The Summer of 2005 was a brilliant Summer for all sorts of reasons - Phill Jupitus came to Medd Towers and did his breakfast show live from our lounge and we took James to New York for the first time (he loved it so much we went back the following year).
It was also the Summer an artist friend of mine, Gerry Laffy, painted James. Still only 15, James was in a band that were tearing up trees at the time. Winning Battle of the Bands, recording a dazzling EP and getting played on the radio - I wanted a permanent reminder of just how amazing (and how amazingly proud of him I was - and still am) that time was.
A couple of days after returning from America I bombed down to Swiss Cottage and picked up the canvas which, even with the back seats folded down, only just fitted in the back of the car. James' mind was blown when he first saw it. Truth be known, 15 years later, it probably still blows his mind whenever he comes back home to visit his mother and father.
The reason for the delay in posting this is that I was desperately trying to find the photo of me and Gerry posing in his kitchen in front of the canvas. But could I find it? Three house moves in seven years and despite thinking I knew where the photo lived I suspect it might be in one of the as yet still unopened packing cases. I will find it!
What a fab painting and background tale too. No wonder it's in your Top 10. By the way, I love your red walls!
ReplyDeleteThank you! We left the house and red walls behind in 2010 - five years after those photo were taken. If you click on the 'father' link you'll see the painting's current home.
DeleteVery nice! And we've got the same radiator :-)
DeleteVery special indeed - A wonderful picture and a reminder of those times. I too have been blown away with some of the things my daughter has achieved over the years and as a parent you kind of experience it vicariously, and get more excited than they sometimes do.
ReplyDeleteDid you paint the wall to tie in with the picture or was it the other way round I wonder - Or just a happy coincidence. Looks stunning.
James has always been a very modest person. I could often be found blowing his trumpet. Still can, in fact.
DeleteThe walls were already red before we hung Gerry's canvas. They later became grey. Then they became somebody else's walls.