5 beautiful blank canvases were delivered yesterday. This courier was really helpful – backing the van up to the studio doors to unload the cartons.
I unpacked them and installed 2 in the painting spaces I'd prepared last week, then prepared to make the first brush strokes…
The research visit to Milton Keynes last weekend provided me with plenty of material. There are lots of practicalities to deal with before beginning the process of painting.
Last week I ordered paints, mediums and five 5ft x 5ft canvases. I also rearranged the studio ready to accommodate the canvases. I tend to work on more than one piece at a time often moving the paintings around to develop relationships between the pieces. I’ve now got two working spaces and a place to stack the other three canvases vertically; this will allow me to look at 3 pieces at a time.
On Friday I started some large preparatory drawings (about 2 thirds scale) – it was good to make a physical start on the creative process of filtering the stimulus I’d gathered.
The paint order was due to arrive but by 5 o’clock there was no sign of a delivery. On calling the supplier I was told that the parcel had been delivered and signed for at 9.30am! Hopefully I’ll find out where the paints have actually been delivered – and get them back to the studio on Monday.
On Saturday I cycled clockwise around Milton Keynes on the Redways (a network of tracks for walkers and cyclists). The fold out Official City map gave a good idea of the green spaces surrounding the city and made me eager to explore. It was a little unwieldy but this was compensated by the scale and sense of location it offered me.
It was a bright, clear day and I continued to collect 'photosketches' as the redways weaved through miles of housing, dipping safely under the busy roads.
I visited the Secklow Mound, an ancient meeting place where the elders of the local 'Hundred' would have gathered (it's behind the present day equivalent – the council offices).
Heading North East out of the city centre I cycled through Campbell Park, to Willen lakes (stopping to visit the Buddhist temple) on to Milton Keynes village and finally making my way back to Bletchley.
As the train approached MK Central at 11.25 this morning I prepared to lift my bike onto the platform. But no-one came to unlock the door and so I was trapped and had to continue to London Euston! Almost 2 hours later I arrived back at MK and I was very relieved when the Train Manager remembered to let me off.
Cycling seems an appropriate way to get around Milton Keynes. There were hundreds of bikes parked at the racks outside the station and it was easy to find a cycle path towards the city centre.
I visited the WHITEWALL to see the current exhibition by Maslen and Mehra and to get a better sense of the physicality and atmosphere of the space. I then spent some time doing a bit of 'visual grazing', my digital camera proving to be a very useful tool for taking notes.
I walked back through the WHITEWALL space at dusk and was interested to see how the light changed.
I ended the day with a bit of research in the local studies section of the library and felt it had been a really productive afternoon in spite of the detour.
I've spent the day speaking to suppliers, arranging travel and getting things ready for tomorrow morning – when I'll be heading down to Milton Keynes to do some research in advance of starting the paintings. I'm planning to explore the area by cycle and I'm taking my bike with me on the train.
