Well, last week was a fantastic experience at Midsummer Music Festival in Smithers. Seven painters, and a number of musicians jammed together, responding to each other’s creations.  The bands 1000 Cuts, Moth Mouth, Blocktreat & Harmful Ray, along with some other independent musicians created the sonic soundscape — primarily an experimental electronic jam, with some conventional instruments too.  The atmosphere seemed dominated by dark loopy walls of sound, futuristic yet nostalgic .. sometimes ominous and moody, sometimes a pensive groove would emerge and grow.  Anyway, I cannot use words to describe the ethereal sounds made, nor to describe the visual art created. I shall share a number of photos and some videos below, including some early stages of my painting. Check them out.  I am pleased with my painting created; I believe I captured the feeling of the music for me… complex layers of sound reflected in my layers of images and colours and textures.  And of course, each of the other artists approached it in their own way and produced intriguing pieces too.  Other artist participants were Mark Tworow, Sarah Northcott, Shannon Goodhead, Linda Stringfellow, Facundo Gastiazoro and a visitor Dali Donker from the Netherlands. We all had a great time.

Thank you to Adrian Forsyth, the photographer behind Airless Photography, who captured the stunning close-up portrait of me in artful action, and the various other people documenting the event, including my wife Taisa Jenne. And here’s a link to a great facebook video of the whole scene, posted by fellow artist Shannon Goodhead.