King Crimson

Jakko Jakszyk’s seriously beautiful customised Paul Reed Smith P24 guitar for the 2015 King Crimson tour.  

They played on Thursday and Friday at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, the first time that they have visited Scotland since 1874.  Or thereabouts.

Apparently it has the Moon Man on the back, as per the gatefold of the album In the Court of the Crimson King.  But I only saw the front.

Here he is playing it. 

So - three drummers.  

A squeaky panda and a nutcracker.

A million billion gazillion notes, all in the right order, with precision timing (except for one wrong note by Robert Fripp on Thursday).

A bunch of extremely flexible guys on Friday, throwing some seriously impressive curves at the front to disco floor-filler 21st Century Schizoid Man, along with an enthusiastic old timer in his 70s in Highland Dress, kicking up his kilt. 

And a fight.

Perfect!! 

Image from Carwreckdebangs

I can't point you to any video footage of any of this, because the band don't allow recording at the concerts.  So it now only exists in our memories.  And what memories they are.

However, I can offer you a strangely psychadelic little 1974 film of Starless, a song which they played at the Usher Hall.  

This vintage video HERE (with a different line up and only one drum kit, played by precocious teenager Bill Bruford) gives you a sense of the reigned-in exactness within the ultra-strict structure and the extreme preciseness of the music.  It shows how the band manages to be both very static and completely dynamic, full of reigned-in tension and energy, and how it manages to be creative and expressive within that framework.  Everything and everyone is in its place (literally and metaphorically), and no one part or person is allowed to occlude the others.

Interestingly, the achingly pared-down guitar solo which Robert Fripp starts playing from 4.18 was, at the Usher Hall gigs, started off by Jakszyk, and then absolutely seemlessly passed over to be played by Fripp.  You had to watch very very carefully to see them do it.  And each of the three drummers is playing an entirely different rhythmic line.

Mind-bending....

Affordable Art Fair, Bristol

Just to give you all a quick heads-up about the forthcoming Affordable Art Fair at Brunel's Old Station at Bristol Temple Meads this month.

It runs from to 18-20 September, and I'll be exhibiting with the Lime Tree Gallery.

There's even a half-price ticket available HERE!

Here's a quick peek at some of my paintings that will be there...

Rain and Wind, North Berwick (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

Calendula and Honesty Against Garden Wall (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Grasses in the Sand, Camusdarach (Oil on linen, 32 x 32)

Path Through Bluebell Woods (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

If you do go, let me know what you think!

Rainbow, White Park Bay, Northern Ireland

There were an awful lot of rainbows.

Northern Ireland #2

Ballintoy Church.

Ballintoy Church again, this time from the Ulster Way near the start of the path to Carrick a Rede.

That's Scotland in the distance.  It's so amazingly clear, that along the coast you can see Ailsa Craig, and the islands of Jura and Islay as well as mainland Scotland.

Rathlin Island from near the Marconi Cottages at Ballycastle.  There were dolphins, but I don't have a photo of them.

Ballycastle.

Distant rain out at Aisla Craig, from near the Marconi Cottages.

Looking across the glen to Fair Head.

 The fuschia bushes grow wild at the side of the road.

Northern Ireland

Just back from my annual trip to Northern Ireland, to gather material for my forthcoming solo show in London in February next year.

As usual, the weather was wonderfully mixed - rainy one minute, glorious sun the next.  It made for some spectacular contrasts and amazing clouds in the sky.

Here's the coast at Rinagree, between Portstewart and Portrush.

The view across to Inishowen in Ireland.

From the Cliff Walk, Portstewart.

Walking down to the Giant's Causeway.

White Park Bay.

After a heavy shower of rain, the whole of the sea between Ballintoy and Rathlin Island suddenly lit up as a long, low rainbow.

The sight was so amazing and intense, that cars stop at the side of the road to look.  It looks very soft and unimpressive in photos, but in real life it was earily strange and beautiful, and very bright.  The sight of it dominated the landscape.

More tomorrow.

Heading for London

I've got a new selection of work heading to Duncan R Miller Fine Art in London for the autumn.

Here's are some of my paintings which will be arriving there next week.

Gorse at Flamborough Head (Oil on linen, 20 x 30)

Moonlit Shore, Whitby (Oil on linen, 20 x 30)

Bluebells (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Calendula in Bloom (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

Setting Sun, Tower Bridge from Bermondsey (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Tower Bridge at Dusk from Bermondsey (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

The Change of the Seasons

There comes a day, every year, when you walk out in the morning, the whiskers twitch, and you smell something different is in the air.  

That smell is autumn, and today was that day.

To mark that, here is a photo that I took of a painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  I'll leave you to guess who it's by.