It was a bit touch and go on Friday as I sat staring out into the thick blanket of snow that was building fast and filling the whole village around our house, whilst at the same time the radio blared at me… ‘serious weather warnings throughout the south east, people are advised not to travel and Luton Council are advising people DO NOT travel into Luton’. So our options were getting less and less. Train to Nottingham….but can’t get to Luton to catch it….drive to Nottingham….will we even get out of the village? We even contemplated walking along the dual carriage way into Luton to the train station, until we realised this would take hours! In the end with spade, food and woollies we decided to just try our luck in the car and see how far we could get before skidding into a ditch or getting stuck for three hours behind a lorry. With the help of a neighbour we got ourselves out of the drive after that to my huge relief we crawled out of the village at a snails pace and then on reaching the A1 were freed and on our way.
Everything after that seemed to just slot in to place. We made it to Nottingham in perfect time, checked into the hotel, called Jo to see if she too had made it through the weather and sure enough she arrived about an hour after us. So we all set off for the Surface Gallery.
Because of all the stress and worry of just getting myself there I had had no time to get worked up about performing. I had about two minutes as I stood apprehensively kitted out in my suit were my nerves started to show, babbling nonsense. As soon as I started the drawing though I felt the adrenaline kick in. I couldn’t even feel the cold of the unheated gallery. I was in my space and knew my role. Once again I observed the interactions that came and went as I observed and traced. There was curiosity mainly I think, to what I sat silently doing. Some people braver than others and able to play with the piece, while more timid ones stood back and tried to observe without being observed, moving away when they caught themselves appearing.
I drew for two and a half hours and climbed out at 8.30pm blurry eyed but elated. I really think people were fascinated by the piece, and having peoples attention for that time felt amazing. I think you can never tell how something is going to sit in a particular place with a particular audience, but this time it worked well. I’ve come away now mulling over and trying to digest the feelings that the experience gave me. It has given me so much to think about.
