Music to paint and write by

Now it stands to reason that by indulging in two things that I truly love doing ... painting and writing ... I would start a blog on my miniature hobby. But the underlying glue which holds both together is the music which plays on the background while I am doing either tasks. Music is a very personal thing and individual preferences would vary but for me, the blues genre reigns supreme.

She gets it ... the blues experience

Not to be underestimated, music has the ability to raise our spirits and set the mood thus inspiring us to do good, if not our best work. Just the other day while I was painting, one of my all time favourite blues tune - Etta James's hauntingly beautiful song "At Last" - took its turn on my playlist and actually gave me an emotional boost and helped me through some delicate painting. If you have never heard this tune before, please do yourself a favour and check it out on this YouTube link. It was Etta James's blues-infused rendition of songs that finally dragged my wife into liking this genre.

A song so achingly beautiful that it leaves you emotionally drained

For all you younguns that are wondering why all this fuss about the blues, perhaps you should check out a more contemporary movie starring Beyonce Knowles called Cadillac Records in which she starred as Etta James. I loved the movie which was loaned to me by a friend whose late-father was a huge blues fan. In my opinion, the only music-related movie that surpasses it is the Cameron Crowe-directed Almost Famous.  

If you love the blues, you will like this movie

In future posts, I hope to share with you my love for the blues as I list for you my various playlists which many a times have gotten me through a particularly tedious painting/writing session.

Do share with me your playlists if you have one as I am always open to new music seeing that my musical tastes range from Heavy Metal, Rock, Country, Bluegrass to Jazz (all which have blues at their roots).

I have observed that some hobbyists prefer silence when painting while yet others participate in friendly banter to break up the monotony of having to paint a whole army of miniatures. A few also leave the TV on while painting, of which I am guilty of on occasion much to the missus's exasperation. (Yes dear, I am watching with my ears.)

What do you do while you are hobbying?