{"id":101762,"date":"2025-08-22T12:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T12:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/101762\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T12:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T12:10:10","slug":"sir-billy-connolly-says-elton-john-inspired-new-artwork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/101762\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Billy Connolly says Elton John inspired new artwork"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steven Brocklehurst<\/p>\n

BBC Scotland News<\/p>\n

\"ImageImage courtesy of Castle Fine Art<\/p>\n

Sir Billy says the artwork Saturday Night was inspired by touring with Elton John<\/p>\n

Legendary Scottish comedian Sir Billy Connolly has released a video talking about his new artwork<\/a>, including one inspired by his days touring with Elton John in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

The 82-year-old funnyman was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2013 and announced his retirement from comedy five years later, telling the BBC his “art is his life now”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sir Billy has now released four limited edition works under his Born On A Rainy Day series, recalling some of the fondest memories from his life.<\/p>\n

They include Sausage Tree, which reflects on a trip with his daughter Amy, Sunburned, which depicts a Scottish man who has spent too long in the sun, and Fly Away Peter, which shows a multicoloured figure surrounded by birds.<\/p>\n

\"ImageImage courtesy of Castle Fine Art<\/p>\n

Sir Billy says Sir Elton is an amazing performer<\/p>\n

One of the artworks is Saturday Night which shows a rock ‘n’ roll piano player in action.<\/p>\n

Sir Billy says the character in the drawing “does that leg thing which is pure Elton”.<\/p>\n

The comedian, who is also a talented musician, toured America with Sir Elton in 1976 and says he could not believe what a performer he was.<\/p>\n

“When I saw Jerry lee Lewis I thought it was the best thing I’d ever seen apart from Little Richard – and then I saw Elton,” he says.<\/p>\n

The drawing shows the flamboyant piano player with his leg on the keyboard and a stool overturned behind him.<\/p>\n

“It was that point of the show where he backheeled the stool and it tumbled off the stage,” Sir Billy says. <\/p>\n

“The roadies all dived so that it didn’t break.”<\/p>\n

He adds: “I saw Elton lately and he was better than I’d ever seen him. <\/p>\n

“He’s an amazing performer.”<\/p>\n

\"ImageImage courtesy of Castle Fine Art<\/p>\n

Sir Billy says Fly Away Peter makes him smile<\/p>\n

Another of the new works, Fly Away Peter, depicts a “happy guy with birds landing on him”.<\/p>\n

Sir Billy says he’s particularly pleased with the way he has drawn the stripes on the figure’s purple jacket and with the bird that peers over his shoulder.<\/p>\n

“I like things that make me smile,” he says.<\/p>\n

Sir Billy describes the drawing as “beautiful”.<\/p>\n

“It’s taken me years to say that,” he says. <\/p>\n

“I would never dream of saying it before for the chance that somebody would say ‘it’s crap, you’re no good’. <\/p>\n

“But I’m quite good. I can make people smile and feel happy. It’s great.”<\/p>\n

\"ImageImage courtesy of Castle Fine Art<\/p>\n

The Sausage Tree recalls a trip with his daughter<\/p>\n

The Scottish comedian says the Sausage Tree brings back memories of driving around the Scottish countryside when his daughter Amy was a child.<\/p>\n

“We just went on the roads and saw things,” he says. <\/p>\n

“Once we were near a place called Aberfoyle and we came upon a sausage tree.”<\/p>\n

It was actually a bush with seed pods hanging from it but his child’s delight at seeing a “sausage tree” has stayed with him since.<\/p>\n

\"ImageImage courtesy of Castle Fine Art<\/p>\n

Sunburned shows a Tartan-clad man whose skin tone is lobster red<\/p>\n

In his drawing Sunburned, Sir Billy shows a Tartan-clad man whose skin tone is lobster red.<\/p>\n

“When I did it I stood back and I thought ‘my god, you’ve got it’,” he says.<\/p>\n

“It’s the colour you go in Scotland when the sun shines on you. It’s weird. <\/p>\n

“It’s not a sunbathing country Scotland. <\/p>\n

“I once said the climate in Scotland is June and winter.”<\/p>\n

Despite the lack of sunshine, Sir Billy says the Scottish climate is “wonderful to experience”.<\/p>\n

“Scotland is the most extraordinary country,” he says. <\/p>\n

“It’s magical.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steven Brocklehurst BBC Scotland News Image courtesy of Castle Fine Art Sir Billy says the artwork Saturday Night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-101762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}