My Inspiration for January 2017

One more January has come to an end. And what an utterly dreamy January this was!

I was inspired by psychedelic and vibrant Art Nouveau paintings by Vittorio Zecchin, Claude Monet’s London scenes, Picasso’s guitars, film Sid and Nancy (1986) with Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious – it’s absolutely brilliant and I watched it two times. Then I was interested to know more about The Sex Pistols, so I watched a documentary about them called ‘Filth and the Fury‘ which was very interesting.

Regards literature, my years started with some really fantastic books: I’ve read No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai, White Nights by Dostoyevsky – a tale about a dreamer who meets with a girl few nights in a row, and a collection of stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa; you’ll hear more about these things very soon! Naturally, I daydreamed about long, white Russian winters, then about mystic lakes, long haired maidens, old castles and Ophelia, and then about Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, and then about Madame Bovary’s loneliness in provincial town, whilst listening to Chopin. And now – my thoughts are in the East entirely. I’ve allowed myself to drift into daydreams, and my day to day existence was suddenly coloured in sweet and rosy shades.

I’ve discovered so much great music that it’s unbelievable; The Kinks, The Who’s album ‘Who’s Next’, Tin Soldier by Small Faces, a bit of Donovan, some songs by Tindersticks, which I’ve known before, have captivated me: Travel Light and Another Night In, and I listened to some old favourites such as The Velvet Underground, Manic Street Preachers, The Clash and 13th Floor Elevators. All in all, a real collage of inspirations for this month.

February, I have high hopes for you, please don’t disappoint me!

Vittorio Zecchin