I’ve been painting. Lots of it. A house of it. And it’s not done.

But I have determined what music works best with painting — that’s always critical.

Topping the list, without a doubt, was Bach’s Mass in B-minor. Bach just exudes linear symmetry and exactness — just what you need when painting.

Next: Grateful Dead’s classic American Beauty. It’s a great travel album, and maybe that has something to do with it — traveling from one corner of the room to another and back again, from one room to another and back again, from one end of the house and back again … there’s a lot of walking to painting.

For jazz, Coltrane’s A Love Supreme seemed like a good choice, but it was too intellectual (read: tiring) when painting. I found Ellington’s Piano in the Foreground to be about perfect: not too stimulating, but not overly mellow.

Bad choices:

  • Mahler’s second — I love it, but I swear, too manic-depressive for work.
  • Beck’s Mellow Gold — like Love Supreme it’s too busy. Odelay was better, but not much.
  • Springsteen’s Ghost of Tom Joad — holy cow! You can’t be depressed while painting!

In the end, silence was actually fairly acceptable.