


Norman Robert Catchpole
Catchpole's Studio
Ignite the Passion
"The Times They Are a 'Changin"
A visual narrative of
Bob Dylan
the guru of folk
A collaborative effort by Catchpole & Shackleton
Commissioned Piece (Sold)
$2499 Cdn.

We were approached by a client (Scott) to commission this piece after he saw our first collage, Lightfoot "Picking up the Pieces". He immediately envisioned the same format translated into a piece highlighting one of his favourite artists, Bob Dylan. As we delved into our research (immersing ourselves in Dylan's music, watching videos and interviews) we discovered Dylan is not only one of the greatest songwriters of our times, he is also an accomplished artist (see "Woman in Red Lion Pub" below) as well as a published writer (poetry, memoirs and books relating to his artwork). Scott provided us with a list of suggested Dylan songs he would like highlighted and we got to work determining how each song would best be reflected on canvas.
This piece is comprised of 22 individual gallery wrapped canvas (acrylic on canvas of various sizes - 5"x7", 6"x6", 8"x8" and 8"x10"), mounted on board and custom-framed. The finished piece, including frame, is 48"x46".
We chose the title "The Times They Are a 'Changin" as we felt it is as apropos today as it was when the lyrics to this song were written by Dylan in the tumultuous 60's.
We hope you enjoy this piece as much as we did while developing the concept and bringing it to fruition on canvas.
Concept and Design: RuthAnn Shackleton-Catchpole
Collage brought to life on canvas by Norman Robert Catchpole
Collage Key
Click on photos for additional info

Released in 1966 10"x10" Acrylic on Canvas The fiddler, he now steps to the road He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed On the back of the fish truck that loads While my conscience explodes The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain

Released in 1965 10"x10" Acrylic on Canvas The album cover features Sally Grossman (Dylan's manager's wife). Artifacts are scattered around the room, including various LPs by the Impressions , Ravi Shankar, Lotte Lenya and Eric Von Schmidt.Behind Grossman is the top of Dylan's head from the cover of Another Side of Bob Dylan; copy of the Jan '65 issue of Time magazine with President Lyndon B. Johnson; Dylan is holding his cat "Rolling Stone" and wearing cufflinks gifted to him by Joan Baez.

Released in 1969 10"x10" Acrylic on Canvas Sources have documented that Dylan initially wrote “Lay, Lady, Lay” after being contacted to potentially provide music for the movie Midnight Cowboy, (Hoffman and Voight). Dylan dallied a bit too long to finish “Lay, Lady, Lay,” in time and the song that broke big from the soundtrack was "Everybody's Talkin" written by Fred Neil and performed by Harry Nilsson.

10"x10" Acrylic on Canvas If you getcha one girl, better get two Case you run into Gypsy Lou She’s a ramblin’ woman with a ramblin’ mind Always leavin’ somebody behind Hey, ’round the bend Gypsy Lou’s gone again Gypsy Lou’s gone again.

Released in 1966 8"x10" Acrylic on Canvas If I were a carpenter And you were a lady Would you marry me anyway Would you have my baby? This is a portrait of the man who commissioned this collage (Scott), with his wife Melanie on their wedding day in Scotland. She did indeed marry him (anyway) and she did have his baby(s). Note that the emblem on the kilt sporran is that of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters.

Released in 1973 5"x5" Acrylic on Canvas Knocking on Heaven's Door was written for the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Released as a single two months after the film's premiere, it became a worldwide hit, reaching the Top 10 in several countries. The song became one of Dylan's most popular and most covered post-1960s compositions, spawning covers from Eric Clapton, Guns N' Roses, Randy Crawford, and more.

5"x7" Acrylic on Canvas Released in 2008 Some of us turn off the lights and we lay, Up in the moonlight shooting by, Some of us scare ourselves to death in the dark, To be where the angels fly, Pretty maids all in a row lined up, Outside my cabin door, I’ve never wanted any of ’em wanting me, ’Cept the girl from the Red River shore.

Released in 2020 5"x5" Acrylic on Canvas The song addresses the assassination of John F. Kennedy in the wider context of American political and cultural history. Lasting 16 minutes, 56 seconds, it is the longest song Dylan has released, eclipsing 1997's "Highlands". The song was the first original music Dylan had released since 2012 and generated an enormous amount of commentary.

Released in Sept 1997 8"x10" Acrylic on Canvas I'm strummin' on my gay guitar Smokin' a cheap cigar The ghost of our old love has not gone away Don't look it like it will anytime soon You left me standin' in the doorway cryin' Under the midnight moon

Released in 1963 5"x5" Acrylic on Canvas It has been described as a protest song and poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom. The refrain "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind" has been described as "impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind". (Wikipedia)

8"x10" Acrylic on Canvas

Released in 1965 5"x5" Acrylic on Canvas Dylan wrote Mr. Tambourine Man on a trip to New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Bob Dylan once explained that the “Tambourine Man” was Bruce Langhorne, a man who at times played guitar for him. Dylan had a recollection of Langhorne once holding a big tambourine and it stuck with him. For those interested, we have been able to positively identify the real Mr. Tambourine Man and have revealed his identify in this painting. Does he look familiar??

Released in 1965 8"x10" Acrylic on Canvas Ah you never turned around to see the frowns On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you You never understood that it ain't no good You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you

Released March 1965 5"x5" Acrylic on Canvas Thinking about the government The man in the trench coat Badge out, laid off Dylan's first Top 40 hit in the USA, which is notable for its innovative video, peaked at number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song depicts some of the growing conflicts between "straights" or "squares" and the emerging counterculture of the 1960s. It also refers to the struggles surrounding the American civil rights movement.

5"x7" Acrylic on Canvas Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.

Released in 2002 5"x5" Acrylic on Canvas There are many commentaries which suggest that the song is related to Dylan’s break up with his ex-wife, particularly because during this year Dylan also wrote "Sara".

8"x10" Acrylic on Canvas Questions were raised as to whether some of Dylan’s paintings were based on his own experience/observations or photographs that were not taken by him. Art critic Blake Gopnik defended Dylan's artistic practice, arguing: "Ever since the birth of photography, painters have used it as the basis for their works: Edgar Degas, Édouard Vuillard and other favorite artists—even Edvard Munch—all took or used photos as sources for their art, sometimes barely altering them."

Released in 1989 6"x6" Acrylic on Canvas Most of the time I can keep both feet on the ground I can follow the path I can read the signs Stay right with it When the road unwinds I can handle whatever I stumble upon I don't even notice that she's gone Most of the time

Released in August 1981 6"x6" Acrylic on Canvas Recorded in Los Angeles and released on the Shot of Love Album. I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other time it's only me I am hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand

Released in 1964 6"x6" Acrylic on Canvas This song was often regarded as an anthem for change. In 1964 the US passed the Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The entire country was facing urban civil disorder, anti-war movements (Vietnam) and ghetto riots. The feminist movement included campaigns supporting peace and disarmament, equality in education and employment, birth control and an end to violence against women.

Released in 2006 Album Cover 6"x6" Acrylic on Canvas Thunder on the mountain heavy as can be Mean old twister bearing down on me All the ladies of Washington scrambling to get out of town Looks like something bad gonna happen, better roll your airplane down Everybody's going and I want to go too Don't wanna take a chance with somebody new

Released in 1965 6"x6" Acrylic on Canvas Cinderella, she seems so easy, "It takes one to know one, " she smiles And puts her hands in her back pockets Bette Davis style And in comes Romeo, he's moaning. "You Belong to Me I Believe" And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend, you'd better leave" And the only sound that's left after the ambulances go Is Cinderella sweeping up on Desolation Row