Northern Soul
Did you see the BBC David Hockney documentary? He is growing on me. I saw his exhibition at the National Portrait gallery a while back and liked (not loved) his work, with the documentary you get more of a feel for the man and he is very genuine with some great insights. He has that naughty twinkle in his eye of someone who has really lived.
The programme follows his homecoming to Yorkshire from California, as he discovers an activity he’s never tried before – painting outdoors. And boy does he paint, literally hundreds of paintings sometimes repeating the same scene at different times in the year. There is a bit where he is painting in some Yorkshire field and a car pulls up, a man shouts ‘I’ve got a frontroom needs painting when you’re done here’. Eeeek! Hockney handles it like a pro and just gets on with the job at hand. I do admire his work ethic, he really focusses on the subject and blocks everything else out.
If you have an hour to kill, it is worth a watch. And here is a little uplifting quote from the man in the flat cap…
‘The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent’ – David Hockney
