Wildflower Sunset on the Hill Beyond the Hill (2019)

for Alto Saxophone

When I first experienced and heard about the creation of Amistad América, the thing that I gravitated toward was the use of color, and specifically the relationship that these colors had within the natural environment of central Texas. In my other creative life as a photographer, trying to capture the rich colors in our local environment is one of my passions, specifically in reference to both sunsets and wildflowers. That sort of connection is what I was trying to elicit in “Wildflower Sunset on the Hill Beyond the Hill.”

Often, painting is seen as a flat medium, but being up close to this work shows the overlapping layers created by José Parlá. In the same way, I tried to take a single instrument and develop multiple layers and colors to interact and overlap in ever changing ways, hoping to connect both to the creative process and result in Amistad América, but also to my initial emotional connection to the work itself.