This is the first of four tents we’ve purchased in as many years. Although the size of a two-bed terraced, we quickly outgrew it’s island-like proportions and opted for a bigger version. Some said the inclusion of built-in hot tub was extravagant. Pah. However, the issue of size became apparent on a two week touring holiday to Wales, whereby the action of erecting such a beast every two days resulted in back ache. It’s a lengthy process; Getting it up in a field can take over an hour, and if it’s raining, wet knees are a certainty. Inevitably, this behavior will attract the attention of the caravaners who stare through tinted windows like they’ve never seen it before. Surely, they’ve tried it?
This year we are leaving the hot tub behind and have bought two much smaller tents. This means of course we will be doubling our duties, but the speed of the erections should give the caravaners something to talk about.
This week I have mostly been pretending to be Turner. Except I haven’t. Neither have I been pretending to be Monet or Doig. For what is to be the exact polar opposite of this painting, (a rainy picnic outside a butterfly house with the school bear in 2006), I have been working on a six by four foot commission of a stormy sea. So far, although I feel a bit like I’m making it up as I go along, I am very happy with the results…
It’s tempting to add an image of my progress here, for feedback, but 99er purists might not like it. Suffice to say, if you would like to come round and have a peek I’ll be performing until the end of the month so let me know when and if… [email protected]
99er purist… is there such a thing?
Who knew that one journey up to the Peak District in my friends brown Escort in the mid eighties, armed with my first camera, would yield so many paintings twenty something years later. Netherseal. See also, ‘Stephen in the car’ and ‘Big House on the way to Dovedale’. Overseal. This blurry faced stranger is never going to know how famous he is. Underseal. Perhaps an ad in the Burton on Trent times: Were you riding a Dawes on the A444 around 1986…? Tetraseal.
I suppose you had to be there. Common Seal.
Summer is here. In the studio it’s the bees and wasps and in the house it’s the ants and greenbottles. So summer must be here. Having spent the last two weeks explaining and defending my work, (it’s not too big), it feels good to reclaim the studio. However, glorious weather and the dog we are looking after for two weeks are sapping my motivation to do anything other than lie around helplessly.
If you know where this image comes from you have most likely been there, breaking the number one golden rule of driving through Aldershot: Never leave your vehicle. It was worth it though wasn’t it.
Tomoko Takahashi from July to September at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill. That’s all the excuse I need to get down to that part of the world again. I suppose, as I am in the area, I could pop in to the bike shop that hand makes those sexy red steel and titanium road bikes. My genius tactic of getting someone to pay for a painting in the form of said beauties is not working thus far. Ho hum.
This weekend is your last chance to get round the open studios. Come and see where I am up to with the 99; give me your favourite, (or least favourite), and then pick one to buy that isn’t the cows because I’ve sold that one. Three times.
