Today’s blog post, in part, is meant to be a tip-of-the-hat to songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist, Leonard Cohen. I only discovered Leonard Cohen later in life, and it’s just recently that I have spent time listening to many of his albums. Now, I can’t say that I really know anything specific about Leonard Cohen, as I haven’t taken the time to dig deep and see who and what he was about. Perhaps the media has written about him over the years, and that may help to understand him, but if I am honest, I never do this kind of thing, and if I did, I wouldn’t put too much stock in what they say. I guess to really get to know somebody one would have to ask their children, if they have any, or their wife or ex wives what they were like. All that said, I can’t remember the last time I dug into the personal life of any singer, writer, or actor – I just like to enjoy the fruits of their artistic labors, without any of the baggage.
As a side note, I remember one time hearing that you should never meet your heroes. I’m not saying that Leonard Cohen is my hero or anything like that, but the gist of this pearl of wisdom is that you will always be disappointed when you meet them because they will never match the preconceived notions you might have of them, especially if you have turned them into an idol or a hero. After all, we’re all human – we all have our defects of character – we all have our baggage. And of course, we all have our gifts – the good bits!
As I mentioned, I have recently been spending time listening to Leonard Cohen’s music. I appreciate his extremely moving poetry set to music that is often hauntingly beautiful.
Although I don’t want to dig into Leonard Cohen’s life, I did want mention that I know he was born in Canada, somewhere in Quebec, which is kind of sweet for me, when you think about this as a cultural thing. I am sure it is the same for every country, but when we can say that someone famous is from our country it makes us feel a sense of pride, thinking that our country helped produce this talent. …And then they move to the United States. LOL!
The story continues….
I am listening to Leonard Cohen as I write this blog post.
It was September 9th when I began a new painting, starting as always, unsure where it would lead. Leonard Cohen was playing in my headphones – Suzanne, Sisters of Mercy, So Long Marianne, and many others. I laid down a rustic scratchy background and blended in an abstract bluish painting. I added a photo I took at one time of a stone texture and blended it in with the help of the paint program’s tools. As the screen came to life with what I had created thus far, I was somehow reminded of a wall of photos in an abstract way. It felt to me like pictures of home. To add to the theme, I inserted and blended in a pencil drawing of an old barn that I had produced years ago. I added the text, “Pictures from Home” to enhance the piece.
While this was happening, all the while listening to Leonard Cohen’s music, I thought how nice it would be to be able to write a poem about this piece that would do him proud.
Pictures From Home – Created by Don Cheke
It was at this point that I decided to upload my image to CoPilot and elaborate on what I was up to. Although some of this will be repetitive, below is what I asked.
Don:
Here is a challenge for you…. This latest abstract painting of mine has an abstract background with a photo of some stonework superimposed, along with a pencil drawing of a worn barn. After some blending and whatnot, I thought it looked like a patchwork of photos (nothing obvious though). It made me think of the phrase “pictures from home.” While creating this piece I was listening to some Leonard Cohen music. I was wondering if you could come up with an original poem that gives a tip-of-the-hat to Leonard Cohen, in the same style as much of his music. I was thinking I might superimpose the lyrics onto the painting. What do you think?
Copilot popped off this poem in a split second.
I found your face in the mortar lines,
a whisper carved in stone.
The barn still leans where silence grew,
and the fields have overgrown.
The pencil knew what time forgot,
each crack, each faded beam—
a chapel built from memory,
and prayers that lost their theme.
The radio hummed a minor key,
your voice behind the rain.
I stitched your name in shadow threads
and wore it like a stain.
The saints are drunk on yesterday,
the sinners sleep alone.
But I still keep your photograph
among the pictures from home.
It just blew my mind how fast CoPilot was. I thought, well, it must be preparing something as I’m writing what I’m going to ask it, which typically includes a whole history of what I’ve been up to. So, maybe by the time I got into the last sentence or the last few words, it already knew what I wanted and had it prepared. Nonetheless, the split second when it popped up, I thought, oh my God, I wish I could do that. I don’t seem to have much talent in the realm of poetry but I sure wish that I could have come up with a poem for this painting, based on the style of Leonard Cohen.
I had a struggle in my mind whether or not to show the poem Copilot produced, as it is not my work, but I suppose with you knowing without a shadow of a doubt that this came from there, it might be okay to share it. I really like the poem, so I just felt the need to add it. In the end, I liked the look of the piece with the added poem – it reminds me of a record album cover, or the liner notes you would find inside a record album. I handwrote the poem for art’s sake.
Pictures From Home with Poem – Created by Don Cheke
Now, give that a read and a look while listening to Leonard Cohen and see if you get that vibe. 👍😊
Let’s look now at some other recent art and see how it came to be and what it means to me.
The piece below started out as a funky watercolor starburst with thick textured oil paint piled on top in an interesting manner. I had a working title – A Step Too Far – as I progressed, but it just wasn’t giving me anything in reply. I did like how it had this radial lighting effect that you can see hinted at in the image below. It was at this point that I scrapped all layers except for the four-spoke radial lighting and I began again. As I progressed, the idea of a long-play vinyl record started to percolate in my mind and I began to add elements that hinted at that. The more I progressed the more I added to that theme, while maintaining a somewhat abstract look, as seen with the color palette. I played with adding a variety of backgrounds and settled on the one below as it matched the record quite nicely, in my opinion. As all records need a label, I decided to create one in my photo-editing software. I superimposed a photo of my “The Thinker” wire sculpture, and I distressed the label. On the Record, I chose for the title with only the passing thought that it was/is wordplay for the object it was referring to. I brought the piece back into my painting program and subtly tweaked the record a bit more. I decided to add the hand-written word “Forever,” thinking that everything we post online – on personal websites, in social media – is a record of us, and is forever, as we are learning.
On the Record – Early Concept – Created by Don Cheke
Although I liked the final result seen above, it was not abstract enough for my current tastes. As such, I found a backup copy of my original starburst and popped it over the record image and blended it in to get the results below. That, as it turned out, is more like I had hoped for – without knowing where I was headed when I started out on this art session. What do you read, or hear, from this piece?
On the Record – Created by Don Cheke
Transfiguration – Created by Don Cheke
It seemed only natural to continue/finish this series with a music theme, so I set forth to create a piece that would show how we humans are moved by music.
I think that music is one of the truly artistic things that can move all people in one way or another. I think that music, above all else, is a language common to all people throughout history, throughout time. How one explains that in a piece of art, such as a painting, seems impossible, but try one must. Although my piece, seen here, seems wholly inadequate, I hoped that it would have that essence. I am calling this piece Transfiguration, because music has that unique ability to make holy or sacred, the experience we have while listening to those pieces that move us so.
Can you feel the spiritual pulse of the piece, like the music is radiating outward and inward at once – the listener is both receiving and becoming part of the music? I hope that you can.
Does music play a major role in your life? Let me know in the comments how that is – I’d love to hear.
Donald B. Cheke – September 29, 2025