Uriel

Uriel (אוּרִיאֵל "El/God is my Light," Auriel/Oriel (God is my Light) Standard Hebrew Uriʾel, Tiberian Hebrew ʾÛrîʾēl) is one of the archangels of post-Exilic Rabbinic tradition, and also of some Christian traditions, ie Anglo-Catholic, Eastern Orthodox.

While The Book of Tobit is accepted as scriptural by the Roman Catholic Church, only reverence of the archangels mentioned in the recognised Catholic canon of scriptures, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, remain licit. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Oriental Orthodox Church, Uriel is commemorated together with the other archangels and angels with a feast day of the "Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers." In apocryphal, kabbalistic and occult works, Uriel has been confused with Urial. For Anglo-Catholics within the Anglican Communion, Uriel is an Archangel and also the Patron Saint of the Sacrament of Confirmation.

The Anglo-Catholic intercessional prayer to Saint Uriel the Archangel is as follows:

Oh holy Saint Uriel, intercede for us that our hearts may burn with the fire of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Assist us in co-operating with the graces of our confirmation that the gifts of the

Holy Spirit may bear much fruit in our souls.

Obtain for us the grace to use the sword of truth to pare away all that is not in conformity to the most adorable

Will of God in our lives, that we may fully participate in the army of the Church.

Amen

'Trane

John William Coltrane, also known as 'Trane (23 September 1926 – 17 July 1967), is probably the most influential tenor saxophonist of the twentieth century. When I walked into Star Records, a tiny jazz record shop in Islington, in 1960 and bought a copy of Giant Steps I knew instantly that this was a sound heading in a direction that would change jazz forever. As his career progressed, 'Trane and his music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension, culminating in something unrecognisable to the bebop and hard bop styles that were his springboard earlier on. He entered what were distinctly avant-garde modes, and undoubtedly became a pioneer at the forefront of free jazz. And yet 'Trane was so very much more than that.

I wanted my portrait of 'Trane to depict the giant he became within modern jazz; also his spiritual journey.

"My goal is to live a truly religious life, and express it in my music. If you live it, when you play there's no problem because the music is part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am - my faith, my knowledge, my being."

- John Coltrane

RA = 12h 00m 00s + longitude = 180°

RA = 12^h 00^m 00^s + longitude = 180°

Diana

Diana

(1944 ― 2003)

My dearest friend and colleague, Diana, who owned the print gallery in Highgate, gave incredible support to all my projects. Sadly, she is no longer with us, having been taken swiftly by cancer early in the new century, but she nonetheless lived to see me reach the promised place.

______________________________

 

Second and third alternate impressions.

Milkman

Childhood memories of gas lamps glowing

Dimly while distant hooves clip-clop 

On cobbles with the noise growing

Of rattling crates of milk on top

And the yodel of the milkman

As he dismounts his cart

Horse-drawn and then

The deliveries start.

Eucharist

The final meal Jesus shared with His Apostles in Jerusalem before His crucifixion, death and resurrection.

Jeru

Gerry Mulligan wrote and/or arranged six of the eleven tunes on the album Birth of the Cool. But it was Miles Davis who, as Gerry explained it "put the theories to work, called the rehearsals, hired the halls, and generally cracked the whip." Miles Davis nicknamed Gerry "Jeru," a name Gerry was very fond of. Although recorded in New York, this new sound became synonymous with the laid-back lifestyle of the West and became known as "West Coast Jazz."

When I was barely a teenager, a neighbour by the name of Tony Reakie honked a big horn nearby. Wiry as a pipe-cleaner, Tony could blow some winsome riffs on his baritone sax. Tony Reekie liked Gerry Mulligan and looked like the musician (who is pictured on the album cover at the foot of this page). I blew a tenor saxophone and eventually, much later, evolved to baritone. I now play both with equal enthusiasm, but have also more recently moved on to the bass saxophone as well. When I heard Tony riffing his Mulliganesque muses I felt an affinity. I stayed with jazz, occasionally returning to early rock, and enjoy everything from hard bop to more experimental and challenging avant-garde pieces. Though my instrument of choice has always been and shall remain the tenor sax (a vintage Selmer Mark VI being my absolute pride and joy), immense pleasure is given playing and performing on the larger horns.

My intention and hope is that my portrait in oils achieves some of the cool warmth of the man Jeru and his unique "West Coast Jazz" sound.