attempts to tell a story happening inside you via words, colors, and melodies. When I was a kid, I read that “ writing is a process of painting with words.” This increasingly resonates with my own process of writing. Paintings and pictures can trigger thoughts and be the starting spark of a whole fire inside my soul. This fire produces ashes in the shape of written words. This fire might be the only one that we want to continue forever and we are keen to protect it from firefighters or fire trucks

9. Is writing your only creative way to express yourself? Do you sing, play music, paint, etc.?

I am a one-trick pony. I can only write. I have always been so jealous of those who paint or play music, although I believe we are born with our own toolbox. During our lives, we can take care of those tools, but we can not bring new ones, and even if we try, we will never use them with the effectiveness with which we use our “ innate” tools.

10. If your favorite song had a color, what would it be?

If the piece is Memories of Alhambra, then the colors will be white and green, like the colors of the flag of Andalucia. Green as the garden of hope where I would like to be lost forever, and white like the waves that keep on trying to kiss the lips of the coast all the time.

How to participate

1. Copy and paste this list of questions into an article entitled something starts with Deep Dive into …..
2. Answer all the questions. If you struggle to find only one answer, don’t worry, you can add more.
3. Please tag me — Subhi Najar, the @ symbol then “my name”
4. Publish your article.
5. If you are curious about the answers of a fellow writer who is not on the list, then please tag them.
6. If you found this article by chance and would like to answer the question, please feel free to do so. It will be great to write your article before August 6 ( within 10 days from now).

I am so grateful to all those who consider joining the prompt and those who read, interact with me, or provide me with any feedback.

If you are interested in joining such “deep dives,” please add a comment, and I am more than happy to add you.

Here is the first prompt we had:

Here is the second prompt:

Here is the third Prompt

and the fourth one

and the fifth one

and the sixth one

Deep Dives Highlight Articles

There will be a highlights article that captures some of what you write ( for those who join) and contains links to their articles.

Below, you can find the highlights of our deep dives!!!

and the highlights article about writing on Medium!

and the highlights about definitions

and the fourth one

and the fifth one

and the sixth one

Subhi Najar is an Alchemist of words, Little Prince, Public Speaker, storyteller, content Creator, and war survivor.

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