I only saw Francis now and then. As an artist, I often turned to the subject of what art should be.
I said “it would be good in my paintings if I could see God in everything”.
He looked at me and said “that’s a bit like X, Y, Zee (using the American pronunciation of Z) instead of A, B, C, isn’t it? ”
…….
Another time I was doing a rave about art, as only a young ‘know it all’ artist can.
When Francis said “let’s go for a walk” we went down to where Bill Le Page’s house was being built. Francis pointed out some steel reinforcing in the foundations and went on and on, about what a beautiful job the workman had done, how well they had done the work …
I got the picture.
I remember now, he also used to wax lyrical about how to dig a good post hole.
…….
Oh yes, on another visit we had been talking of Art and Baba and Baba and Art for quite a while.
Then I said “when painting Baba I am trying to eliminate all peripheral stuff and get down to the nitty gritty…”
He said “yes, I am trying the same, here (he showed me a poem) see what you think of this…” (the poem was ‘Hymn To God The Man’. )