I drove over to Sowerby Bridge this afternoon in order to pick up the copies of prints ordered by visitors to my Ilkley Exhibition. (I must say that it will really be a relief to be able finally to draw a line under that venture, however good the experience was.) The printer and I fell to talking about my problem of losing touch with contemporary technology. He was very sympathetic, but didn’t mince his words when it came to confirming my fear that I am a generation behind when it comes to the technology that is necessary to support my art work. He did give me a couple of pointers, but it is clear that I need to check things out systematically.
When I got back home I decided that it might be helpful to discover just how dated my kit is. It was instructive to begin with the fact that my computer is seven years old …. which in computing terms is antediluvian.
Isn’t it interesting too realise that one of my sets of pastels was given to me as a Christmas gift in about 1966, and it is still as useful as ever (given the fact, of course, that some of the colours are now exhausted)? I don’t suppose that the technical side of pastel construction and use has changed much if at all since the time of Degas. I’m slightly encouraged by the fact that “out of date” is a relative concept.