March 9, 2021

WFH: DAY 49/LENT 18. 7.30 am: Drizzle. Walk. I returned to the ‘old ways’: Llanbadarn Road, Plas Grug Avenue, town, and the Promenade, returning via Llanbadarn Road. There were few others about at this time in the morning:

8.15 am: A communion. 8.30 pm: To work. First on the desk was a BA dissertation draft submission that required my comments. 9.30 am: The first of the day’s MA fine art tutorials. 10.30 am: Up the tarmac hill to the ‘jabbery’ centre at Padarn Surgery for my Covid-19 vaccination, part 1. The procedure was performed by the ‘Brum’ nurse who usually siphons-off my blood and removes my stitches. I was in excellent hands. The experience was not unlike having a flu-jab. Rather anticlimactic for a historic moment, in that respect:

I came home with an insatiable hunger for Cheddar cheese. I suspect that this must be an extremely rare side-effect.

11.30 am: Back to the MA troupe. At this stage in their development, the problems that they face are rich, mature, and fascinating. No prepacked solutions are distributed, on my part — only principles. 2.00 pm: The afternoon shift: two MA painters and one BA art historian.

Some principles and observations derived from today’s engagements:

  • T: ‘Be courageous, but in a disciplined manner’.
  • T: ‘We can be in bondage to too many choices. Freedom is to be found only within limits’.
  • T: ‘There’re things that you could paint, and things that you should paint’.
  • T: ‘Forget about your audience, because they’ll have no compunction about forgetting you, once they’ve had their fill’.
  • T: ‘Inform your mind. Read about the precedents (ideas, subject matter, artists, and approaches) relevant to your work. An informed intellect will nurture an informed eye and practice’.
  • T: ‘You can’t necessarily solve a problem by attending to it. Let it rest a while; the painting may suggest a resolution of its own’.
  • S: ‘Sometimes the creative process choses when its ready to play ball’.
  • T: ‘Just because a picture was painted quickly doesn’t mean that its slight or superficial. By the same token, spending a long time on a painting doesn’t guarantee that it’ll be any the better for it’.

3.30 pm: There was time to attend to the graphic work and futurology before the close of the afternoon.

7.30 pm: And evening of the same. I was on a roll. I’d got to this point in the day without in any side-effects from the vaccination. But, maybe, the night was young.

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