Summer Reads.

Summer Reads.

I had a couple Amazon gift certificates and so I ordered a couple of books that I thought might be fun summer reading. I quickly read It Hurts, by Matthew Collings, and it was a fun, fast, light read. In many ways it was like reading someone’s gossip filled diary. I enjoy Collings, and I’ve read several other books by him, but I’d like him to try something different. Maybe a personal memoir.

I’ve not yet read High Art Lite by Julian Stallabrass, and I’m saving it for a day when I can sit on the deck in the sun. With a beer maybe? What are you reading this summer?

The Soundtrack Of My Day.

I used to listen to music all the time when I painted, but now that I have kids I find I listen to music less. It might have something to do with my enjoying moments of silence more than I used to. Of course silence is now rare and therefore more precious to me.

Abbey Road.

London Calling.

Kind of Blue.

The Convincer.

This week I’m going to try and get back to listening to music while I work and I’d like you to help me pick an album to listen to tomorrow. Please vote for the album of your choice.

A List Of Artists I’ve Never Heard Of.

Panorama.

I’ve been reading the Gerhard Richter exhibition catalog Panorama, and I’ve been enjoying it, and finding it very informative. As I’ve been reading the catalog I keep coming across names of many artists and curators with whom I’m unfamiliar. Maybe it’s because most are German or mainland European artists, and my main interest is North American and United Kingdom artists. Here is a list of some of the names with links to information about their work. How many of these artists are you familiar with?

Martin Barre. Thomas Bayrle. Rene Block. Mel Bochner. Benjamin Buchloh. Vija Celmins. Alan Charlton. Stephen Ellis. Konrad Fischer. Heiner Friedrich. Bernard Frize. Raymond Hains. Jorg Immendorf. Konrad Klapheck. Alexander Kluge. Jonathan Lasker. Konrad Lueg. Martial Raysse. David Reed. Zdenek Sykora. Gunther Uecker. James Welling. Zero Artists.

Gala Opening and Book Launch

Invitation to the book launch for Elaine Harrison: I am an island that dreams.

The gala opening at the Confederation Centre on Saturday night at 7:00 will also be the book launch for a book of paintings and poetry by the late PEI artist Elaine Harrison. My wife Jane wrote an essay about Elaine’s writing for the book and chose the poems to include. The book is published by the Confederation Centre Art Gallery and the Acorn Press. We can’t wait to see it, and to see the exhibition at the Art Gallery. There was never a retrospective this big of Elaine’s work in her lifetime.

Elaine Harrison is a painter that more of Canada should know about. She was always an inspiration to me with her strong, bright colours and dedication to painting what she imagined.

My top twenty albums to paint to.

If I had to pick twenty albums to paint to I’d probably go with this very random assortment of music. All of these albums have been in heavy rotation as I’ve painted over the years. What music do you like to listen to as you paint?

Arcade Fire Neon Bible.

Louis Armstrong plays W.C.Handy

The Beatles Abbey Road.

Cowboy Junkies The Trinity Sessions.

Elvis Costello King of America.

Miles Davis Kind of Blue.

Miles Davis ‘Round About Midnight.

The Clash London Calling.

Billy Bragg Talking with the tax man about poetry.

Leonard Cohen Live in London.

Jenn Grant Echoes

Nick Lowe The Convincer

Bruce Springsteen Nebraska.

Squeeze Singles 45’s and under.

Stan Rogers Home in Halifax.

The Royal Tenenbaums

The White Stripes Icky Thump

Fiona Apple Extraordinary Machine

U2 All That You Can’t Leave Behind

Feist Let It Die