…. as I believe the French say. At the moment I could be said to be stepping back a little, the better in order to leap forward. In short, I’m on a massive wit-collecting exercise. I am managing to do some painting each day, but the larger part of my energies is absorbed in, quite simply, tidying life. I noticed recently that this web-site had become distinctively dog-eared, and needed both updating and, simply, tidying. My rack of picture frames included some that were so wretched that I could never put them back into service. (These are now kindling for lighting the fire.) I appeared to have acquired several little hoards of bubble-wrap, the greater part of which were of little use for wrapping pictures. And so on, and so on.
There have been progress tasks as well. I have managed to get off in good time my application to be included in the annual open exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists. (That will be a cause for celebration if it comes off. This is the first time I’ve applied there.) I’ve eliminated the queue of items to be photographed and included in my log-books.
In between all of this I am managing to paint every now and then. I’m working on another piece in my “Bradgate” series …. studies based on the ancient oak trees in Bradgate Park. So far, so good! I’m reaching the point at which the main decision to be made is not “What do I do next?” but “Should I actually stop now?”