Jeff

I've seen Jeff play a few times now (Moth's seen him a lot) so it was quite interesting to see what he would play next, who might join him on stage. The first of Jeff's guests was Sharon Corr of The Corrs, who I'm told, were quite a successful Irish folk pop band.

The contrasting sound of Sharon's violin and Jeff's guitar was delightful and they really set each other off.

Next to join Jeff was soul and R&B vocalist Joss Stone.

I have some new greetings cards in the shop of my recent paintings The Wallace Line and Life on Planet Three. Cards are blank, measure 126mm x126mm, come with envelopes and cost cost £7 plus £1 for P&P for 6 cards (3 cards of each design).

Today I went to see The Real Van Gogh: the Artist and his Letters exhibition at the Royal Academy in London and OH MY GOD, it was absolutely incredible. I got some real surprises and met some old familiar friends.

There are 65 paintings, 40 drawings and 40 letters on show. The letters are so fragile they rarely if ever get exhibited.

Most people are familiar with one or two of Vincent's works; the sunflowers or the starry nights, perhaps. But for many people, when they see a van Gogh for real for the first time they are knocked out by the vibrant colour. I know I do. How can colour be so bright?! But Vincent gets me with a second punch to the jaw I every time when I consider his drawing. For me, to even attempt to paint without getting the drawing right is a mistake. Vincent knew this – indeed I learned it from him. So to see so many of his acutely observed drawings, some accompanied by the painting that they refer to, was extremely revealing. The spontaneity, the sheer force of line, the accuracy, the expression… what a draftsman! I could bang on for thousands of words about it, but instead have a butcher's at this:

It’s Road with Pollarded Willows (F1678, JH46) drawn in 1881 in Etten. I spent AGES looking at it. This has everything in it that a good prog rock song should have: contrast, rhythm, tone, narrative, simplicity, skill, all ultimately leading to a wholesome and satisfying beauty. I love the cottages on the far right hand side with their red roofs. Like the ting of a triangle in a Steely Dan tune.

Later, in Arles, Vincent would take to using a reed pen, making m ..]]> http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/index.php?id=572 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:00:16 +0000 Vincent van Gogh http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/index.php?id=572#cmt I made a new short film about artist Paul Gauguin in Brittany. He returned to Brittany many times to paint, to see fellow-painters and to enjoy (what was then) a savage, remote part of France. Many of the places he lived and worked still exist. We visited Le Pouldu and Pont Aven last October.

Here's what The Guardian says about the exhibition and here's what The Times says.

In other artist's monographs we get someone else's point of view about an artist. But in these new volumes we meet Vincent expressing himself, unabridged, as if under an electron-microscope. For me, the greatest joy about these books is that when Vincent mentions a painting or drawing he has been working on, it is illustrated alongside the text. As are the many sketches he included in his correspondence. So we can see immediately what he's talking about, the better to understand his thinking.

The volumes are not cheap; but what price such time-consuming, painstaking scholarship? What price a lifetime of fascinating insight? We can learn as much about what it is to be human from Van Gogh's letters as we can from Shakespeare or Dickens, two writers Vincent himself admired.

The letters show Vincent to be far from the ear-slicing loony of popular imagination. They show a sincere, eloquent and troubled soul seeking with grim determination to teach himself to be an artist of some worth ..]]> http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/index.php?id=569 Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:11:16 +0000 Vincent van Gogh http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/index.php?id=569#cmt I wanted to combine some of the ideas and motifs I had so enjoyed making in my recent works "Life on Planet Three" and "The Wallace Line" into something simpler and less complex, but no less colourful or joyful. The result is this, the Living Planet:

The picture features these creatures: a brown hare; a black-browed barbet; a whale shark; a manta ray; a humpback whale; emperor penguins; a sea lion; a hummingbird; a tree frog; a clownfish; a monarch butterfly; a lion; a royal albatross and a dusky dolphin. This drypoint tinted with watercolour measures 360mm x360mm, and I have a limited edition of five original hand-made images costing £100 unframed and £130 framed.

This morning nearly eight inches of snow lay on the ground.

I haven’t seen snow where I live so deep since the winter of 1981. I went for a quick potter round the village. The roads hadn’t been treated and there were no buses:

My favourite shop in the world was open for business:

The snow had settled very picturesquely on the church tower and porch:

I trudged down towards to the tollbridge to see if any traffic was getting through anywhere. But judging by the tracks, only a few cars had braved the elements:

Down by the Thames, the snow lay deep on the branches making everything look like a Japanese print by Hokusai:
Rebecca van der Putt died aged 38, another victim of cancer. Sister of Debs, daughter of Mavis, wife of 'the arresting' Kate, oh-my-godmother to Rupert and much loved friend to just about everyone in my family, we all still miss her. If you knew her you were so very lucky.

There's not much she liked more than a nice cup of tea and a chat. Except perhaps real ale. Cheers, girl!

Readers of a certain age will remember it fondly, and if you're not of that certain age you may just remember the title sequence: majestic tall ships in full sail, cutting their way through the seas to the sound of Khachaturian's Adagio from 'Spartacus'. Here's a little clip to remind you: