There has been a long gap since my last post as extensive maintenance to the website has taken place to make it more accessible and improve it! During that time much has happened in my world of art and music. Over Christmas and the New Year I listened to a great deal of new music across the entire spectrum of musical output since it played such a major role during my working life in the music publishing industry. The delivery of music to mobile phones and on social media has turned the music industry on its head so that recorded and broadcast music has become enormously diversified. If I want to hear new music and see who wrote and performed it there is no problem, I can go to youtube or find it from numerous other sources. I am old fashioned enough to turn to BBC Radios 2 and 6 for all genres of popular music and rely on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM for contemporary serious kinds. There are also a fair number of TV broadcasting channels for all kinds of music which I occasionally investigate.
Through the audio and audio-visual media listening process I turned to three performers who have influenced me enough to want to paint them – two well-established and the third relatively new on the scene. Here they are:-
Darcey Bussell DBE- retired ballet dancer
I have never actually seen Darcey Bussell dance live on stage but have witnessed various wonderful ballet productions, including The Firebird, The Rite of Spring, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and several others where the dancing has been superb, the costumes stunning and the sets equally impressive. I’ve always admired the dedication, physical fitness, technique, grace, pain and occasional injury that so many dancers experience during their careers. Although now retired, Darcey Bussell has now become a television personality and has not only become a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, she has also presented a number of documentaries on ballet and other subjects in the entertainment world. On top of that she teaches and passes on her knowledge to many young aspiring dancers.
Tina Turner (whose life is the subject of a brand new stage musical)
Tina Turner is a another who has experienced much in her long and eventful career as a songwriter and singer whose dynamic stage act coupled with unique a voice has made her an international star whose life story is now being told in music in a London production opening this month – Tina -The Musical.
Stormzy – Grime Artist and songwriter
Finally Stormzy has dominated the Grime scene in the UK in recent months and was awarded two Brits just a few weeks ago. His rapping appeals to me, unlike many of the others I hear today, and I really think he has the talent and personality to sustain a successful career in the unpredictable surroundings he finds himself in today. He is clearly intelligent and politically aware, judging by current media coverage and I’m pleased that he has made it in such a competitive environment.
Now that the work on this website is finished I am physically sorting and cataloguing all my stock of paintings so that I know exactly where each item is stored. I have also uploaded a batch of seascapes on my Peter Dadswell Art Facebook page as they all need to be properly categorised.