Bleu

Eric Lafforgue via artpropelled

 Seems the longer the winter stretches on, 

the more I'm listening to this one.

(... and the louder it becomes. Sorry, neighbours.)

Taking five

Or, maybe six.

back soon.

Some other Irish Saints

Hello again.

I've been living old-school lately.

Avoiding tech.

Rediscovering classics. Old loves.

Like these.

Now, back to reality.

Legions

Getting together some music for what I expect to be a late night in the studio,

and thought I'd share what is one of my favorites on such an occasion.

Black Stone

(For Justin, who asked for "More music - something haunting"...)

by Chris Clark

The freezing rain and No.15

I had one of those moments this morning. You know those times when you're driving home, and after you park the car you have to sit for awhile, listening to the end of a song on the radio?
Today I was driving in freezing rain, and the song on the radio was a Beethoven string quartet (#15, 3rd mvt). I'm always a sucker for strings, but today...after sitting in the car, watching the rain and ice...I just had to share.



Happy New Year!!

What's important

Just saw this video for the first time today...thanks to Pierre Raby for the link. It was a much needed reminder of what's real and most important to me, and took a huge weight off my shoulders.

Check it out.

Fall and 3 Gnossiennes

The Bohemian portrait of Erik Satie

A friend sent me Ciccolini's version of Erik Satie's 3 Gnossiennes a while ago. I like the pace of it much better than most versions I've heard, but I haven't had much of a chance to listen to it. So today I put it in while I was working...painting by the window with the (finally) much cooler air coming in, flocks of geese flying over, squirrels dropping walnuts from the tree... It just seemed to fit the day.
At the top, 'The Bohemian portrait of Erik Satie' by Santiago Rusinol, mainly because I love the room.  Can't wait for Fall!
Update Mar. 20,2012...I just noticed that the video I had posted has been removed from YouTube. Since I can't find a replacement, I have substituted it with this version.

Home away from home

I just got back from out west, escaping the heat and visiting family and the farms where Nicole and I grew up. It was pretty amazing...I didn't realise how much I missed driving down seemingly endless dirt-roads, through a giant patchwork of wheatfields and blooming canola....

picking buckets of raspberries and saskatoons....

under that massive sky....with my beautiful girl. (Come home soon.)

           William Fitzsimmons - Beautiful Girl           photos via here, here, and here.

To build a home

I've been working on so many big projects for the stores lately, and haven't had a lot of time to finish up new work to post here on the blog...but I've got lots of new stuff of my own in the works, things that I'm really excited about finishing, so watch for it soon. In the meantime, since several of you have written that you are enjoying the music and videos, here's a great one. Cinematic Orchestra with Patrick Watson, live at the Barbicon in London.

Odi et amo

From Icelandic composer, musician and producer Johann Johannsson's first solo album "Englaborn".
In 'Odi et amo', he sets the Catullus poem of the same name to music.

"What I really like about it is the harsh contrast of the computer voice and strings, the alchemy of total opposites, the sewing machine and umbrella on a dissecting table."

                                                            Johann Johannson, from here

Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon...

I am obviously new to this whole blogging thing, and I'm still trying to decide how I should organise everything...if it should just be for my work, or include things that inspire me, interest me, and in what order, if any?  But it never fails. The minute I start going through my files of pictures, moving things into folders....this song comes into my head. And it sticks there and I end up singing it under my breath for hours. So what the hell, I'll put it on here and let it stick in your head. Ah, it's still a great one to have in there.

Runde1: Die 15. Art, den Regen zu beschrieben

                                                 "15 ways to describe the rain"