Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin / Dance me through the panic ’til I’m gathered safely in / Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove … Dance Me To The End Of Love

The legendary Leonard Cohen who sadly passed away in November 2016 will always be remembered as one of the greatest singer/songwriters who ever lived. I believe he originally started out as a poet and novelist but released his first music when he was 33 years old unlike many of his contemporaries. Another creative outlet that he had was for art and painting – he started to draw as a child and continued to paint throughout his life.

Wherever his career took him Cohen always found time for his art – from watercolour painting to oils and pastels. The art critic Robert Enright, in his article “Face Value – The Arts of Leonard Cohen” (Border Crossings Magazine, issue 104), asked him how his artwork related to his other creative talents, Cohen’s response was simply “I think one is relief from the other.”

I have tried to capture him in his twilight years just after the time he made the excellent documentary ‘I’m your man’. Acrylic on canvas.

Like a bird on the wire / Like a drunk in a midnight choir / I have tried in my way to be free … Bird On The Wire