My brother's show

Barry's Beasts

Last week, I attended the opening night of my twin-brother's new exhibition at Bristol's Grant Bradley Gallery. He's exhibiting there with his mate, Barry, who creates wonderful 'Beasts' from found objects and pieces of scrap metal. The centre-piece was an extraordinary elephant and rhinoceros, built out of old cement mixers and tractor parts, facing each other down.

'A Slice of Life'

It was the first time my brother Mark has exhibited outside of South Wales, where he's built up a steady and loyal following over the years. As he'd chosen to show his Newport dockland scenes and slices of Valleys life, we weren't sure how his work would play out in Bristol. He's sold some, but sales have been slower than similar shows in South Wales. Yes, I know, it's just across the second Severn Bridge or through the Severn Tunnel by rail ...

I picked up an old university friend from the Black Country on the way down and we had a long drive back through the night, listening to Johnny Cash and P J Harvey then switching to 'World Music' on Radio 3. It took me back.

What more could you ask? A cracking good show in a cracking town, a cracking pizza across the road and a long drive back in the company of Mr Johnny Cash ...

Iconic Bristol skyline

My wife wasn't best pleased, mind. I collected our eldest from a party at 1am and we had to be off early the next morning for an anniversary bash back down South ...