anyway,
Having nagged and cajoled my 16 yr old son into constructing a detailed, yet realistically achievable revision timetable, I felt it was ridiculous that I just wasn’t doing any reading. I’d got really good at ordering them from Amazon, and would write my name inside the cover. (This is my book, but I might lend it to you then we can have intellectual and philosophical conversations whilst drinking espresso, that sort of thing). Trouble is, I wasn’t ACTUALLY doing any reading!
So the assorted pens from Muji came out. These pens are bought for exactly this sort of occasion, so at last I felt vindicated that all that money had been spent, they are CRUCIAL to my intellectual development as an artist, see! A grid was constructed, dates inserted… and best of all a narrow column at the end for ticks! (Asking my husband to stick a gold star on a chart for every 5 ticks is possibly a step too far… I am an adult for goodness sake!)
So. The four books mentioned in the previous post are now being read. I’m very realistic, I know my brain will explode if I read more than 10 pages of the Baudrillard or de Certeau, but Sennett and Turkle I can whizz through. I think it’s the French in translation thing I think, I need a further level of translation from the translation.
I also find that if I set myself up for the reading session with about 3 digestives (would prefer hobnobs, times are hard) and a large mug of tea, and put the MacBook upstairs and under the bed. Reading is being done. When I do my allotted small chunk for the day, I smile smugly, tick the chart with a jaunty turquoise fine liner pen.
The result is actually quite happy. I have already found a gem or two, especially with Turkle. The children’s clothes I use are inherently evocative before I do anything to them. My shadow falls across them and I stitch it in. While I do this, uncannily I have found the shadow of the work falls across me too. Who’d have thought it eh?
I’m off to put the espresso machine on.
