Another of Kasey Baker's paintings, in response to my piano musings.
Slow Rain made me think of a pen pal romance I had with a woman in Indonesia. We would exchange sweet and verbose letters, and pictures of our vacations. She sent a picture of herself floating up the Mekong river in Van Vieng during the rainy season.
"It's gentler than a drizzle, but more than a mist... is it rain if the droplets feel like they are floating?"
Another of Kasey Baker's paintings, in response to my piano musings.
Secret Treehouse Gang reminded me of some innocents thinking they're sneakier and tougher than they really are. Cute. Kasey had fun with this one. She informed me that there was a secret message on the piece of paper, but that she wouldn't tell me what it was. I guess I'm not part of her gang.
"The meetings are planned by writing messages inside of paper throwing stars. No girls allowed."
Another painting by Kasey Baker, done in response to my piano musings.
Empty Circus Fields just mystifies me. There's this sense of loss but it isn't about grief, because there's that foundation that just silently is - what remains beyond what is transitory. This is part of the small town theme that keeps reappearing in these works. Press the play button to hear it:
"Small town circuses set up in big fields... when they leave, they take everything with them, but the fields remain."
Here is another of Kasey Baker's paintings, done in response to my piano musings.
Rundown Playground is a playful little improv that also struck me as wistful and sad, with a touch of defeat at the end. I explored that a bit more when coming up with the caption. One interesting bit of trivia: Kasey is actually an architect by trade and has designed playgrounds. Press the play button to hear the piece:
"It used to be a nice playground. But the teeter totter's rusty. The swings have broken chains. There's probably broken glass somewhere."
One of the things I love about having a public podcast is that you come across people who respond to the music in creative ways. An artist and I are starting a series of art/music collaborations based off of my piano improvisations. Kasey Baker is an artist and architect based out of Las Vegas, and is similarly interested in reactive and improvisational creativity.
This is her treatment of Insects Crossing Ice, a chaotic and skittering little improv I came up with about nine months ago. You can also hear it by clicking the play button:
It looks like we'll be doing a series of these, and playing around with various ideas of how to package them. She's delivered a few more paintings already, but some are for piano improvs I haven't released yet, so stay tuned.
"Small creepy creatures trying desperately to cross something slick. They flail about, but eventually succeed with pride."
