Week 1: "Down in the Valley" - Andy Griffith

“Down in the valley, the valley so low. Hang your head over, hear the wind blow.” Hearing the version of “Down in the Valley” by Andy Griffith and Opie-Bachelors, it capture my full attention with the mellow tone that Opie use when singing the song. For me, the songs interpret a person that believes that “Roses love sunshine, violets love dew. Angels in heaven, know I love you,” yet the only thing he believes in is in the love for that person “know I love you.”  But it also makes me think that the person in which he or she is in love with, does not know that they love them. In this song, him or her, are allowed to dream in ways for the hope to be able to see their love one, “Build me a castle, forty feet high. So I can see him, as she rides by.”

Something that also captured my attention from the song were the verses “ Send it in care of, the Birmingham Jail. Birmingham Jail dear, Birmingham Jail.” “Birmingham Jail” came from a open letter written by martin Luther King Jr. I decided to look up what an “open letter” was, and it was intended to be a publish letter of protest or appeal, usually addressed to an individual but intended for the general public to see. Having found this allowed me to understand that he or she were very in love, and probably rejected from their love one. Hoping that the letter would express their feelings.

When I stop listening to the song and started to gather my thoughts to visually represent “Down in the Valley,” I wanted to draw a landscape in order to represent the openness of how he or she demonstrated their  love they had and the hope of being love. The form of whole drawing has the shape of a rose. I use the color violet from “violets” and I try to imitate the roughness and softness that a flower petals have, into hills.

I decided to have the view point of the viewer be as if they where watching a sunset from a location hidden behind trees.  I decided to show a sunset setting behind the two hills to represent the hope that there is something beautiful hidden behind the hills. As if the “Angels in heaven” where hidden behind them. Listening to different versions of “Down in the Valley” allow me to have a different experience. But the one that made me imagine more was the version by Andy Griffith and Opie-Bachelors. It has allowed to wake up my artistic skills and to be challenge in a very different way. I think this class is going to help me grow as an artist. Listening to the songs has been a very different experience also as is something I am not use to listening in my daily life. I feel like I am in a camping setting singing with friends to the songs. I really enjoy and am happy that I was able to be part of this class.