Middlefocus

Really enjoyed this memoir from the reserved shelves of Libraries NI.  An account of three artists, George Campbell, Gerard Dillon and James MacIntyre spending the summer of 1951 on the Island of Inishlacken on the western coast of Ireland across from Roundstone, County Galway. James was the youngest of the three and the author of the memoir. Gerard died in 1971, George in 1979 and James in 2015. What I liked about this memoir was the sense of comradeship and adventure back in the early 1950s. The stories of the artistic community in Belfast of the time and the familiar (to me) places mentioned all combined to keep me turning the pages. There are delightful pen portraits of the characters and islanders. The observations on the work of artists developing their style were fascinating. I went in search of this book having heard about it through the publicity for an event in the FE McWilliam Gallery in Banbridge. Back in November 2025 the Friends of the Gallery hosted an artist talk b...

Visited this exhibition at TheMacBelfast  today. Okay the sound was off but that didn't detract from a wonderful deepdive into the sea bed.  I'll be back to experience it again.  It's on to January. Why? The dark is inviting.  The colours stand out.  I didn't touch but Oh... how I wished to roll in that seaweed texture. Wonderful! The textures, the colours, the shapes, the fabrics. The creative process.   Do yourself a favour. If you are near this immerse yourself and Let flow!

Four reads for November.  Not weighty tomes this time but already sure that there will be plenty of stimulating content. Fiction: Breaking Point by Edel COFFEY Non-fiction: Women and Power, a manifesto by Mary BEARD French literature: L'Heure Exquise by Dominique BARBÉRIS Poetry and Drama: Red Velvet by Lolita CHAKRABARTI I've set myself a new goal of reading a lot more non-fiction - a genre that will include essays, biographies and commentaries.  Add to that a work of fiction each month as well as a French text and some poetry/drama. We'll see how that develops.

Managed to squeeze-in-a-read on our trip in Turkey.  How appropriate that it should be Orhan PAMUK's The Red-Haired Woman .  I thoroughly enjoyed this story which reprised aspects of the Oedipus myth - the interplay of tensions between fathers and sons. The context of the novel is well-digging in a small town on the outskirts of Istanbul. The red-haired woman is a member of a travelling troup of actors who visit the town. She becomes the object of our narrator's attention. There is a connection with the father. A terrible accident occurs and there follows decades of repressed guilt... and an unexpected denouement.  The story definitely kept my interest and the final pages definitely caught me off guard. Reading those I simply had to go back and restart the novel. Really?  Check it out - you'll get my drift. It was fascinating to read a novel in situ - travelling through parts of Istanbul mentioned in the story. I finished it while there but I didn't take th...

  Wasn't able to make this event - abroad on travels - but have read the book which I much enjoyed. Anyone out there attend? Reaction? What a great idea.