Just back from hols – a week in West Wales, mainly spent reading Gene Wolfe’s splendid Book of the New Sun series. (Okay, I did ONCE go in the sea, before rushing back to Severian’s story…) And now I’m back at the old computer, I find myself juggling two projects – the next novel for Orbit and a radio commission for those lovely people at BBC Radio 4, which is due for delivery, er, round about now.
The radio play is a sequel to my art fraud drama The Art of Deception. And (as you may have spotted) I’ve been running a regular series of Paintings of the Week on this blog over the last year, as part of my ongoing research on art-related stuff, including some rather racy material.
Just now, I’m reading a wonderful book about Pablo Picasso by artist Francoise Gilot, who was his lover. The book is evocative, moving, and brilliantly written – Gilot claims to have near perfect recall. And her book conjures up the spirit of the iconoclastic, manipulative, brilliant, egotistical Picasso with astonishing vividness.
Francoise was clearly a remarkable woman – and a major talent in her own right. For more on her, here’s a link to her website. And, to give a flavour of her talent, are images of some of her great paintings (which I reproduce here on a non-profit basis under the rules of fair use):
Like the Sound of Oars
Red and Gold
Self Portrait: Figure in the Wind
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You didn’t mention that after Pablo Picasso, she was married to Jonas Salk for many years, a contrast I found fascinating.