1 00:00:00,933 --> 00:00:03,533 (gentle music) 2 00:00:06,866 --> 00:00:10,000 - We were living in London in a small bed sitter, 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,066 and I was doing my part-time teaching, 4 00:00:13,066 --> 00:00:15,566 and she was with the American Embassy. 5 00:00:18,700 --> 00:00:22,400 She was getting a newspaper from the States, 6 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:26,933 saw this ad for a farmhouse in Maine 7 00:00:26,933 --> 00:00:31,133 with a hundred acres for $4,000 8 00:00:31,133 --> 00:00:32,666 and she thought, wow, you know, 9 00:00:32,666 --> 00:00:36,566 we are living in an area maybe 20 feet by 30 feet, 10 00:00:36,566 --> 00:00:40,666 that sounded to us like an estate, a huge estate, you know? 11 00:00:40,666 --> 00:00:42,033 And this is incredible, 12 00:00:42,033 --> 00:00:44,666 fancy having living on a place like that. 13 00:00:44,666 --> 00:00:49,633 So in spur of the moment, we decided to pack up and leave. 14 00:00:50,300 --> 00:00:52,466 (gentle music) 15 00:01:05,266 --> 00:01:08,533 So I fell in love with Maine, actually very early 16 00:01:08,533 --> 00:01:11,066 and I think if it wasn't for Maine, 17 00:01:11,066 --> 00:01:13,900 I would never be, I don't think I'd be in this country. 18 00:01:15,233 --> 00:01:19,166 You know, Maine is, in some ways it's like Scotland. 19 00:01:20,300 --> 00:01:22,600 It's a very beautiful place 20 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,566 and I can't imagine myself living anywhere else 21 00:01:25,566 --> 00:01:26,700 in the United States. 22 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,833 We went out to California once, my late wife and I 23 00:01:33,833 --> 00:01:36,900 with the idea that we might settle there, 24 00:01:36,900 --> 00:01:39,700 but after two weeks we decided, 25 00:01:39,700 --> 00:01:42,200 no, we're coming back to Maine and we did. 26 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:44,833 (gentle music) 27 00:02:09,166 --> 00:02:12,000 My driving force began as art, 28 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,533 and I would start doing little drawings at home 29 00:02:14,533 --> 00:02:16,966 and put 'em up in the mantle piece. 30 00:02:16,966 --> 00:02:21,000 Little kind of semi surrealist drawings. 31 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,033 I remember one, my first drawing, 32 00:02:23,033 --> 00:02:25,133 I remember I named it, it was always good. 33 00:02:25,133 --> 00:02:26,866 I always enjoyed naming them. 34 00:02:26,866 --> 00:02:29,566 This was called Phantasmagoria. 35 00:02:29,566 --> 00:02:32,866 I thought, wow, what a title. Phantasmagoria. 36 00:02:32,866 --> 00:02:36,300 It was a little sorryless drawing and Phantasmagoria 37 00:02:36,300 --> 00:02:41,100 that I remember and then there was another painting. 38 00:02:41,100 --> 00:02:43,100 I thought it was very cute to call up 39 00:02:43,100 --> 00:02:44,966 a painting with a French title, 40 00:02:44,966 --> 00:02:46,966 so I called it (speaks in foreign language). 41 00:02:46,966 --> 00:02:51,433 So I've got, so I did this rather bracket, 42 00:02:51,433 --> 00:02:54,400 like brack and black and mostly black 43 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:56,200 and I called it (speaks in foreign language) 44 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:57,866 and I thought that was great. 45 00:02:57,866 --> 00:03:02,200 Anyhow, it was an exciting time and a wonderful time. 46 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:04,966 I had a very, a very lovely childhood. 47 00:03:04,966 --> 00:03:06,500 I have to say that. 48 00:03:06,500 --> 00:03:11,433 I really, I have absolutely no bad recollections at all. 49 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,633 All of it was exciting and beautiful 50 00:03:15,633 --> 00:03:20,033 and I would not change a moment of it. 51 00:03:20,033 --> 00:03:23,100 (gentle music) 52 00:03:23,100 --> 00:03:25,200 I was, actually born and Largs, 53 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:29,133 but we, I moved when I was one years old to Troon, 54 00:03:29,133 --> 00:03:31,700 so I was brought up in Troon. 55 00:03:31,700 --> 00:03:35,166 You know, Troon is a little Scottish town 56 00:03:35,166 --> 00:03:39,933 on the west coast of Scotland, 40 miles from Glasgow. 57 00:03:39,933 --> 00:03:44,200 I would walk on the Troon beach almost every day. 58 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:45,466 It's a bit like here, you know, 59 00:03:45,466 --> 00:03:48,233 you could walk from miles and not see anyone 60 00:03:49,700 --> 00:03:53,366 and as a young boy, I'd always had this great attraction 61 00:03:53,366 --> 00:03:54,666 for the ocean. 62 00:03:54,666 --> 00:03:57,166 I would go down there and I'd walk 63 00:03:57,166 --> 00:04:02,100 and I would enjoy the gulls, the seagulls and everything. 64 00:04:02,100 --> 00:04:04,933 It was something that grew on me, 65 00:04:04,933 --> 00:04:08,166 that became part of me, being by the ocean 66 00:04:08,166 --> 00:04:11,433 and when I was, when I'm away from the sea, 67 00:04:11,433 --> 00:04:13,833 like when I was in London for 10 years, 68 00:04:13,833 --> 00:04:16,000 I always fell out of place. 69 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,266 I always wanted to get back to the ocean, 70 00:04:18,266 --> 00:04:21,133 which of course I did when I got to Maine here. 71 00:04:21,133 --> 00:04:23,800 (bright music) 72 00:04:28,066 --> 00:04:29,966 When I first came to this country, 73 00:04:31,166 --> 00:04:35,766 the thing that struck me most was the landscape. 74 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,866 It was new and so it had quite an impact on me. 75 00:04:43,366 --> 00:04:47,400 So my natural desire was to somehow, not capture visually, 76 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:52,066 but capture the feeling that it gave me, some of the joy. 77 00:04:54,233 --> 00:04:56,233 Yeah, when I first came to Maine, 78 00:04:56,233 --> 00:04:57,933 my paintings changed radically 79 00:04:57,933 --> 00:05:02,933 because I had this excitement of a new landscape. 80 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:06,266 So the landscape crept into 81 00:05:06,266 --> 00:05:10,333 what I had previously been doing, which was abstracts. 82 00:05:10,333 --> 00:05:15,333 So the landscape I did here were basically recognizable, 83 00:05:16,766 --> 00:05:20,566 but slightly abstracted too and, but at the same time 84 00:05:20,566 --> 00:05:22,866 as the others were imaginative, 85 00:05:22,866 --> 00:05:25,766 they came mostly from feelings and imagination. 86 00:05:25,766 --> 00:05:28,433 (bright music) 87 00:05:40,166 --> 00:05:42,166 - The ocean was always there. 88 00:05:43,166 --> 00:05:45,333 He grew up looking at it, 89 00:05:45,333 --> 00:05:48,866 just looking at it from right to left 90 00:05:48,866 --> 00:05:50,666 instead of left to right. 91 00:05:50,666 --> 00:05:55,666 So I think that was part of his earliest imagery. 92 00:06:02,266 --> 00:06:05,333 There's something about, hmm, 93 00:06:05,333 --> 00:06:08,300 there's just something about water, 94 00:06:08,300 --> 00:06:10,666 I suppose it's the immensity of it. 95 00:06:11,900 --> 00:06:16,200 It can be overwhelming, but at the same time, 96 00:06:17,533 --> 00:06:22,166 it reminds you of how small we are in the universe, 97 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:24,666 which is not such a bad thing to keep in mind. 98 00:06:25,666 --> 00:06:28,833 (gentle bright music) 99 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:58,800 (gentle bright music continues) 100 00:07:20,866 --> 00:07:23,633 - When I was at Marr College, 101 00:07:23,633 --> 00:07:27,866 I met someone who felt exactly like I did, 102 00:07:27,866 --> 00:07:31,433 which was amazing, it's unlikely that ever happened, 103 00:07:31,433 --> 00:07:33,966 but I met my friend Bill Crozier 104 00:07:35,366 --> 00:07:37,266 and this was at high school 105 00:07:37,266 --> 00:07:41,233 and he had the same passion for art as I did 106 00:07:41,233 --> 00:07:46,100 and both of us from then on, we would take walks together, 107 00:07:46,100 --> 00:07:49,200 we would paint together, I would paint in his shed. 108 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:50,566 He had a shed out. 109 00:07:52,066 --> 00:07:55,766 His father was a plumber and had a shed in the back garden. 110 00:07:55,766 --> 00:07:59,033 He lived in the working class part of town, 111 00:07:59,033 --> 00:08:01,700 'cause his father was walking the shipyard. 112 00:08:01,700 --> 00:08:04,933 I lived in the other part of town, but we'd get together, 113 00:08:04,933 --> 00:08:07,433 I would paint in his shack 114 00:08:07,433 --> 00:08:10,133 and he would come and paint in my attic. 115 00:08:10,133 --> 00:08:14,466 So we did a lot of painting together and actual fact, 116 00:08:14,466 --> 00:08:16,733 we had our first exhibition ever 117 00:08:18,033 --> 00:08:21,533 was at a tea room in Troon and then we went on, 118 00:08:21,533 --> 00:08:25,033 this is why we were still at Marr College, 119 00:08:25,033 --> 00:08:28,900 we had an exhibition and then we had an exhibition 120 00:08:28,900 --> 00:08:33,733 in the town of Ayr, the the capital of Ayrshire 121 00:08:33,733 --> 00:08:38,733 and we had a town at the Carnegie, the Carnegie Library 122 00:08:39,933 --> 00:08:42,100 and it was opened by an important person living. 123 00:08:42,100 --> 00:08:47,100 It was quite a step up for two young boys 124 00:08:49,166 --> 00:08:52,900 who had actually, basically no training, 125 00:08:52,900 --> 00:08:55,166 but just a passion for art. 126 00:08:55,166 --> 00:08:58,166 Of course, from that point in on, 127 00:08:58,166 --> 00:09:00,100 we went to the Glasgow School of Art. 128 00:09:00,100 --> 00:09:05,066 We graduated from, we graduated in art from Marr College 129 00:09:06,533 --> 00:09:11,433 and actual fact, he got first prize, I got second prize. 130 00:09:15,566 --> 00:09:19,833 Well, I didn't mind that, so we both won in our year 131 00:09:21,266 --> 00:09:25,500 for art and he was first, I second, but that was okay. 132 00:09:25,500 --> 00:09:26,700 We tried. (laughs) 133 00:09:26,700 --> 00:09:31,666 But anyway, so naturally we both went 134 00:09:33,100 --> 00:09:36,066 to the Glasgow School of Art after, after Marr College. 135 00:09:40,166 --> 00:09:42,166 What was going on in London at that time, 136 00:09:42,166 --> 00:09:45,666 it was very lively place Soho, very lively. 137 00:09:45,666 --> 00:09:49,800 It was a wonderful gathering of famous people 138 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,700 in Downing house, no one had any money, 139 00:09:52,700 --> 00:09:54,566 but everybody seemed to end up drunk. 140 00:09:58,033 --> 00:10:00,866 The most famous place there at that time 141 00:10:00,866 --> 00:10:03,866 was a place called the Colony Club. 142 00:10:03,866 --> 00:10:06,866 The Colony Club was a place where 143 00:10:06,866 --> 00:10:10,033 after the regular pubs closed, 144 00:10:10,033 --> 00:10:12,333 people could go there and drink 145 00:10:12,333 --> 00:10:15,866 and it was a favorite place of Francis Bacon. 146 00:10:15,866 --> 00:10:18,833 He would go there with his entourage 147 00:10:18,833 --> 00:10:23,166 and it was run by a woman called Muriel Belcher. 148 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,733 She was an incredibly weird character too. 149 00:10:27,733 --> 00:10:29,866 She swore like a trooper 150 00:10:29,866 --> 00:10:32,800 and she wouldn't let anyone in that she didn't like 151 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:36,300 and she said a lot nasty things about people 152 00:10:36,300 --> 00:10:38,700 and people were afraid off of her generally, 153 00:10:38,700 --> 00:10:43,600 but if you got past the door and you're fine 154 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:47,933 and got into the club and that was a center 155 00:10:47,933 --> 00:10:52,666 for a lot of people, a lot of well known people 156 00:10:52,666 --> 00:10:55,166 like Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud 157 00:10:55,166 --> 00:10:57,433 and people out there would go and drink there. 158 00:11:03,100 --> 00:11:08,100 Soho that time, there were a lot of drinking establishments. 159 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:13,700 There were some betting shops 160 00:11:13,700 --> 00:11:16,233 and there were a lot of hookers, you know, 161 00:11:16,233 --> 00:11:19,800 and you're walking down a street to get to a pub, 162 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,200 there would be, a hooker with appear in the doorway 163 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:26,300 and ask you to come in and you had to get past all of that 164 00:11:26,300 --> 00:11:27,700 before he got to the pub, 165 00:11:27,700 --> 00:11:31,766 so it was a very colorful era, to say the least. 166 00:11:38,766 --> 00:11:43,000 There was a large group of gay people and their supporters, 167 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:45,333 the people who helped to promote them 168 00:11:45,333 --> 00:11:48,500 were also gay, publishers and critics 169 00:11:48,500 --> 00:11:50,866 who helped to make the names 170 00:11:50,866 --> 00:11:53,033 were also part of that gay community. 171 00:11:53,033 --> 00:11:54,466 It wasn't entirely so, 172 00:11:54,466 --> 00:11:56,666 Bill and I were not, maybe they thought we were 173 00:11:56,666 --> 00:11:58,133 because we were good companions, 174 00:11:58,133 --> 00:12:01,300 but anyhow, we were accepted into the group. 175 00:12:01,300 --> 00:12:04,400 (chilled jazz music) 176 00:12:05,966 --> 00:12:10,066 At the time, it was an incredibly colorful, exciting place. 177 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:14,033 More than, I can think of who are like it today. 178 00:12:16,633 --> 00:12:19,633 That was Soho. There's so many interesting people. 179 00:12:19,633 --> 00:12:23,166 Most of them, most of them died young. 180 00:12:23,166 --> 00:12:26,133 Some of them committed suicide 181 00:12:26,133 --> 00:12:28,233 or they drank themselves to death. 182 00:12:28,233 --> 00:12:31,266 By the time we left, 183 00:12:31,266 --> 00:12:36,266 a lot of those people we had known had died or had, 184 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:41,866 or I had less to do with them because I was married. 185 00:12:41,866 --> 00:12:45,266 I often went with my wife to Soho. 186 00:12:45,266 --> 00:12:47,866 She wasn't really into all that. 187 00:12:47,866 --> 00:12:49,166 It's a good place for people 188 00:12:49,166 --> 00:12:51,833 who are single rather than married. 189 00:12:51,833 --> 00:12:54,066 You didn't have responsibilities 190 00:12:54,066 --> 00:12:56,700 and most of the people who inhabited Soho 191 00:12:56,700 --> 00:12:59,500 had no responsibilities whatsoever. 192 00:12:59,500 --> 00:13:01,966 They were irresponsible in the extreme. 193 00:13:01,966 --> 00:13:05,900 So once we got married, we saw less of Soho 194 00:13:05,900 --> 00:13:09,833 and things changed, Soho changed quite a bit. 195 00:13:09,833 --> 00:13:12,933 (chilled jazz music) 196 00:13:17,700 --> 00:13:20,433 (romantic music) 197 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:35,466 When I was living in London 198 00:13:35,466 --> 00:13:40,466 and I had met and married my first wife, Stephanie, 199 00:13:41,666 --> 00:13:44,666 I was interested in filming at that time 200 00:13:44,666 --> 00:13:48,866 and I had the opportunity to buy 60 millimeter Bolex 201 00:13:48,866 --> 00:13:50,666 and we were reading his letters 202 00:13:50,666 --> 00:13:53,866 and I don't know if you ever read Van Gogh's letters, 203 00:13:53,866 --> 00:13:57,633 but they're very, very informative, very beautiful. 204 00:13:57,633 --> 00:14:00,833 My late wife and I were reading those letters and we thought 205 00:14:00,833 --> 00:14:05,900 wouldn't it be great to film the Van Gogh area 206 00:14:06,966 --> 00:14:09,666 and for commentary, use the letters 207 00:14:09,666 --> 00:14:14,233 and being very ambitious at the time, 208 00:14:14,233 --> 00:14:16,766 we thought the perfect person to read them 209 00:14:16,766 --> 00:14:18,800 would be a Burton. 210 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:21,066 So we thought Richard Burton. 211 00:14:21,066 --> 00:14:24,266 So well that's great, we've got Van Gogh's letters 212 00:14:24,266 --> 00:14:26,200 and we'll ask Richard Burton to read them 213 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:27,700 and we'll go and film. 214 00:14:27,700 --> 00:14:30,000 You know, it sounded like a wonderful idea, you know, 215 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,366 and I've got the camera, the trouble is, 216 00:14:35,133 --> 00:14:39,300 I soon have realized that a reel of film, 217 00:14:39,300 --> 00:14:43,366 'cause 60 millimeter, a reel of film cost at that time, 218 00:14:43,366 --> 00:14:46,200 three pounds, three pounds in those days 219 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:48,033 was quite a lot of money 220 00:14:48,033 --> 00:14:51,000 and that lasted for something like three minutes, 221 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:52,866 a film, something like that 222 00:14:52,866 --> 00:14:54,233 and I thought, you know, 223 00:14:54,233 --> 00:14:56,866 I mean this is really gonna get costly. 224 00:14:56,866 --> 00:14:59,866 (bright music ends) 225 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:08,633 (whimsical music) 226 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:37,533 We drove down to South France and we started filming. 227 00:15:37,533 --> 00:15:40,700 There were people picking grapes, 228 00:15:40,700 --> 00:15:44,000 french ladies with their straw hats 229 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:47,066 and picking grapes and that was a start 230 00:15:47,066 --> 00:15:48,800 and I was just getting into it 231 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:50,800 and of course there were times my finger 232 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:53,933 was in front of the lens and (laughs) 233 00:15:53,933 --> 00:15:55,533 it was really terrible. 234 00:15:55,533 --> 00:15:58,366 (mid-tempo music) 235 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:21,833 The one good thing had happened, 236 00:16:21,833 --> 00:16:24,233 and I don't know if you saw 'em there, 237 00:16:24,233 --> 00:16:29,233 but one good thing was that we decided to go to Tarascon 238 00:16:30,466 --> 00:16:34,600 where Van Gogh went to to the asylum there. 239 00:16:35,466 --> 00:16:36,866 It was, as you say, a hospital, 240 00:16:36,866 --> 00:16:41,733 at that time it was a hospital run by nuns 241 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:46,466 and we thought we'd go on at least film around that area, 242 00:16:46,466 --> 00:16:48,066 but when we got there, 243 00:16:48,066 --> 00:16:50,366 we realized that it was being demolished 244 00:16:50,366 --> 00:16:52,133 by a group of Italian walkers, 245 00:16:52,133 --> 00:16:55,100 'cause we were, when we got there, we could see the, 246 00:16:55,100 --> 00:16:57,066 listen to the Italians, they're all sitting 247 00:16:57,066 --> 00:16:59,966 around having lunch, talking Italian 248 00:16:59,966 --> 00:17:03,866 and we thought, wow, you know, the nuns have gone. 249 00:17:03,866 --> 00:17:06,800 Maybe we could get inside, so we did. 250 00:17:08,266 --> 00:17:10,866 the workers didn't see her, they were all sitting together. 251 00:17:10,866 --> 00:17:14,633 We went around the garden, got in through another gate, 252 00:17:14,633 --> 00:17:19,466 got into the asylum itself, the hospital asylum 253 00:17:19,466 --> 00:17:24,466 and I photographed parts of the grounds of the asylum 254 00:17:25,966 --> 00:17:28,833 where the wall was, it appears in several of his paintings 255 00:17:28,833 --> 00:17:32,733 the wall around the Saint-Remy Asylum 256 00:17:32,733 --> 00:17:35,166 and I got into the area of where 257 00:17:35,166 --> 00:17:39,433 they kept people behind bars when they were really 258 00:17:41,366 --> 00:17:44,000 out of their minds and I know Van Gogh 259 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:48,400 for a period of time was locked up behind bars 260 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:51,933 and so I got to one of those cells 261 00:17:51,933 --> 00:17:56,600 and it was wonderful because through the barred window, 262 00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:00,833 you could see olive trees and it was so Van Gogh, you know? 263 00:18:00,833 --> 00:18:05,900 And so I filmed that and when I got home 264 00:18:06,766 --> 00:18:07,933 and looked at everything I had, 265 00:18:07,933 --> 00:18:11,733 I was not nearly enough to make a movie 266 00:18:11,733 --> 00:18:15,766 and the cost was getting too much 267 00:18:15,766 --> 00:18:18,866 and I thought one day I'll put it all together, 268 00:18:18,866 --> 00:18:20,233 but I never did. 269 00:18:20,233 --> 00:18:22,666 I just kept that raw footage and still have it. 270 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,333 We would live in London in a small bed sitter, 271 00:18:28,700 --> 00:18:32,300 she was getting a newspaper from the States 272 00:18:32,300 --> 00:18:37,133 and saw this ad for a farmhouse in Maine 273 00:18:37,133 --> 00:18:40,933 with a hundred acres for $4,000. 274 00:18:40,933 --> 00:18:45,933 So in spur of the moment, we decided to pack up and leave 275 00:18:47,333 --> 00:18:51,933 and I think within a week we had given up our jobs, 276 00:18:53,466 --> 00:18:55,000 packed everything we had, 277 00:18:57,433 --> 00:19:00,400 we traveled in great style 278 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:04,666 across Atlantic on the SSU United States. 279 00:19:04,666 --> 00:19:07,233 (somber music) 280 00:19:23,566 --> 00:19:27,833 When we went to see this place that was advertised, 281 00:19:27,833 --> 00:19:32,633 it was out by Skowhegan and it was April, actually, 282 00:19:32,633 --> 00:19:34,166 it was April, I remember. 283 00:19:34,166 --> 00:19:38,066 When we got to Skowhegan, there was snow on the ground. 284 00:19:38,066 --> 00:19:41,566 It was so miserable looking, there was snow everywhere 285 00:19:41,566 --> 00:19:44,066 and this building, when we got to it 286 00:19:44,066 --> 00:19:47,133 was an old Maine farmhouse, 287 00:19:47,133 --> 00:19:50,200 and it looked like the roof was giving away 288 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:54,900 and we just decided without getting outta the car, 289 00:19:54,900 --> 00:19:56,300 having traveled all this way, 290 00:19:56,300 --> 00:19:57,800 we didn't even get outta the car, 291 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:01,166 we said, "Drive on, let's drive on." 292 00:20:01,166 --> 00:20:04,766 We're not going, not even gonna consider this place. 293 00:20:04,766 --> 00:20:07,633 It was a dream, suddenly came to and abrupt end, 294 00:20:07,633 --> 00:20:10,500 but we ended up late at night in Milbridge 295 00:20:11,666 --> 00:20:14,300 and so we went to a store, 296 00:20:14,300 --> 00:20:16,766 or the store that was open there, 297 00:20:16,766 --> 00:20:19,966 and we asked, was it anywhere where we could stay? 298 00:20:19,966 --> 00:20:22,100 Was a hotel or anything? 299 00:20:22,100 --> 00:20:25,533 And they said there wasn't a hotel in town, 300 00:20:25,533 --> 00:20:30,533 but then she knew someone who has an A-frame on the water 301 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:33,266 and they rent it out, and it's April, 302 00:20:33,266 --> 00:20:34,966 I'm sure you couldn't have it. 303 00:20:34,966 --> 00:20:37,633 So she called up this person 304 00:20:37,633 --> 00:20:39,433 and said, "Fine, they can use it" 305 00:20:39,433 --> 00:20:41,500 and then at night, it was dark at night. 306 00:20:41,500 --> 00:20:44,633 I remember going down to Tom Layton point, 307 00:20:44,633 --> 00:20:47,933 it was on the water, next morning I got up 308 00:20:47,933 --> 00:20:52,366 and went onto the deck and I can't tell you 309 00:20:52,366 --> 00:20:54,000 how beautiful it was. 310 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,800 It was the most beautiful morning I've ever had in Maine. 311 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:01,166 The sun was shining from a cloudless sky, 312 00:21:01,166 --> 00:21:02,900 not a breath of wind. 313 00:21:02,900 --> 00:21:06,900 There were lobster was churning offshore. 314 00:21:06,900 --> 00:21:10,000 You could listen to that lovely noise of the engines, 315 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:14,033 gulls squawking, I thought, this is paradise. 316 00:21:14,033 --> 00:21:17,300 I'm never leaving Maine and I never have. 317 00:21:17,300 --> 00:21:19,966 (gentle music) 318 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:31,933 When I get that feeling of getting ready 319 00:21:31,933 --> 00:21:35,633 and have a vague notion of what I want to do, 320 00:21:35,633 --> 00:21:36,800 I start painting. 321 00:21:38,366 --> 00:21:41,133 The painting itself, 322 00:21:41,133 --> 00:21:45,066 I know from the beginning will never turn out 323 00:21:45,066 --> 00:21:46,366 the way I imagined it to, 324 00:21:47,833 --> 00:21:52,233 because it's going to evolve in its own organic state. 325 00:21:53,666 --> 00:21:58,400 It'll grow in its own way. I am like a vehicle to it. 326 00:21:59,666 --> 00:22:01,766 I am merely holding the brush, but is it, 327 00:22:01,766 --> 00:22:05,433 the painting is beginning to determine what's going to, 328 00:22:05,433 --> 00:22:07,433 how it's going to end up. 329 00:22:07,433 --> 00:22:12,433 So a painting which I start will very often change 330 00:22:13,666 --> 00:22:16,766 multiple times during the course of painting, 331 00:22:16,766 --> 00:22:21,233 until it finally settles in what it wants to be, 332 00:22:21,233 --> 00:22:23,133 not so much what I want it to be, 333 00:22:23,133 --> 00:22:24,133 to a certain extent, of course 334 00:22:24,133 --> 00:22:26,066 that's why I want it to be, 335 00:22:26,066 --> 00:22:31,066 but a painting will determine whether it is right or wrong 336 00:22:31,833 --> 00:22:33,133 on its own, you know? 337 00:22:33,133 --> 00:22:35,166 And you can tell at some point in the painting, 338 00:22:35,166 --> 00:22:37,166 you can say, yes, 339 00:22:37,166 --> 00:22:41,433 it's a, it expresses what I wanted to express. 340 00:22:41,433 --> 00:22:43,066 It's there on its own. 341 00:22:45,733 --> 00:22:47,066 I don't have to touch it. 342 00:22:47,066 --> 00:22:49,666 It lives, it lives now on the canvas. 343 00:22:51,766 --> 00:22:56,500 It's a process and it's a journey for 344 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,733 you are led rather than you're leading, 345 00:23:00,733 --> 00:23:04,666 you are led and eventually you get to where you wanna go 346 00:23:04,666 --> 00:23:09,466 or you don't, you know, and sometimes you just get lost, 347 00:23:10,700 --> 00:23:13,233 less so now than before, 348 00:23:13,233 --> 00:23:18,233 because now I know the terrain better so that wherever I go, 349 00:23:20,966 --> 00:23:25,100 I've got a better knowledge of arriving. 350 00:23:25,100 --> 00:23:27,766 (gentle music) 351 00:23:30,633 --> 00:23:34,066 You know, it's like, well, Picasso expressed it perfectly 352 00:23:34,066 --> 00:23:37,833 when he says, "I do not seek, I find" 353 00:23:37,833 --> 00:23:38,866 and that to me is true. 354 00:23:38,866 --> 00:23:41,166 You don't seek, you find. 355 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:44,633 Good art, great art is discovery, you know, 356 00:23:46,300 --> 00:23:48,800 and it's a very rare thing, you know, 357 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:53,066 and I'm not saying that I can do it. 358 00:23:53,066 --> 00:23:55,966 I try to do it, is all I can say, I try to find, 359 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:02,166 but that to me that, all great art is a discovery 360 00:24:03,300 --> 00:24:04,933 and all great art lives on its own. 361 00:24:07,700 --> 00:24:12,333 You can look at a Cezanne or Van Gogh or Rembrandt, 362 00:24:12,333 --> 00:24:14,933 and it's is fresh and lively 363 00:24:14,933 --> 00:24:17,766 and important as the day it was painted. 364 00:24:17,766 --> 00:24:21,166 It exists no different from the day it was painted. 365 00:24:21,166 --> 00:24:26,166 It has that strength and life that it had given, 366 00:24:27,033 --> 00:24:28,566 you know, by whoever created it. 367 00:24:28,566 --> 00:24:31,200 It's still there strong as ever 368 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:33,500 and that to me is a great work of art. 369 00:24:33,500 --> 00:24:36,166 (gentle music) 370 00:24:41,500 --> 00:24:46,500 An artist who is able to communicate with another person 371 00:24:47,933 --> 00:24:52,300 is communicating his, what he feels through his senses. 372 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:55,766 He's communicating that, 373 00:24:55,766 --> 00:25:00,733 but maybe in that sense is autobiographical. 374 00:25:00,733 --> 00:25:02,633 It's all to do with your, 375 00:25:02,633 --> 00:25:05,666 what it is that makes you spiritually alive. 376 00:25:05,666 --> 00:25:10,266 How you feel alive at this moment, at this time 377 00:25:10,266 --> 00:25:14,666 and you can, and a onlooker can tap into that 378 00:25:14,666 --> 00:25:17,733 and get the experience that person had. 379 00:25:17,733 --> 00:25:22,033 You know, that's, it's that ability to transmit 380 00:25:23,566 --> 00:25:26,066 how you feel to a onlooker 381 00:25:26,066 --> 00:25:30,866 and how we can react to this, that is important or not, 382 00:25:30,866 --> 00:25:33,266 it's not just something pretty you hang up. 383 00:25:33,266 --> 00:25:35,866 (somber music) 384 00:25:45,500 --> 00:25:47,966 Going back to the Van Gogh, when he stood in front 385 00:25:47,966 --> 00:25:52,966 of those waving trees and felt the wind in his face, 386 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:56,500 you can feel that wind, you can see that tree, 387 00:25:56,500 --> 00:26:00,866 you can be there, you can feel exactly how Van Gogh felt 388 00:26:00,866 --> 00:26:02,900 when he set up his easel to paint it, 389 00:26:02,900 --> 00:26:05,133 he brought you right into his senses, 390 00:26:06,300 --> 00:26:09,266 into his whole spiritual being. 391 00:26:09,266 --> 00:26:11,833 That to me is great art, when you can do that, 392 00:26:11,833 --> 00:26:13,533 when a painter can do that for you 393 00:26:15,233 --> 00:26:19,500 and that's when you know you've done a successful painting 394 00:26:19,500 --> 00:26:22,866 when the painting tells you, "Leave me alone, 395 00:26:22,866 --> 00:26:24,366 I'm a living thing" and it is. 396 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,000 (somber music) 397 00:26:38,766 --> 00:26:42,633 Her mother died of breast cancer, 398 00:26:42,633 --> 00:26:45,600 so there was a history of breast cancer in the family. 399 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,333 It still came, of course, as a terrible shock 400 00:26:50,333 --> 00:26:55,166 when she had a test and found that she had breast cancer. 401 00:26:57,266 --> 00:26:59,266 We were living in Blue Hill at the time. 402 00:27:00,433 --> 00:27:03,066 We went to the doctor's in Bangor 403 00:27:03,066 --> 00:27:07,633 and he suggested with surgery she'd be all right. 404 00:27:07,633 --> 00:27:10,333 So she went to Boston, had surgery, 405 00:27:12,566 --> 00:27:16,800 it seemed fine now, but less than two years passed 406 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,066 when she got ill again, 407 00:27:19,066 --> 00:27:22,233 (poignant music) 408 00:27:22,233 --> 00:27:27,233 she died within about four months of the second occurrence. 409 00:27:27,833 --> 00:27:30,466 (poignant music) 410 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:49,133 I couldn't stay in Maine after what had happened. 411 00:27:49,133 --> 00:27:52,666 I did actually go back and stayed with my mother and father 412 00:27:52,666 --> 00:27:57,166 for about two months and I realized even though I was home, 413 00:27:57,166 --> 00:28:02,166 it was my home town, Troon, I realized that 414 00:28:03,366 --> 00:28:06,833 this was not my place, it wasn't for me, 415 00:28:06,833 --> 00:28:11,833 that I had left my life in Maine and I had to return there. 416 00:28:12,900 --> 00:28:14,466 It was where I had to paint 417 00:28:14,466 --> 00:28:17,666 and where I had to continue my life again. 418 00:28:17,666 --> 00:28:20,166 So after two months of being in Britain, 419 00:28:21,633 --> 00:28:26,400 I came back to Maine and I continued living in Blue Hill. 420 00:28:30,266 --> 00:28:32,200 I was working very hard. 421 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,933 I had several galleries and shows going on 422 00:28:35,933 --> 00:28:40,933 and that kept me from, well, from from breaking down. 423 00:28:43,133 --> 00:28:48,000 I kept working and my painting was my crutch 424 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:49,433 and then the painting 425 00:28:49,433 --> 00:28:51,666 was what really saw me through that terrible time. 426 00:28:52,533 --> 00:28:55,266 (poignant music) 427 00:29:21,866 --> 00:29:25,700 - William Irvine's style of art is based in expressionism. 428 00:29:25,700 --> 00:29:28,700 So he isn't interested in representation, 429 00:29:28,700 --> 00:29:31,800 he's more interested in the feeling that, 430 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,166 or the emotion that somebody's gonna respond to 431 00:29:34,166 --> 00:29:35,533 when they look at his work. 432 00:29:49,366 --> 00:29:53,633 He doesn't get rid of representational objects completely. 433 00:29:53,633 --> 00:29:57,400 It's important to Bill that he keeps them in there 434 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,100 to bring his audience in. 435 00:30:00,100 --> 00:30:01,366 There's enough reality 436 00:30:01,366 --> 00:30:03,966 so that his interpretation is believable. 437 00:30:05,766 --> 00:30:08,800 He's getting rid of the logic, you know? 438 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:11,633 'Cause when you get focused on the logic, 439 00:30:11,633 --> 00:30:13,566 you're not in touch with your emotions. 440 00:30:17,700 --> 00:30:21,333 That's what his goal is in making his paintings 441 00:30:21,333 --> 00:30:25,100 and he's mentioned that famous quote before 442 00:30:25,100 --> 00:30:28,800 about how the principle of art is not to portray, 443 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,966 but to evoke and that's really the basis 444 00:30:31,966 --> 00:30:33,900 of what all his painting is about. 445 00:30:42,466 --> 00:30:45,900 - A friend knew that I was interested in playing poker 446 00:30:45,900 --> 00:30:48,733 and said, oh, you gotta join Bill and Marge 447 00:30:48,733 --> 00:30:52,266 in a local friendly poker game 448 00:30:52,266 --> 00:30:57,233 and that was about 20 years ago, so we became poker buddies. 449 00:30:58,333 --> 00:30:59,700 Bill is a very good poker player, 450 00:30:59,700 --> 00:31:03,133 and I learned a lot just by playing with him 451 00:31:03,133 --> 00:31:07,500 and it's probably more about the great food 452 00:31:07,500 --> 00:31:10,266 and the camaraderie than it actually is the card. 453 00:31:12,566 --> 00:31:16,366 It took us about two or three years of making work together 454 00:31:16,366 --> 00:31:19,233 before we actually got some finished pieces 455 00:31:19,233 --> 00:31:21,266 that we felt good about. 456 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,300 The process of actually painting 457 00:31:25,300 --> 00:31:28,766 on porcelain clay is difficult. 458 00:31:28,766 --> 00:31:30,800 There's reasons historically I think 459 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:33,366 why people use blue and white 460 00:31:33,366 --> 00:31:36,566 or very specific colors with ceramics, 461 00:31:36,566 --> 00:31:40,266 because they're a little bit easier than others. 462 00:31:40,266 --> 00:31:45,266 Bill's color choices, he wanted access to every color 463 00:31:46,466 --> 00:31:48,200 that's in the crayon box, if you will. 464 00:31:52,733 --> 00:31:54,133 - [William] Thinking of Picasso pottering, 465 00:31:54,133 --> 00:31:56,433 I thought maybe I could do something like that. 466 00:31:56,433 --> 00:32:00,133 Well, I didn't actually, but that's how we got started. 467 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:07,400 An interesting, quite exciting addition to what I do, 468 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:11,566 it's not a direct offshoot of my painting. 469 00:32:11,566 --> 00:32:14,066 It's really a kind of addition to my painting. 470 00:32:17,733 --> 00:32:20,900 You have to imagine how it's going to come out 471 00:32:20,900 --> 00:32:23,200 because the colors don't come out exactly the way 472 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:27,333 in which you put them on, to change somewhat in the firing. 473 00:32:27,333 --> 00:32:29,300 So you have to have a certain knowledge 474 00:32:29,300 --> 00:32:31,566 of how the glaze is going to turn out 475 00:32:32,666 --> 00:32:34,466 and sometimes you miscalculate, 476 00:32:34,466 --> 00:32:37,700 I did that once, I was a miscalculate once. 477 00:32:37,700 --> 00:32:40,433 I thought I would do it putting on a gray, 478 00:32:40,433 --> 00:32:44,633 but when it's fired, it came out a pale green, 479 00:32:44,633 --> 00:32:47,833 and it completely and totally ruined my pots 480 00:32:47,833 --> 00:32:50,433 as far as I'm concerned, actual fact, 481 00:32:50,433 --> 00:32:53,966 some of them sold actually, but I never liked those pots 482 00:32:53,966 --> 00:32:57,066 because the green was supposed to be gray 483 00:32:57,066 --> 00:33:00,666 and it disturbed the whole color combination for me, 484 00:33:00,666 --> 00:33:02,966 but that's what happens, you have to be careful, 485 00:33:02,966 --> 00:33:04,566 get to know what you're doing. 486 00:33:12,033 --> 00:33:16,500 - When I really think of what I've contributed to ceramics 487 00:33:16,500 --> 00:33:20,033 is I love color and I love glazing, 488 00:33:20,033 --> 00:33:22,500 and I get my colors really through the application 489 00:33:22,500 --> 00:33:23,966 of one glaze over another, 490 00:33:23,966 --> 00:33:27,033 like a clear glaze over an opaque glaze 491 00:33:27,033 --> 00:33:31,333 or translucent glazes underneath a transparent glaze. 492 00:33:31,333 --> 00:33:34,500 So I get a lot of depth in my color 493 00:33:34,500 --> 00:33:35,766 through my own work. 494 00:33:37,666 --> 00:33:40,233 Bill, you know, he's really going for 495 00:33:40,233 --> 00:33:43,566 a real painterly surface on that pot. 496 00:33:43,566 --> 00:33:45,666 So yes, he does challenge me 497 00:33:45,666 --> 00:33:49,000 and I've had, (chuckles) he'd love to work larger, 498 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:50,400 large porcelain plates, 499 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:52,600 most of the time when we made really large plates, 500 00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:53,900 they've cracked. 501 00:33:53,900 --> 00:33:56,266 It's just not a clay that wants to be big. 502 00:33:56,266 --> 00:34:00,133 It's not that difficult, I think in his world 503 00:34:00,133 --> 00:34:02,633 to have canvases that are really big 504 00:34:02,633 --> 00:34:06,000 and to, you know, tackle big canvases and ceramics, 505 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:08,966 it's so hard and we lose so many 506 00:34:08,966 --> 00:34:11,266 as you incrementally get bigger 507 00:34:14,233 --> 00:34:15,866 and Bill does challenge me, 508 00:34:15,866 --> 00:34:18,900 but I think of it mostly as in poker (chuckles) 509 00:34:18,900 --> 00:34:21,600 than actually making the artwork. 510 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:26,233 I feel like now we've got a pretty simple way of, 511 00:34:26,233 --> 00:34:28,466 you know, getting the things that we need 512 00:34:28,466 --> 00:34:32,666 and we're still exploring all the different things 513 00:34:32,666 --> 00:34:35,733 that we can do with color and layers of color. 514 00:34:40,033 --> 00:34:43,700 Quite often we do kiln openings with other people present 515 00:34:43,700 --> 00:34:46,666 and so, you know, once in a while we get a bad one 516 00:34:46,666 --> 00:34:48,433 and kind of like hide it off to the side 517 00:34:48,433 --> 00:34:49,566 as it's coming out of the kiln, 518 00:34:49,566 --> 00:34:51,600 but there's been no greater joy 519 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:53,066 than to actually share it with people 520 00:34:53,066 --> 00:34:55,466 who admire Bill and his work. 521 00:34:55,466 --> 00:34:58,466 You know, the pots come alive in that moment 522 00:34:58,466 --> 00:35:00,133 when they come out of the kiln 523 00:35:00,133 --> 00:35:03,200 and if we're careful with those pieces, you know, 524 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:06,600 they still could be here 10,000 years from now. 525 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:08,133 You know, there is a timelessness 526 00:35:08,133 --> 00:35:10,433 about the porcelain ceramics 527 00:35:10,433 --> 00:35:15,033 that certainly could far outlive any of his paintings. 528 00:35:17,366 --> 00:35:20,500 Those images, unless they get scratched or something 529 00:35:20,500 --> 00:35:23,933 on the surface, those images will be a part 530 00:35:23,933 --> 00:35:28,133 of Bill's history and certainly my history too. 531 00:35:31,333 --> 00:35:34,533 - Well, it's an extraordinary correspondence, 532 00:35:34,533 --> 00:35:37,566 it spans decades. 533 00:35:37,566 --> 00:35:39,400 So the whole time they were separated, 534 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:40,966 they were writing to one another 535 00:35:40,966 --> 00:35:44,000 and they would write not only about their work, 536 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:47,833 about their process, about where they were showing, 537 00:35:47,833 --> 00:35:51,400 what they were selling, but they would also write about art 538 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:53,666 and what was happening on the art scene 539 00:35:53,666 --> 00:35:56,366 and some of the painters that they knew. 540 00:35:56,366 --> 00:35:59,300 It's a really incredible correspondence. 541 00:36:03,933 --> 00:36:08,933 They saw things through the same eyes in a lot of ways 542 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,733 and they were very, very close. 543 00:36:13,733 --> 00:36:16,500 (poignant music) 544 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,400 - Blue Hill, August the 28th, 1990. 545 00:36:35,966 --> 00:36:40,700 "Dear Bill, I got a fright when I saw your letter headed 546 00:36:40,700 --> 00:36:43,166 'Ban free hospital.' 547 00:36:43,166 --> 00:36:46,900 Please no more letters from hospitals. 548 00:36:46,900 --> 00:36:50,366 Write to me when you're drunk on Andalusian wine, 549 00:36:50,366 --> 00:36:53,766 sentimental before a Scottish fire, 550 00:36:53,766 --> 00:36:57,466 boisterous in Ballydehob but no more letters 551 00:36:57,466 --> 00:36:58,533 from room four. 552 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,933 I want you to live as long as me. 553 00:37:02,933 --> 00:37:07,933 No longer, but as long, but enough of this, 554 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:10,533 we have 10,000 days to live. 555 00:37:10,533 --> 00:37:14,233 A thousand paintings to paint you at least 2000 556 00:37:14,233 --> 00:37:15,600 for your more prolific. 557 00:37:16,466 --> 00:37:18,966 Thank you for the fine catalog. 558 00:37:18,966 --> 00:37:23,900 It was good to see the Troon paintings, the girls of Togs. 559 00:37:23,900 --> 00:37:28,700 I almost heard the Saturday dance music from the town hall. 560 00:37:28,700 --> 00:37:33,500 Moonlight on the shore, shadows under the railway bridge, 561 00:37:33,500 --> 00:37:38,500 love and longing, Frida Kahlos, good days at Ballast bank." 562 00:37:39,133 --> 00:37:41,100 (somber music) 563 00:37:48,033 --> 00:37:52,500 Blue Hill, January the third, 1984. 564 00:37:54,966 --> 00:37:57,266 "It's late on a summer night 565 00:37:57,266 --> 00:38:00,666 with June bogs banging against the dark pens 566 00:38:00,666 --> 00:38:03,500 and cries of agony from the woods. 567 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,800 Stephanie is away on a trip 568 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:10,066 and I am by the typewriter with a wee fire 569 00:38:10,066 --> 00:38:13,766 and a Pina Colada to water off the damp. 570 00:38:13,766 --> 00:38:18,700 Over here, it is summer again, but haven't yet thought out. 571 00:38:18,700 --> 00:38:20,766 The juices are still to flow. 572 00:38:22,100 --> 00:38:24,966 It's hard to start again, still up, yet energy, 573 00:38:24,966 --> 00:38:28,133 which was so easy in those early Scottish days. 574 00:38:28,133 --> 00:38:31,366 A walk by the beach, under a railroad bridge 575 00:38:31,366 --> 00:38:34,333 coffee at Togs was all it took. 576 00:38:34,333 --> 00:38:39,333 Last night I thought of an old friend of yours, John Aldous, 577 00:38:40,566 --> 00:38:42,833 who once did a rather nice painting of Wales. 578 00:38:42,833 --> 00:38:46,566 I'm having a studio built at my cottage by the sea. 579 00:38:46,566 --> 00:38:48,566 It'll be finished in another two weeks 580 00:38:48,566 --> 00:38:49,966 with skylights and all. 581 00:38:49,966 --> 00:38:53,166 There is a single window which looks across the ocean 582 00:38:53,166 --> 00:38:54,766 to small islands. 583 00:38:54,766 --> 00:38:57,033 No junk will be permitted. 584 00:38:57,033 --> 00:39:01,100 No temporary refuge for unwanted furniture. 585 00:39:01,100 --> 00:39:05,266 Just a nice clean room with a dancing colors. 586 00:39:05,266 --> 00:39:08,866 There I will do the definitive rooms. 587 00:39:08,866 --> 00:39:12,300 My Ayrshire legacy to Americans. 588 00:39:12,300 --> 00:39:14,266 So how's everything with you? 589 00:39:14,266 --> 00:39:17,666 Send me a letter, a postcard, write me a poem." 590 00:39:17,666 --> 00:39:20,233 (somber music) 591 00:39:37,266 --> 00:39:41,466 I do miss him. I miss him a lot actually. 592 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:47,300 Not, I miss the letters that we and I miss not write, 593 00:39:49,033 --> 00:39:51,933 being able to write to someone about art 594 00:39:51,933 --> 00:39:54,233 the way I did with Bill. 595 00:39:54,233 --> 00:39:57,933 You know, we'd always write about our art, you know, 596 00:39:59,133 --> 00:40:00,433 to a certain extent 597 00:40:00,433 --> 00:40:01,600 what we were doing and that sort of thing, 598 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:03,533 but we wrote about art 599 00:40:03,533 --> 00:40:07,100 and I would know exactly what he was doing 600 00:40:07,100 --> 00:40:11,333 and he would send me photographs of his work or catalogs. 601 00:40:11,333 --> 00:40:13,533 I have several catalogs that he sent me, 602 00:40:13,533 --> 00:40:18,300 he even sent me a tea towel with my name on it, 603 00:40:18,300 --> 00:40:23,300 but anyhow, so I do miss not having someone 604 00:40:24,166 --> 00:40:28,366 that I can write about art, 605 00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:33,733 about my paintings and of course his paintings through me. 606 00:40:33,733 --> 00:40:37,266 He had a big opening, 607 00:40:37,266 --> 00:40:39,300 I don't know if I mentioned this other, 608 00:40:39,300 --> 00:40:44,266 but the last time I saw him, he had a opening in London 609 00:40:45,500 --> 00:40:47,633 at a major gallery, the Flowers Gallery 610 00:40:47,633 --> 00:40:52,600 and he asked me if I would go over to the opening and I did 611 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:59,133 and there was a marvelous opening 612 00:40:59,133 --> 00:41:03,633 and I met some of the friends that he knew 613 00:41:03,633 --> 00:41:06,633 that I hadn't seen in a long time 614 00:41:06,633 --> 00:41:11,633 and afterwards we went to the Groucho Marx, 615 00:41:12,500 --> 00:41:14,066 the Groucho Marx Club in London, 616 00:41:14,066 --> 00:41:18,900 which is well known for its famous people 617 00:41:18,900 --> 00:41:23,900 and so I had a marvelous several days in London with him. 618 00:41:26,533 --> 00:41:31,533 Then as I say, then I left and never got back to London 619 00:41:33,533 --> 00:41:38,466 because I lost my passport, couldn't get over. 620 00:41:38,466 --> 00:41:40,700 Even when he was dying I would've gone over, 621 00:41:40,700 --> 00:41:42,000 but I couldn't do that. 622 00:41:43,366 --> 00:41:45,433 So anyhow, that was, 623 00:41:45,433 --> 00:41:50,400 that was that. (somber music) 624 00:42:14,100 --> 00:42:19,100 This is Blue Hill, January the second, 2008. 625 00:42:20,466 --> 00:42:23,866 "Dear Bill, just a note to wish you and Catherine 626 00:42:23,866 --> 00:42:25,533 a happy new year. 627 00:42:25,533 --> 00:42:28,966 How time has flown since I saw you both in London 628 00:42:28,966 --> 00:42:31,733 and for a grand time I had being with you 629 00:42:31,733 --> 00:42:33,833 during those eventful days, 630 00:42:33,833 --> 00:42:36,866 seeing Joe again and sharing in the fun. 631 00:42:36,866 --> 00:42:39,433 Your book arrived a few weeks ago. 632 00:42:39,433 --> 00:42:43,033 I have spent many days pouring over it. 633 00:42:43,033 --> 00:42:45,433 It is a grand book, finesse 634 00:42:45,433 --> 00:42:47,466 and the best reproduction of color 635 00:42:47,466 --> 00:42:49,833 I have seen in an art book. 636 00:42:49,833 --> 00:42:51,600 That photo of you with the paintings 637 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:56,433 in front of your shed in Troon brought back so much to me 638 00:42:56,433 --> 00:43:00,166 of those earlier days when we were just beginning. 639 00:43:01,100 --> 00:43:03,566 I loved those paintings. 640 00:43:03,566 --> 00:43:08,566 Women gathering sea coal, girl in Togs Cafe. 641 00:43:09,466 --> 00:43:10,833 They are not massive species, 642 00:43:10,833 --> 00:43:13,800 but they do contain all the excitement of someone 643 00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:16,433 who has discovered the mystery of art. 644 00:43:16,433 --> 00:43:21,433 The alchemy to change life into shapes and colors. 645 00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:26,066 It's all there, the genesis of a life's obsession. 646 00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,700 We are having the snowiest winter ever here. 647 00:43:31,700 --> 00:43:33,933 It has snowed every day in December 648 00:43:33,933 --> 00:43:37,366 and the bloody landscape looks like a grand mimosa. 649 00:43:37,366 --> 00:43:39,566 My studio window is blinkered in snow. 650 00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:42,366 I've lost my wood pile. 651 00:43:42,366 --> 00:43:45,533 The cat won't go out and has threatened suicide 652 00:43:45,533 --> 00:43:50,366 unless I bring the grass back, which won't be until April. 653 00:43:51,566 --> 00:43:54,266 On the other hand, this confinement has produced 654 00:43:54,266 --> 00:43:56,800 a burst of energy in my painting. 655 00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:59,666 New ideas, getting away from the constraints 656 00:43:59,666 --> 00:44:02,366 of familiar and comfortable subjects. 657 00:44:02,366 --> 00:44:06,100 I'm not sure where all this is leading, but it feels right 658 00:44:06,100 --> 00:44:10,266 and at my extreme age, I can do whatever I like. 659 00:44:10,266 --> 00:44:13,533 None of this makes much sense unless I send you photos, 660 00:44:13,533 --> 00:44:14,700 but I will in time. 661 00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:19,233 It is this exploration of that personal mythology 662 00:44:19,233 --> 00:44:21,033 that defines us. 663 00:44:21,033 --> 00:44:24,333 For us, who've been painting over half a century, 664 00:44:24,333 --> 00:44:28,266 there is no such thing as originality. 665 00:44:28,266 --> 00:44:32,400 We rework our poems to make them clearer. 666 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:35,766 That's why Crozier's are so easily recognized, 667 00:44:35,766 --> 00:44:39,800 even when they appear upside down in auction catalogs, 668 00:44:40,900 --> 00:44:45,166 an early Essex landscape for instance. 669 00:44:45,166 --> 00:44:49,666 What I mean is though all the work is original to others, 670 00:44:49,666 --> 00:44:52,766 to ourselves, we cannot change." 671 00:44:52,766 --> 00:44:55,366 (somber music) 672 00:46:03,333 --> 00:46:05,700 The thing about a thing that's outta reach 673 00:46:05,700 --> 00:46:10,700 is that that final painting you never reach, 674 00:46:11,533 --> 00:46:12,633 it's always out of reach. 675 00:46:12,633 --> 00:46:15,666 All you can do is try to reach it, 676 00:46:15,666 --> 00:46:17,766 that's the process of painting. 677 00:46:17,766 --> 00:46:19,766 No artist in his right mind 678 00:46:19,766 --> 00:46:23,633 will ever do the perfect painting and stop painting, 679 00:46:23,633 --> 00:46:25,066 'cause that's it. 680 00:46:25,066 --> 00:46:27,666 It's a search for the perfect painting 681 00:46:27,666 --> 00:46:31,333 that keeps an artist going, all artists going. 682 00:46:31,333 --> 00:46:35,066 It's that, it's a search that's important, 683 00:46:35,066 --> 00:46:38,233 you know, wanting to get there, 684 00:46:38,233 --> 00:46:40,966 but knowing you'll never get there, 685 00:46:42,300 --> 00:46:45,466 because you're always looking for that painting 686 00:46:45,466 --> 00:46:47,066 beyond the one you're doing. 687 00:46:50,633 --> 00:46:55,433 Every artist is born with a small set of poems 688 00:46:55,433 --> 00:46:59,800 and it's the exploration of that personal mythology 689 00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:02,266 that defines him as an artist 690 00:47:02,266 --> 00:47:06,800 and I feel that real artists are born 691 00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:09,133 with a certain number of things 692 00:47:10,066 --> 00:47:12,866 they wish to express. 693 00:47:12,866 --> 00:47:17,733 Perhaps their own personality, their own take on life. 694 00:47:19,466 --> 00:47:24,466 They have that and it's very personal and you can explore, 695 00:47:26,900 --> 00:47:29,266 an artist like that can explore 696 00:47:29,266 --> 00:47:32,366 as many wild thoughts and ideas as possible, 697 00:47:32,366 --> 00:47:36,266 but he's always confined to those personal poems 698 00:47:36,266 --> 00:47:37,766 that he was born with. 699 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:42,433 You cannot go outside yourself completely, 700 00:47:42,433 --> 00:47:44,366 no matter how much you try. 701 00:47:44,366 --> 00:47:47,766 You'll always be yourself as a painter. 702 00:47:47,766 --> 00:47:49,100 If you're a good painter, 703 00:47:49,100 --> 00:47:51,500 you will be true to yourself always. 704 00:47:51,500 --> 00:47:54,066 (bright music) 705 00:48:21,033 --> 00:48:24,433 (bright music continues) 706 00:48:51,100 --> 00:48:54,500 (bright music continues) 707 00:49:21,033 --> 00:49:24,466 (bright music continues) 708 00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:54,400 (bright music continues) 709 00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:03,366 (lively music) 710 00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:33,433 (lively music continues)