Following a life threatening illness during 2000, Chris Rea was compelled to combine two passions in his life - music and painting.
His wife Joan is an artist and painting became an important part of his recovery. He began creating music and painting on a daily basis and built up a collection of work that permanently link his music and art. The result of all this work is Blue Guitars, which comprises 11 albums of new material, a DVD, plus a book featuring paintings and accompanying text.
The 22 originals which were painted for the front and reverse covers of these 11 new albums, were displayed at an exhibition organised by Art to Give at the Gallery in Cork Street in October 2005.