November 2017

Another quiet few weeks with little time for art and only two attempts to create any work – the first a small watercolour/ink portrait of Catriona Balfe who plays Claire in “Outlander” a television time-travel drama set at the end of world war two which jumps back in time to the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland in the year 1713. It is a romantic fantasy drama which has gripped me from the beginning and, as I have only watched the first series out of three so far completed, there is clearly still much to enjoy.  Here is a small sketch of Claire with the standing stones in the background which she touches transporting her to meet a handsome young Scottish laird who she falls in love with so that her adventures in another time and place begin.

Claire from “Outlander” (Catriona Balfe)

One of the November highlights for us was at the start of the month when Galley Beggar, the band which our son is in, played at the Mick Jagger Centre in Dartford, supporting one of the great prog rock groups from the 1970’s, Curved Air. The two bands played superbly in a sold out concert which thrilled the audience, many of whom, had travelled some way, to see and hear the excellent musicians in both bands, both of which produced music which has given me some ideas for future artworks. Sonja Kristina, the singer who fronts Curved Air, played one of the leads in the London stage version of “Hair” in the late 1960’s and here she is rehearsing for that show:-

Sonja Kristina singing Frank Mills from “Hair” in 1968

In comparison here are Curved Air with her singing one of their popular songs “Melinda” (More or Less):-

To complete the account of the evening I’ve shown below the Galley Beggar promotional video for their latest album “Heathen Hymns” released at the end of April this year.

I haven’t yet produced any tangible art from the gig, but I have sketched out a few ideas which may or may not be used later. Unfortunately November 2017 has not gone according to plan and most of my visual art creative inclinations have had to be suppressed to address more pressing domestic matters!