Whether crafted in stone ...

... or painted on canvas, the artwork of Donald Langosy is luminous.

In each creation a story is embedded, some simple and some epic. Below in his own words is how music influences his art.

First, how would you describe your visual art?

.....that's difficult for me to answer because i compose for different reasons... i am a figurative realist painter but i also approach my work as a romanticist who feels no responsibility to time..... possibly, the easiest description would be to call my art: 'baroque...perhaps'......

Does music ever influence your creative process? If so, what are some of your earliest or most poignant memories of music shaping your work?

..... i prefer to work in silence..... music is too captivating and dominates one's mood..... yet when i was young i often painted with music enveloping my studio space......Vivaldi....Franz Liszt...Charles Ives......always Beethoven.....but there is one piece of music that lingers to this day...that wanders like an apparition among my stacks of paintings....when i first heard it i was overwhelmed with marvelous and sensual images.....the one that has lingered for almost forty years now is of a lovely young woman riding a bicycle by the seashore on a summer's day.......this music was "Pahjola's Daughter, Op.49' by Sibelius....... i have tried over and over to paint the emotions i feel from this musical composition...and have repeatedly failed......

What role does music play today?

.......occasionally i will play music in my studio......but usually only as i reflect on a painting or merely relax by the window........the last time (over ten years ago) music played a role in my studio was when i had just moved back to the city after living in a suburban environment..... my studio was shrunk down to a room which was more storage than a creative space.....i would squeeze into this crowded room....a small easel set up just inside the door....my paintings had dwindled to miniature size.....bordering on being postage stamp scale...... and i would play highlights from legendary operas...full blast..... the power of these remarkable voices transformed my small space into a palatial room.....

....the power of these remarkable voices transformed my small space into a palatial room.....

If people want to view more of your work, what are the key venues or websites for them to visit?

... my paintings can be viewed at http://www.langosy.com

....also, i just began a tumblr site called ''Inside Pop's Brain' ..... ( http://langosy.tumblr.com/archive ) ...which is an archive of the beings who roam merrily inside my skull and inspire my paintings.... but unlike in my paintings where they are always challenging me with a quandary of seemingly unanswerable questions....(like: 'what is the essence of a moment' or how does one 'make a painting move'?)..... uploaded into my archive allows one to visit with them before they have manifested allegorically in my paintings....

After the initial response to the interview questions, Mr. Langosy shared this recent note:

Cynthia ....today i find myself turning on the sountrack to Fellini's movie 'Casanova'.....Nino Rota was the composer of most of Fellini's movie music scores....Rota was also one of italy's major opera composers...his music for Fellini is quite distinct...and the 'Casanova' soundtrack is very classical and operatic.......i suppose when i do play music while i work, it is by Rota ..... soon i'll probably journey back to silence....