8.00 am: To the studio. To work. I needed to keep up a pace. The wall was begun. I knew how the composition should start and end, and that it would have 3 parts. It was the bit in the middle that waited to be discovered. I engaged further modulations of the splash: Periodically, I interrogated myself about the relationship…

8.00 am: To the studio. To work. I felt that I’d fallen behind on my research schedule, due to the time I’d spent away on university business. Yesterday evening, I’d returned to a failed procedure that I’d undertaken last Friday: I took one of the 0.25 second pieces and divided it into twelve 0.02+ second pieces. The result was lousy:…

8.15 am: A communion. 8.30 am: Off to School under a rather apathetic grey sky for third-year painting tutorials. This would be a demanding day from the outset until bedtime. I’d just enough time to down half a mug of tea before hitting the studio floor. At this point in the semester, the routine begins to unsettle me. Therefore, I…

7.30 am: Breakfast. I’d time to make a final trip towards Piccadilly Gardens, down the narrow gorge between the buildings either side of Mosley Street. When the trams travelled past, I imagined that I was somewhere in the USA – like San Francisco. (Is this why one of the street at right angles is called ‘New York’?) I enjoy this…

Some young people today seem to be still in the womb, even as they’re in the world. 6.00 am: After a rather stop/start night’s sleep, I launched into the shower and the day. 6.45 am: An early breakfast; too early. I wasn’t hungry, but I’d need the sustenance to keep me going through what could be a very long morning.…

Shall not we your sorrow shareAnd from worldly joys abstain,Fasting with unceasing prayer,Strong with you to suffer pain?George Hunt Smyttan, ‘Forty Days and Forty Nights’ (1856)) Saturday, February 29. Visiting Day No. 2. Ms Wildig was, as ever, prepared and poised by 9.00 am, when I entered the building. She is Camp Leader; Queen Bee. The rest of us are…

7.45 am: A communion. 8.30 am: My inbox was emptied and the studio, prepared for work. I’d woken repeatedly during the night. The brain was more than a little phased as I began to work. Mercifully, I’d already conceived several procedures to apply to my ‘splash’ files; and none would require much mental clarity to execute. At this point, numerology…

It’s nearly March, but it feels as though Winter just won’t let go. 7.20 pm: Morning-tide: 8.00 am: A communion. 8.40 am: Against the wind, towards the School. On route, I rehearse what I wanted to say to those students that I’d be teaching today: the third-year painters, from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm. I arrived early enough to fortify…

#JUNE2021 Ash Wednesday: 8.00 am: A communion. The wind continued to blow hard and cruel. It does so in the lives of some known to me as it does in the country at large, presently. Today is the beginning of Lent: a time for uprooting, pruning, repentance, resolution, and preparation. It’s a solemn but not a gloomy time, one that…

‘Don’t stop, John! You may never start again’ Morning-tide: 8.00 am: A communion. 8.30 am: It would be a from pillar to post kind of day. Recycling bags deposited on the drive, I headed off to the Old College to conduct two MA fine art tutorials. I’ll miss this place, once the students have been turfed out. 10.00 am: Coffee…