I met Vincent in a painting
there was yellow everywhere
two men who loved the sunshine
for a synergy right there
Cathartic was the moment
though he's no longer here
but the colour in his painting
still brings to us good cheer
And being in that moment
with his life's work on the wall
projected light in motion
I with Vincent stood there tall
[Van Gogh Alive is an interactive experience of Vincent’s life work in sound and motion which combines projected images of his paintings onto huge screens, ceilings and floors together with quotes from his letters and compatriots. There are animations and stills, extracts and full works all condensed into a 45-minute rolling programme showcasing his prolific 2,010 work repertoire created mostly during the last two years of his short 37-year life, The experience showcased in Brighton as a part of the 2023 Arts Festival].
Concluding the Jemverse series ‘Music II’ [10 of 10]
I am music and pleasure
for those with an ear
Hours of contentment
for freedom and cheer
I give goosebumps and shivers
those down the spine
when you hear something good
or especially fine
The poet wrote a poem
to capture what he saw
just a few lines of simple verse
to have and hold in store
As there will be those moments
when as Wordsworth said
vacant or a pensive mood
will be the thing instead
And then there is the pleasure
to recollect those lines
and rekindle just a little
of the moment and these times
For this it is the privilege
the poet has to give
with words just like a picture
to celebrate and live
And always may that be the case
especially for me
as words they are my colours
as I paint my poetry
Emily Kame Kngwarreye
loved colour with a passion
with acrylic paint to canvas
like it was going out of fashion
and in eight years to an end of life
she captured there ‘the dreaming’
three thousand plus enlightenments
and each with hidden meaning
The expression of an elder
of the Anmatyerre people
it matters not our ignorance
and understanding feeble
For unless we were indigenous
we could not hope here to confide
so as it is these myriad paintings
to most of us their meanings hide
Yet still we are presented
with her legacy of style
enriched beyond mere words
which we could conjure in a while
for here is simple beauty
captured with sincerity
presented for enrichment
where we see what each will see
[Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1910-1996) was introduced to acrylic paint in her late 70s. For the next eight years she painted over 3000 canvases, approximately one each day. As an elder of the indigenous Anmatyerre people in the Utopia region of central Australia, Kngwarreye was a custodian of the women’s ‘dreaming sites’. Each of her paintings captured an artistic expression of this role containing stories that only those who have been initiated through Anmatyerre ceremony can know or understand. The rest of us non-indigenous people can only imagine].
Photo – Emily Kame Kngwarreye painting ‘Earth’s Creation 1’ in the Utopia region of Central Australia in 1994
This evening we were in a painting
with colours and contrast and hue
beneath a cloudscape of wonder
providing a wonderful view
It was just like a Constable landscape
above and around us out here
exquisite the joy that it brought us
for a message abundantly clear
This evening we were in a painting
with yellows and pinks and the grey
variegated into the darker
at the end of this autumn day
It was just like Turner had paused there
with his brushstroke over the sky
to leave us this snapshot of wonder
before it all passed us by
John Constable took lodgings in Brighton between 1824 and 1828 during which he drew and painted a lot of what he saw around him. ‘In Constable’s Footsteps’ at Brighton Museum brings all of that output together for the first time in an exhibition running until 8 October 2017.
The Chain Pier was Brighton’s first pier. Built in 1823 but destroyed by a storm in 1896, you can still see remains of its oak pilings at very low tides today.
It’s awfully jolly early
to be up on a weekend
But we’re off (us two) to London
to visit an old friend
And as we’re paid up members
we get an early special tour
There before the crowds get in
what our membership is for
So we left the house at five o’clock
caught the red-eye up the line
At Victoria just after seven
just at breakfast time
Then a quick tube down to Pimlico
for David Hockney at the Tate
arriving a bit early
as we don’t like being late
Later on we’ll take the boat
down the Thames a little way
Tate Modern down on Southbank
getting there around midday
And then when we have had our fill
of both galleries I guess
that we’ll partake of something nice
at a restaurant no less
Still later we might take a stroll
by the riverbank a while
Taking in the city sights
for around about a mile
And finally we’ll catch a tube
on the District/Circle line
Leaving London in mid afternoon
to get home by suppertime
We brought a David Hockney print
and hung it on the wall
An early Christmas present
to be admired by one and all
It’s from a London retrospective
at the Royal Academy
to which just under four years past
we went, my wife and me
Called ‘The Bigger Picture’
the exhibition was
all about the landscapes
from the Yorkshire Wolds because
they deserve such recognition
so wonderful are they
and to us an inspiration
on that very special day
Our print is aptly titled as
“The arrival of the Spring”
and feature forest down in Woodgate
under Mr Hockney’s wing
It reality it’s massive
(thirty-one feet wide)
But our print’s a little smaller
so we could fit it here inside
It’s a joy to have a picture
which brings pleasure by the day
A thing of special beauty
to keep the blues at bay
And to us this David Hockney
with its capture of the Spring
encapsulates the essence
joy and pleasure seek to bring
The day began with sunshine
so I popped down to the beach
armed with paints and brushes
and a long pole for to reach
the top bit of the beach hut
as it needs a lick of paint
It took me several hours
but a craftsman I just ain’t
It wouldn’t cut the mustard
with a decorator man
But it’s weatherproof and brighter
and I’m pleased with it, I am
...all about me and my life in words. I write most days, carrying an ideas book around in which I capture a word snapshot of life around me. So there's a lot here about Sussex and the sea and anything else I see that inspires.
The pictures are mine too. Some taken to match a poem; some poems written to match a pic; others chosen because they work well with words written.
Jemverse is life in words. Hope you enjoy the reading as much as I enjoy the writing...
Jemverse 