Pictures and Words

I still have a stack of books on the go, but am particularly enjoying three specific art books I have: the Picasso Museum Antibes permanent collection catalogue that I bought last year after my first visit there, the Jean Charles Blais exhibition catalogue that I bought this year from the Picasso Museum Antibes after seeing Blais's show there, and the Singing Skies.  Singing Skies is the beautiful book created by painter Suzanne Osborne and songwriter/poet/singer Stuart Staples (Tindersticks) -- the book pairs images of Osborne's paintings with Staples's writing.

The other day I took Singing Skies outside to get a better look at the paintings, as the dim indoor light of my house was not doing justice to the paintings. I am not sure if the scan does the painting below justice either as the printing quality in the book is quite good! In any case, the painting below, one of my favourite in the book, is "May 18 2011" and it is paired with Staples's "Marbles". Osborne did a painting of the sky each day for the whole of 2011 and the paintings are simply entitled by date.

Suzanne Osborne and Tindersticks

I love the band Tindersticks and am really taken with their new album "the something rain" (I listened to it A LOT while I was in the attic painting my big egg).  I am excited at the news that they are coming to Dublin in October, at a wonderful small venue, Vicar St.  The last concert I have been to in fact was at Vicar St. where the excellent American bands Low Anthem and Brown Bear played.  This is the only Tindersticks song I could find on YouTube from "the something rain".

Another thing that fascinated me about this cd was the cover, which was obviously a series of paintings. Happily, the cd contained a pullout insert printed with a few of the paintings, and the artist was of course credited. So I googled Suzanne Osborne and found her website http://www.suzanneosborne.com/small-paintings, which included the section on "small paintings". She painted the sky daily for a year, and on her website she gives the date and weather conditions the day of the painting. I love the paintings and would love to see them in person. The closest thing for me though will probably be a copy of the limited edition book that Osborne and Stuart Staples (Tindersticks) are putting out together -- Osborne's paintings and Staples' lyrics. My copy is ordered! You can find more information here:  http://www.tindersticks.co.uk/tomorrows/.