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I am a writer of novels, plays and film scripts. I live in Manchester England with my partner Andy and our teenage son Jack. Andy and I started my Newsletter Raw Meat and began publishing with Rawprintz in 1999 to showcase my work. Some of you may be confused by my continual references to Ziggy, that’s my wheelchair! Both Andy and I are writers. I’ve recently lost my sight – hence the continual reference to my being confused! Thanks for visiting.

My Comrades...

12.6.10

John Keats Circa. 1819


Here's one of my many sketches of historical hero's, this time one of the greatest Romantic poets John Keats. I can remember actually copying this sketch from the cover of Keats' biography in about 1980, in my flat at Offerton, even though Andy says there's no date on it. Although I'm not generally a big liker of poetry, Keats is one chap who's poetry I do really admire and know quite a bit about - I did my BA dissertation on the poetry of Byron, Keats, and Shelley. If I remember rightly (it was many years ago) the title of this dissertation was The evil of sensuality in the poetry of Keats, Byron, and Shelley. Good title eh? I should have put my sketch on the cover, as I did with Wilde for my MA dissertation Reinventing Wilde a few years ago. The reason I like Keats' poetry so much is because it's so immediate and tangible - straight away you can feel it moving, taste it on your tongue and see the colours changing. I also think he had a Romantic tragic end - dieing of consumption on a boat on the way to Italy where he was hoping to make a recovery. He was only twenty-five when he died. I don't know anything about the original artist C A Brown, but I presume he was one of Keats' chums.

4 comments:

  1. I like this - his face looks very real.

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  2. Me too... He looks deep in concentration.

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  3. Well done Nic! I didn't know you have a talent for sketching and painting! The Keats portrait gives me the impression that he is very serious and at the the same time frustrated with what he is contemplating. I don't get the feeling he is depressed or sad. Do you have more sketches?

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  4. Hi Felix, collecting together all my sketches and paintings has made me realise what a prolific artist I used to be! I never realised before quite how many I'd done until Andy took photos of them all, so the answer to your question is yes, I've got lots more to show. It's also made me slightly sad thinking about the talent I've now lost completely... though maybe not completely, because I might just take up my paint brush or pen once again and see what happens... Andy reassures me that there are plenty of blind artists around, so... thanks for your comments anyway, they're much apprecieted. Love Nic

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