…. nothing! Right now I’m feeling that I might be suffering from overstimulation. It has been a great day. Tuesday is my climbing day, and my regular partner and I were joined for the day by his daughter. Because she lives over in Manchester we drove over to meet at a crag on the west side of the Pennines, in the Derbyshire Dales. The weather has been near perfect, and the climbing just what we needed. I’m not sure whether it is because she is climbing at a slightly lower standard than we are, or because we are reluctant to admit that repeated breaks in our schedule have resulted in our being less fit than we might have been. Either way, a day of gentle shambling about on perfect rock in the sunshine has been physically very relaxing. Having enjoyed such a day I have come to realise that lately life has been mentally and emotionally very demanding.
This may seem very surprising in view of the fact that I spent the last week listening to music, but at one level that was quite strenuous. It certainly demanded a lot of concentration. An event such as the Kendal exhibition has taken its toll in a different way. I invested a lot of myself into the success of that. Although I have not been doing a lot of painting, I have certainly devoted a great deal of mental energy to reflecting on what I have been doing recently, and evaluating it. The emotional weight of not having a clear sense of future artistic direction has also been something of a burden.
The next few days might be just what I need. I will probably spend some time volunteering up at the South Square Centre. I believe that the incoming group of exhibitors need some help with hanging their show, and there are some overdue maintenance tasks to be done. The contractors started work today replacing a good part of our roof. The old timber they strip out will be excellent fuel for our wood-burning stove come the winter. So I imagine that a good part of the next few days will be spent sawing wood …. an activity totally devoid of emotional or intellectual content! Bring it on! I know that by the week-end things will have to change. Meanwhile, however, I shall be attempting to make life as unstimulating as possible.