warm
today cycle to Chevrières
a small and ancient town
going back to
the year 700
Église Saint-Georges
has vivid, fresh
stained glass windows
in one there is a saint
painting
this might be St Luke
painting the Virgin
(according to google)
the supermarket
by comparison
is much vivid
not sure
what happens to the rest
of the day
it gets gobbled up
writing, researching, planning
talking, listening
arranging, leaning stuff
photographing, making something
in other words
plodding through the undergrowth
looking for the ‘thing’
that will hold
a network of images
and objects together
am corresponding
with artists, curators, writers
that I know
to get a conversation going
about
being an artist
and an artist in residence
expectations, resolutions
practicalities and abstractions
making work
and other stuff
P is in Switzerland
painting for 3 weeks
getting back to
and making time
for recent developments
…away from family, work, responsibilities
it’s good to exchange
thoughts on moving forward
and biting insects
N encourages the unfolding
of a process and reminds me that
I am a late starter !
I tells me to trust the process
..which is all there is at the moment
and M suggests I try unforgetting
French post-structuralists
and French aesthetics
…is there time for this?
though am enjoying
Sarah Bakewell’s book
on the existentialists
hard to be an artist without
some appreciation of phenomenology
all of this, of course
encourages a certain
amount of introspection
c’est trop
perhaps
to simpler pleasures
tomorrow is la Fête nationale
tonight
an evening lantern parade
takes us around the village
we straggle behind a van
blaring out tinny music
and in the warm night air
we inhale exhaust fumes
dangle candles
in paper lanterns
then fireworks on the field
i particularly like
the exploding gold chrysanthemums
then, suddenly midnight…
