If You Need Some New Music for Painting Try Songza

'Fresh as a Daisy'          5x7      pastel     ©Karen Margulis 

I am back from Chicago full of inspiration and ideas.  I visited many of the green spaces and botanical gardens and have a lot of new painting reference materials.  But I also discovered some new resources thanks to my son. One of my favorite discoveries is the music site called Songza.
  
I love painting to music. ( I listen to a lot of talk radio when I am in the studio too)  I often choose my music based upon the mood or feeling I wish to capture in the painting. I love to listen to Native American flute music when painting Southwestern landscapes for example. I usually turn to Pandora for a changing mix of music. But I am really enjoying Songza for it's fun and simple layout that allows you to try new music to fit your mood.

What is Songza?  Here is a quote from the website "Songza is a music startup based in New York City. Our team is composed of music experts, software engineers, and absurdly talented dancers. Our goal in life is to play you the right music at the right time."

•  It is available online so you can listen on your home computer or as an app. I have the app on my ipad and have Songza bookmarked on my studio pc which has great speakers. 
•  I love the Concierge feature of Songza. It changes throughout the day and offers music playlists that fit the time of day. For example as I write this post the Music Concierge offers me a choice of music to give me a boost, office crowd pleasers, taking the day off and Summertime. If I click on Summertime I am offered 5 more choices for playlists that reflect different moods such as 'relaxing in the shade' 'summer in the 90's'.  
• You can also explore music by categories. My favorite is to browse by activity. How about some music for hanging out in a cool hotel or cruising in a city? 
• The choices are fun and you are bound to discover some new music to paint along to! Best of all it is free and commercial free!

I am still exploring Songza and I plan to save the playlists that I really like for painting and for classes but I wanted to share my discovery with you!  Visit the website www.songza.com.  Read a more detailed review of Songza by Cnet  HERE


Today's painting is a plein air pastel with a watercolor underpainting. I love the coolness of the background. Perfect for this hot summer day! Available in my Etsy shop $50