Saturday, July 5, 2014
Perry Taylor, with Beret
Caroline and Perry Taylor moved to the town of Puydarrieux, in the Midi-Pyrénées, south west France for the “culture, gastronomy and wide open spaces”. This mountainous area with its medieval towns and villages, unhurried way of life and a love for tradition has also proved the perfect source of inspiration for artist Perry. His drawings reflect the heritage and daily life of the residents, the look and feel of an area that embraces its past and its present – all with his unique sense of affectionate humour.
Perry spent 15 years in London, working in graphic design and advertising, designing everything from theatre posters to record covers, wine labels and soap packaging. He moved on to art directing for ad agencies in Amsterdam for 12 years where he met Dutch girl, Caroline and they decided that “it was time for a change”. France was Perry’s first choice as he was “hooked after his first trip on a train from Paris to Narbonne at the age of 14, with a school chum. Encountering two twenty-something, scantily-clad French girls and their garlic-oozing parents in acouchette, he was sold”.
They decided on the Hautes-Pyrénées/Gers region because of the “rolling landscape, reminiscent of the Cotswolds and Tuscany. The weather is mild and the air is clean. The Gascon people are really friendly. We are close to the Pyrénéan Mountains, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Spain. We love the Basque country and the unspoilt nature all around us. With no motorways, or industry nearby, it is a forgotten corner that many pass without stopping”.
His cartoon drawings perfectly capture the people he sees, the café life style, the chickens and ducks waddling across the road. Perry admits that he loves to draw “farmers’ wives with their house coats, calf stockings and wellies… I love getting their stance and force into a drawing as they garden and pluck. The duck with the big eyes and a beret has become a bit of a trademark and I love drawing human traits and expressions in them”.
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Isn't it strange that when we meet these young, tender, little morsels (a woman) it's always time for change? I recall living in Madrid, Spain and one of my Swedish roomates exclaimed," We're not men! What the hell are we doing? This isn't a life? What the hell are we doing here? We don't even have a girlfriend, we are just sitting around smoking fine Cuban cigars and drinking Port...WHAT KIND OF A LIFE IS THIS I SAY!".
ReplyDeleteIndeed, those were true, spoken words from a Swedish man who also exclaimed," I left Sweden and came to Spain because i couldn't even get a job changing bed pans in a hospital, could you believe that! Bedpans!" I enjoyed my time with Oscar, but i too pined to leave the Madrid scene and go to Central and South America not just for adventure but if i played my cards right, i could perhaps, meet a tender little morsel myself! And guess what happened? It was late 2004, i was deep in enemy territory in Mexico D.F. and there i met the
woman of my life! I will never forget the first time she kissed me as she caressed my right cheek, and i must admit, it felt good! We lived together for 6 months
and thereafter, i evacuated myself to Canada. Six months later, i did up the paperwork and brought her to live with me. Two years after that we got married.
Again, no matter WHO YOU ARE ON THIS PLANET, a woman changes...i dare say...TRANSFORMS your life as it also did for Perry Taylor.
Nowadays, she asks me," Why the hell do you always wear that stupid beret?" My reply is both simple and concise," I am a Basque Spaniard, it's part of my culture, and frankly...i can't imagine myself without it!".