Paintings

Empire Of Dreams 2016

A gate in somewhere near La Croix Valmer in Provence. It was near where we were staying and opened onto a garden which was was a dense mass of palms and shrubs. I’ve made it look a bit more mysterious than it was, but not too much.

Lester Young 1990

I drew this from a photograph that I think was taken in Paris near the end of his life. His nickname was Pres, short for President, given to him by Billie Holiday, whom he called Lady Day. They adored each other and died months apart in 1959 after changing jazz forever.

Billie Holiday 1998

Lady Day herself. Frank Sinatra’s favourite singer and there was nobody that sounded remotely like her.

Expecting To Fly 2017

A painting of my daughter Chloë Coggin.

They Work At Night 2016

This was an abstract that was used for the Repeater book The Music Of The Future by Robert Barry. “The Music of the Future is finally a sort of call to arms for everyone engaged in music: to fail again, fail better.”

Whatever 2018

One of hundreds of sketches in watery paint that I like to use (and distort) for other work. I can’t remember what I had in mind for these two. Something horrible, I expect.

Barbie and Jonathan anniversary 2018

I’ve known these lovely people for years, and I’ve worked on and off with Jonathan since we shared an office in Long Acre back in the 80s. I came across the title whilst trawling through a ton of Penguin classics and it went down very well. It does slightly reflect the ‘Is all this really necessary?’ expression on Barbie’s face.

Bent Accountant 2017

An acrylic that started out as a pair of nice 50s specs then look what happened.

Prezaperitif 1998

Lester Young in Paris. I don’t know what became of this picture and I only have a lo-res version of it.