patti smith

I was overwhelmed when Jono appeared with two tickets to see Patti Smith in the Millennium Galleries , Sheffield. After a glass of wine at the legendary Frog and Parrot with the Good Lord we made our way to the gig. Patti read from "Just Kids" and sang songs accompanied by her piano player and guitarist Tony Shanahan. Apart from her performance which was truly magical, the readings punctuated with stories and anecdotes, the songs delivered with the passion and verve you might expect from such a figure of such magnitude, the most impressive and moving thing was the grace, gentleness and strength of a lady who has seen much and yet seemed egoless. Here was a woman of obvious power , experience and life who had lost non of her desire for life such was/is her presence. And the voice- rich and gentle yet strong and full of depth. She was happy to please the masses with "because the night" yet still able to deliver a prophetic "redondo beach". Patti Smith - poet, musician and painter. INSPIRATION. Please read her book, listen to her albums (I love "Radio Baghdad" on "Trampin") and beg ,steal ,borrow or even buy the dvd "dream of life". I dare you not to believe!

latest playlist and reading

albums: brian eno "discreet music"

stone breath "the silver skien unwound"

the silver mountzion "kollaps tradixionals"

the violet may white label tracks

jeff johnson "frio suite"

can 'tago mago"

these monsters "call me dragon"

sian alice group "59"

patti smith 'trampin"

reading Robert Bolano "Nazi Literature in the Americas"

Karin v. Maur "The Sound of Painting..music in modern art'

Maur's book on paintng,music and modern art is a wonderful work-the book comes to me at the perfect time as I am in this period of musically influenced work. What is pleasing is that the book justifies and voices my "spiritual intuition"and is given to me at this time not at the beginning of the period. Had I read the book earlier everything would have been colored .At least I know the "Keefagonals"and "Another Green World" series are pure! I have been struggling to explain in tangible terms how these works have emerged, now there is flesh for the bones! Georges Braque says 'when the mystery is absent,poetry is absent too- the quality I value above all others in art" Amen. How about a chapter entitled "The Chromatics of Light and the Rhythm of the Cosmos". dig that brothers and sisters !

a moment to savour...

A nasty stomach virus confined me to my bed last weekend . Its strange how things happen. I was able to re enact Brian Eno's discovery of ambient music as described in a posting on here and also on the back cover of his album "discreet music". I am also laid in bed . I can hear pouring rain descending on my garden through the open window. Our local resident house sparrows are chattering away in the branches of the silver birch trees. Grey clouds meander across the sky.My music system is playing "Kurtagonals" at low volume. I just lay still in quiet contemplation and let the whole scenario paint a picture for me.

its been cold,ive been busy..

Four week...busy,busy.John and Maarit visited from Finland. We finalised the details for the exhibition. It is officially called "LOW HORIZONS". The paintings will be hung in three sections 1) "keefagonals", 2) low horizons and 3) in the centre room "on some faraway beach" with john's pottery alongside.

My main work now is to choose the right work to exhibit and to prepare my biography and catalog in a book for the gallery. Its getting exciting. Two large works are just about finished. When I moved them from the "studio" (I paint on the floor) to a wall I was pleasantly suprised!

Last night I finished reading Patti Smith's "just kids". It is a wonderful, sad yet inspirational book.

Sue and walked to the "Nine Ladies"in a snowstorm. Awesome. Complete justification for the White Peak Storm paintings!

Today I wandered into the framers with 5 pieces, a pair of pastel landscapes, a pair- of "shivas dance"( painted (?) after a bottle of whisky and "birds of fire" by Mahavishnu Orchestra and " A Love Supreme" at high volume and a rather atmospheric addition the the " Storm " series.

Sunday Morning. I wake early and read about Patti Smith meeting Jimi Hendrix before his death in her new book " Just Kids". Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi ? Shamen of the 60's! I remember reading my poem "Jim Morrison's Grave" over improvisation by Jono's fi
rst band "The Trip" years ago! I wonder if I still have a copy? Sleepily I pull on my old paint stained jeans and boots and wander downstairs to dig out "Electric Ladyland". I pass the painting I had been working on. Some one had said "your problem is you dont paint proper pictures " so I had a go . I did a fair job on a landscape in oil. After 2 weeks I looked again. Without stopping to think I stuck on "Love Supreme" (Coltrane) and just let it happen. Now thats better , jazz, whisky and freedom of expression.

Well, I had forgotton how incredible Hendrix was. Roxanne seems to like it . Sue presents me with eggs and bacon, Jimi reminds me he's a "voodoo child".

Sunday Morning..... I grab my old coat and walk to work .The Bookshop is warm and welcoming we are old friends .I choose some Keith Jarret , light a candle and some insence, say a prayer ,make some coffee.......

stirrings...

Saturday...I work for a while and then get home. The sun is making a show for the first time in about a month and there is blue sky. Time to get out the bike . The air is crisp, as i finally make it to my favourite place.Im out of breath. No exercise while the snow has been deep. That much snow is a rare thing here these days! The woods are alive ! Birds are singing. Breath ,breath deep. The sun has just enough warmth to touch the skin. The trees feel as though they sense something in the atmosphere. It is magical. The snow has melted revealing a carpet of leaves from Autumn. Its a gift to just sit and enjoy the silence.

Thomas Moore writes " Trees provide a rudimentary lesson in enchantment....We can sit on a tree's limb,rest against its trunk, enjoy it's fruit and nuts, sit under its shade and watch it dance in the wind. There are moments in everyones life when a tree....would be the most effective therapy" ( Re-enchantment of Everyday Life".

A beech tree still has some of last years foliage clinging on the the branches..they rustle in the breeze and welcome me as I lean against the trunk .I sense the roots deep in the earth and gaze upwards at the branches as they reach for the sky. Is that a sense of my own mortality gently nudging my psyche......