Blue Monk

Original art by Todd Goodman, Acrylic Painting on 24"x24" canvas. Prints are available matted on photo paper or framed canvas. Original painting is for sale. 

Thelonious Monk, one of the Godfathers of Bebop Jazz, was the man who brought me to love jazz music. In my mind, it doesn't get any better than Monk. My older brother, who introduced me to all my favorite music, played me Monk when I was 14. As a pretty hyper kid with with an active imagination, I was never good at studying and doing homework, until I started to listen to Thelonious Monk, and then other jazz music. His dynamic playing style was frenetic, which I found to be so fun and funky, not the stiff old people music I had thought jazz music was. I loved his ability to sit in the pocket, to find the perfect accents, ghost notes and back beats, his foot tapping and scraping against the floor with his gravel voice humming and singing in the background of his recordings. Everything about his playing attracted me. And through Monk, I found my other Bebop favorites, like Dizzy, Miles, Roach and Coltrane. 

In the painting, I chose to use the blue tones for his body to represent the bluesy influence and style of his music, he is a true bluesman. For all of his hair, including his beard, I used a heavy sculpting gel to create a 3D textured appearance, which also acts as a visual tool separating the person from the rest of the painting. I chose to paint the background in Earth tones reminiscent of the fall foliage of my youth, and the emotional state I'm often swept into while listening to his music. It always reminds of the perfect soundtrack for strolling down a tree lined path in the fall, with yellow, gold and orange leaves strewn about the ground, and a cold breeze dancing through the air.