First thing tomorrow morning, I'm off to Ayrshire to stay with my daughter for a few days. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with her AND I think we may be going over to the Isle of Aaron for the day.
So.....a little music and art before I go because I'll not be posting any thing over the weekend. 
Music by Simply Red and paintings by James Jacques Joseph
This Sunday I’m reminiscing about the 60’s, I think it must be the weather, lovely hot sunny days make me think of long ago. This is not my usual ‘Art Sunday’ post, its more like a trip down memory lane and a look at the iconic fashion, music and art from the 60’s.
The picture above is Carnaby Street in the 1960’s
First a couple of iconic paintings by David Hockney; ‘The bigger Splash’ painted in 1960, and ‘Peter getting out of Nicks Pool;, painted 1966.
Bernard Safran
Study of John F. Kennedy
pencil on onionskin paper
From 1957 to 1966 Safran was a member of the influential group of Time magazine cover artists known internally as "the stable", which included Boris Artzybasheff, Boris Chaliapin, and Robert Vickrey.
During this period he painted over seventy-three cover portraits of leading celebrities and newsmakers. Thirty-six of the original paintings are now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution's The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Many of the remaining cover portraits were presented to the famous individuals depicted.
Safran painted members of the Kennedy family on several occasions during the 1960s. This was probably a preparatory drawing for his July 11th 1960 TIME portrait of the Kennedy family.
Francoise Hardy,
French singer songwriter grew up in Paris with her younger sister Michèle. Her father bought her a guitar for her birthday as a reward for passing her baccalauréat. After a year at the Sorbonne she answered a newspaper advertisement looking for young singers. Hardy signed her first contract with the record label Vogue in November 1961. In April 1962, shortly after she left university, her first record "Oh Oh Chéri" appeared, written by Johnny Hallyday's writing duo. Her own flip side of the record, "Tous les garçons et les filles" became a success, riding the wave of Yé-yé music in France. It sold over a million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The track peaked at 36 in the UK Singles Chart in 1964. She first appeared on television in 1962 during an interlude in a programme reporting the results of a presidential referendum.
Hardy sings in French, English, Italian, Spanish and German, and has one interpretation in Portuguese. In 1963 she came fifth for Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest with "L'amour s'en va". In 1963, she was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque of the Académie Charles Cros.
Vidal Sassoon,
CBE (17 January 1928 – 9 May 2012) was a British hairdresser, credited with creating a simple geometric, "Bauhaus-inspired" hair style, also called the wedge bob. Due to the popularity of his styles, he was described as "a rock star, an artist, a craftsman who 'changed the world with a pair of scissors. Sassoon trained under Raymond Bessone, in his salon in Mayfair. Sassoon stated that "he really taught me how to cut hair...I'd never have achieved what I have without him."Sassoon opened his first salon in 1954 in London. Sassoon stated his intentions in designing new, more efficient, hair styles: "If I was going to be in hairdressing, I wanted to change things. I wanted to eliminate the superfluous and get down to the basic angles of cut and shape.Sassoon's works include the geometric perm and the "Nancy Kwan" hairstyles. They were all modern and low-maintenance. The hairstyles created by Sassoon relied on dark, straight, and shiny hair cut into geometric yet organic shapes. In 1963, Sassoon created a short, angular hairstyle cut on a horizontal plane that was the recreation of the classic "bob cut." His geometric haircuts seemed to be severely cut, but were entirely lacquer-free, relying on the natural shine of the hair for effect.
Lesley Hornby widely known by the nickname Twiggy,
is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early 1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree.
Twiggy was initially known for her androgynous looks, large eyes, long eyelashes, thin build and short hair. In 1966, she was named "The Face of 1966" by the Daily Express and voted British Woman of the Year. By 1967, Twiggy had modelled in France, Japan, and the U.S., and landed on the covers of Vogue and The Tatler. Her fame had spread worldwide.
After modelling, Twiggy went on to enjoy a successful career as a screen, stage and television actress. She has hosted her own series, Twiggy's People, in which she interviewed celebrities, and also appeared as a judge on the reality show America's Next Top Model.
Mary Quant, OBE, FCSD (born 11 February 1934) is a Welsh fashion designer and British fashion icon, who was instrumental in the mod fashion movement.
She was one of the designers who took credit for inventing the miniskirt and hot pants. Born in Blackheath, London, to Welsh parents, Quant brought fun and fantasy to fashion in the 1960s. As creator of the mini skirt and hot pants, she showed a generation how to dress to please themselves. Her instant success made traditionally cautious designers change their attitudes and make their designs appeal to the newly important youth market.
The 1960s were the right time for Quant. The decade was characterized by the rise of youth culture in Britain. Young people of all classes had independence, employment and disposable incomes. Style and image were everything, visible on television, purchasable in shops, available to all. 1960s' role models were pop singers, models, sporting figures, television stars. If the 1960s was the right time, "Swinging London" was the right place. Pop culture influenced what people wore as well as what they listened to.
Jean Shrimpton was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and brought up on a farm, She was educated at St Bernard's Convent, Slough and then enrolled at Langham Secretarial College in London when she was 17. In 1960, aged 17, she began modelling, appearing on the covers of popular magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Vanity Fair. During her career, Shrimpton was widely reported to be the "world's highest paid model", the "most famous model", and the "most photographed in the world". She was also described as having the "world's most beautiful face". She was dubbed "The It Girl", "The Face", "The Face of the Moment", and "The Face of the '60s". Glamour named her "Model of The Year" in June 1963. She contrasted with the aristocratic-looking models of the 1950s by representing the coltish, gamine look of the youthquake movement in 1960s Swinging London, and she was reported as "the symbol of Swinging London." By breaking the popular mould of voluptuous figures with her long legs and slim figure, she was nicknamed "The Shrimp". Shrimpton was also known for her long hair with a fringe, wide doe-eyes, long wispy eyelashes, arched brows, and pouty lips.
Shrimpton also helped launch the miniskirt. In 1965, Shrimpton caused a sensation in Melbourne, Australia, when she arrived for the Victoria Derby wearing a white shift dress designed by Colin Rolfe which ended 10 cm (3.9 in) above her knees. She wore no hat, stockings or gloves and wore a man's watch, which was unusual at the time. Shrimpton was unaware she would cause such reaction in the Melbourne community and media.
Sharon Marie Tate (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Valley of the Dolls (1967). She also appeared regularly in fashion magazines as a model and cover girl.
Married to film director Roman Polanski in 1968, Tate was eight and a half months pregnant when she was murdered in her home, along with four others, by followers of Charles Manson.
Patricia Anne "Pattie" Boyd (born 17 March 1944) is an English model, photographer and author. She began her fashion career in 1962, and worked in London, New York, and Paris, modelling in London, New York, and Paris (for Mary Quant and others), and was photographed by David Bailey, and Terence Donovan. She appeared on the cover of Vogue and wrote for 16 Magazine.
She is the former wife of musicians George Harrison and Eric Clapton, and claims that she was the inspiration for songs written by both musicians: Harrison's "Something", "I Need You", "For You Blue" and "Isn't It a Pity", and Clapton's "Layla", "Wonderful Tonight" and "Bell Bottom Blues".
These two album covers are forever linked in my mind with the 1960’s.
It’s a beautiful day’, and Love forever Changes’.
Love forever changes. The full album
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1L11Y0I5E0
Hot summers day from it’s a beautiful day
THIS N THAT
And suddenly its summer, long may it last.
This week it’s been hot, dry and sunny. Utterly frustrating having to go to work when the weather is so good and there is so much to do. Every day I wake up and think, ‘this time next year I’ll be free from work forever’. These 6 weeks, last two in May and the whole of June are often the best here in Scotland, last year when school finished at the end of June, so did summer. I’m hoping the same doesn’t happen again this year, and then I remind myself, if it does, it will be the last time it effects me because next year……..I’ll not be working at all after March.
Now that I have a venue to show my work I realise how unmotivated and disorganised I’ve been in the past. I have so many bits of drawings and paintings that are unfinished, none of my drawings are mounted, my system is, fill up a sketch book, throw it in a draw and forget it, start a new one. Now I’ve become selective, framing is far too expensive but the local man who has a shop in the high street only charges £6.00 to mount drawings and wrap them in clear plastic. That makes them clean, tidy and presentable enough to show without putting the sale price too high. I’ve left 6 of what I thought were my better drawings with him to mount. I have THREE unfinished paintings on canvas that I’m rushing to complete within the next couple of weeks. When using canvas to paint I paint all the way round the sides in a neutral colour and that way, they don’t need expensive frames.
I was asked to get together some information about myself and present in a way that can be left in the coffee shop for people to look at. I ended up doing a potted history with pictures saying how; while I loved Art all the way through school and Art College, once out of college and into the big world of grown up life; jobs , bills, kids etc, seemed to get in the way of art and I virtually gave it up. That is until about 5 years ago when I found myself living alone, no dependents and the freedom to do exactly what I wanted to do, and promptly took myself back to art classes. While writing all this out, I realised how little I have left of those days at college, I found a picture of me in the studio at college age about 19,
and a couple of pictures, both now lost, that I painted at college.
Its very weird looking at them now, a whole lifetime has passed and it’s as if I’ve gone full circle.
Am I alone I wonder, in feeling that I don’t quite fit anywhere anymore? I remember a similar feeling as a teenager, neither a child nor an adult, a sort of in-between, one day one thing the next day another. That’s the way I feel now; too old to be going out, drinking and clubbing with work colleagues in their 30’s & 40’s, way, way too old….. I’ve neither the inclination nor the stamina, but no where near old enough to be hanging about with the over 60’s (which I now am) who seem to moan about every thing and anything at every opportunity. The more people I get to know of my own age, the less I like them; on the whole they seem a pretty right wing reactionary lot, the ones I’ve met come across as far older than me in general, while only a year or so older in actual age. It’s all very confusing. Much as I love my afternoon ‘leisure art class’, its full of people in their 60’s and 70’s who seem so ‘old’ in attitude, I sometimes feel I have more in common with the young full time students than I do with my fellow classmates.
The countryside is full of yellow rapeseed at the moment, a terrible thing if you have hay fever, but a painters dream. I’ve been busy taking photographs and once I’ve organised myself for the coffee shop, (I’m meeting the manager with my work on the 9th) my first new project will be these beautiful yellow fields.
Being Saturday, I’m not at work, and its one of the hottest days so far. I’ve spent the morning in the garden, there was quite a lot to do, I even had to get the hose pipe out for the first time last night and despite the soaking I gave it then, every thing is bone dry this morning.
The garden is a great place to be right now, the birds are singing and splashing in the pond, the last of the bluebells are still waving around in the periwinkle and the pink London’s Pride is in full bloom.
I still think I’ve lost a lot of the veg I planted due to the wind, frost and torrential rain, but what is left is looking good.
And now……………………..back to the business of painting, I’m working on finishing a portrait and a landscape this afternoon.
Have a great Saturday and enjoy the sunshine while you can.......
The two paintings from my college days... just for Nemo
Garden 2012 no 10
Well that was fun, the sun stayed out all day and only now, at 9pm is it beginning to get cold.
My task for the afternoon was to dig out all the daffodil bulbs and periwinkle from a section behind the pond and turn it into a small vegetable patch. This is how it looked a few months ago when the daffodils were in bloom
and this is how it looks now. It has a few peas and a few leeks planted in rows.
Before I started it was far more overgrown with periwinkle than the picture shows, and even though it’s a tiny piece of garden it took me most of the day to clear it of bulbs, periwinkle, roots and general debris, and that was before I started the actual digging. I salvaged one bucket of periwinkle which is now on its way to my daughters garden
and more bulbs than I could count to be replanted in my garden.
Replanting them is one of the next tasks on the list.
I encouraged the bit behind the pond to go wild and do its own thing, I like the wilderness and the only reason I decided to cultivate it was because I need the space. This piece had mostly daffodils and I’ve been waiting for them to stop flowering before digging them up. The next bit to be dug over is this bit,
it has mostly bluebells and they are still flowering but as soon as they all die off I’ll clear it and dig it over ready for more veg.
And now I’m hungry, have achy joints and I’m exhausted, I have carrot and coriander soup that I made and froze last week and bread that I made last night………………then hot bath to relax the joints and then early to bed I think…………..
It was meant to be
Ever had one of those days when it all falls into place??
Today was one of those days for me. Today was the day of the baby shower as organized by my very good friend, (that’s me and her),
for out mutual friend, that’s her.
The very pregnant lady and her husband own and run a center for alternative therapies, which was the venue for the baby shower. As well as treatment rooms for massage, aromatherapy etc; it has a coffee shop, a gift shop that sells hand made jewellery, cards and candles and a gallery that sells art work by local artists.
I’ve been painting a portrait of the pregnant lady and intended to give it to her today. I ran out of time and it still isn’t finished, but I had a couple of photos of it on my camera to show her and her husband.
I also had a photograph of another portrait I’m working on of two old ladies. This one is from a magazine photo and I copied it because it made me think of ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’. Again it’s not finished.
As I’m showing these photos of my work to different people, the manager of the place, who was also attending the baby shower, and I started chatting. I said how much I like the idea of coffee shop art. I’ve been round all the galleries with my other artist friend and although the gallery market is what she’s aiming for, it’s never appealed to me. To show and sell in galleries the work must be professionally framed, which is very expensive, the gallery take any thing up to 40% or even 50% and the prices charged are out of reach of most people. To me, gallery art seems elitist, its stuff painted by artists for other artists who all know each other and exist in a little bubble of ‘arty people’. Now maybe that’s a bit harsh, and I do enjoy galleries and exhibitions; but for me the coffee shop customer is the preferred audience. I like to think of ordinary people, mums with kids, old men reading the newspaper and grannies with their shopping looking at art and being able to afford it. This manager and I hit it off and … she wants me to take what ever work I can get finished to her and she will hang it in their little gallery. Not only that, she also wants me to take the hand made bags I make and any other bits of craft work I have. We have agreed a rough price range, much cheaper than gallery prices, I don’t need to pay out for expensive framing and her commission is minimal compared to the galley commission.
The baby shower was a huge success, the friends were all happy and I’ve found somewhere that I really like to show case my work………wow what a great day. It all just fell into place. If you want to see what the place is like its here
http://www.facebook.com/TheSerenitySanctuary
Eric Zener
I came across this artist by typing ‘summer paintings’’ into google. Out of all the paintings and artists that search threw up I choose him because, these paintings reminds me of summers I had when I was young. I loved the water; I lived in the water all summer.
I didn’t mind if it was a swimming pool or the sea, just so long as it was water and the sun was shining. By the time I was 14 I could swim for at least a mile in the local swimming baths. I would go there after school every afternoon and stay until closing time.
I loved the feel of the water, I loved the way the sun reflects in the water and causes sparkles, I love the bubbles, I love the colour blue of the water, in fact I love just about every thing these paintings remind me of.
Tis a long time since I’ve been swimming and these paintings remind me of the way it was.
Information from
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eric Zener (b. 1966, Astoria, Oregon) is an American photorealist artist best known for figure paintings of lone subjects, often in or about swimming pools.
Zener was born in 1968 in Astoria, Oregon, to a psychologist father and a violinist mother who played for the San Francisco Symphony.
He grew up in the seaside community of Encinitas, California. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara he worked briefly as a buyer for a department store, before backpacking around the world for nearly two years, bartering paintings for room and board. In 1991 he settled in San Francisco, where he was still living as of 2004.
Zener has three children, the first born in approximately 1998, the second in approximately 2002, and the 3rd in 2009. As of 2009 he lives with his wife, business partner, and frequent model, Julie, in Mill Valley, California. He paints mostly out of a studio in San Francisco.
Zener's works have been exhibited and sold throughout the United States, and internationally, and are part of a number of prominent private and corporate art collections.
Zener is a self-taught artist. As of 2004 he had created more than 600 works. His paintings, mostly in oil, are in a photorealist or "super-realist" style Zener describes as "Contemporary Renaissance".
First thing tomorrow morning, I'm off to Ayrshire to stay with my daughter for a few days. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with her AND I think we may be going over to the Isle of Aaron for the day.
This Sunday I’m reminiscing about the 60’s, I think it must be the weather, lovely hot sunny days make me think of long ago. This is not my usual ‘Art Sunday’ post, its more like a trip down memory lane and a look at the iconic fashion, music and art from the 60’s. 
French singer songwriter grew up in Paris with her younger sister Michèle. Her father bought her a guitar for her birthday as a reward for passing her baccalauréat. After a year at the Sorbonne she answered a newspaper advertisement looking for young singers. Hardy signed her first contract with the record label Vogue in November 1961. In April 1962, shortly after she left university, her first record "Oh Oh Chéri" appeared, written by Johnny Hallyday's writing duo. Her own flip side of the record, "Tous les garçons et les filles" became a success, riding the wave of Yé-yé music in France. It sold over a million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The track peaked at 36 in the UK Singles Chart in 1964. She first appeared on television in 1962 during an interlude in a programme reporting the results of a presidential referendum.
CBE (17 January 1928 – 9 May 2012) was a British hairdresser, credited with creating a simple geometric, "Bauhaus-inspired" hair style, also called the wedge bob. Due to the popularity of his styles, he was described as "a rock star, an artist, a craftsman who 'changed the world with a pair of scissors. Sassoon trained under Raymond Bessone, in his salon in Mayfair. Sassoon stated that "he really taught me how to cut hair...I'd never have achieved what I have without him."Sassoon opened his first salon in 1954 in London. Sassoon stated his intentions in designing new, more efficient, hair styles: "If I was going to be in hairdressing, I wanted to change things. I wanted to eliminate the superfluous and get down to the basic angles of cut and shape.Sassoon's works include the geometric perm and the "Nancy Kwan" hairstyles. They were all modern and low-maintenance. The hairstyles created by Sassoon relied on dark, straight, and shiny hair cut into geometric yet organic shapes. In 1963, Sassoon created a short, angular hairstyle cut on a horizontal plane that was the recreation of the classic "bob cut." His geometric haircuts seemed to be severely cut, but were entirely lacquer-free, relying on the natural shine of the hair for effect.
is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early 1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree.
She was one of the designers who took credit for inventing the miniskirt and hot pants. Born in Blackheath, London, to Welsh parents, Quant brought fun and fantasy to fashion in the 1960s. As creator of the mini skirt and hot pants, she showed a generation how to dress to please themselves. Her instant success made traditionally cautious designers change their attitudes and make their designs appeal to the newly important youth market.
Patricia Anne "Pattie" Boyd (born 17 March 1944) is an English model, photographer and author. She began her fashion career in 1962, and worked in London, New York, and Paris, modelling in London, New York, and Paris (for Mary Quant and others), and was photographed by David Bailey, and Terence Donovan. She appeared on the cover of Vogue and wrote for 16 Magazine.
I had every intention of finishing off my painting, and then I became engrossed in The Merchant of Venice’ on TV, I’ve never actually seen the whole thing from start to finish before. Makes you realize what a wonderful story teller the old Bard was, the judgment scene is brilliant, I was totally drawn in believing that the poor old merchant really was going to end up looking like something from the butches shop. I was hooked, just couldn’t walk away until the credits and the music………….and that when I discovered the music was pretty damn good too. What a haunting song, written for the film by composer Joceyln Pook who, ( I’ve just found out) also wrote ‘The masked Ball’ in the film ‘Eyes Wide Shut’
THIS N THAT
and a couple of pictures, both now lost, that I painted at college.
Its very weird looking at them now, a whole lifetime has passed and it’s as if I’ve gone full circle. 
Being Saturday, I’m not at work, and its one of the hottest days so far. I’ve spent the morning in the garden, there was quite a lot to do, I even had to get the hose pipe out for the first time last night and despite the soaking I gave it then, every thing is bone dry this morning. 
The garden is a great place to be right now, the birds are singing and splashing in the pond, the last of the bluebells are still waving around in the periwinkle and the pink London’s Pride is in full bloom. 
I still think I’ve lost a lot of the veg I planted due to the wind, frost and torrential rain, but what is left is looking good. 
Garden 2012 no 10
It was meant to be
Eric Zener
I didn’t mind if it was a swimming pool or the sea, just so long as it was water and the sun was shining. By the time I was 14 I could swim for at least a mile in the local swimming baths. I would go there after school every afternoon and stay until closing time. 
I loved the feel of the water, I loved the way the sun reflects in the water and causes sparkles, I love the bubbles, I love the colour blue of the water, in fact I love just about every thing these paintings remind me of. 
Tis a long time since I’ve been swimming and these paintings remind me of the way it was.
He grew up in the seaside community of Encinitas, California. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara he worked briefly as a buyer for a department store, before backpacking around the world for nearly two years, bartering paintings for room and board. In 1991 he settled in San Francisco, where he was still living as of 2004. 
Zener has three children, the first born in approximately 1998, the second in approximately 2002, and the 3rd in 2009. As of 2009 he lives with his wife, business partner, and frequent model, Julie, in Mill Valley, California. He paints mostly out of a studio in San Francisco. 
Zener is a self-taught artist. As of 2004 he had created more than 600 works. His paintings, mostly in oil, are in a photorealist or "super-realist" style Zener describes as "Contemporary Renaissance".
