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Scanned for viruses (Windows 10) 8.30 am: Against the razor-edge of the wind, onto the road, and up towards the School. 8.45 am: Hibiscus. It’s a good choice on days when I rarely have the opportunity to drink to the bottom of the cup in one sitting: delicious hot, lukewarm, or cold. 9.00 am: Onto the studio floor. 9.30 pm:…

Tuesday, March 10. I needed to double-up on MA teaching, what with having been away in Manchester last Tuesday. The overnight winds had created small mountains of shale on the Promenade. The tide was in and raged mildly against the sea wall. The pathway was punctuated with pools, mirroring the grey sky as it moved across the town: However, Raine’s…

I create relatively short compositions because they don’t need to be any longer.   Sunday, March 8. 11.15 am: The Church in Wales advice was: no wine at Communion and no physical contact during the ‘Peace’. The services’ proceedings sped along as a consequence. 1.30 pm: Having ‘hugged’ my younger son and sent him off on his train home, I…

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 three 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 must…

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…