One of the things people keep asking about the 365 project is how do you keep going. it’s important to acknowledged that some days it’s really hard. This is a mammoth task I’ve set myself! Last Friday was a hitting the wall moment! It was grey and it was wet and windy. The first question always on days like that is where on earth shall I paint? as it was a Friday I was going out with Caroline, we had thought that we would go to Rosemore but it was far too wet. instead we headed to Instow with the hope that the rain might ease a little bit, but it just got much worse. We decided that the boathouse roof terrace looked like a good place to hide out of the elements and still be able to see the view. We could also get good coffee. it felt really hard to be trying to paint on such a day. hard not to question why I was doing this project and what it was about. As Caroline asked me things about the project, I talked about the hope I had that these paintings would be research. That I would work from each month but I had done nothin… though I am teaching my students to play I had seem to forget how to do that myself with this project. Everything seems a little bit too serious and hard work. As Caroline began to suggest things it sounded like myself talking to one of my students and the ideas that she had about how I might unlock the experimental and expressive element of the project were so helpful I was almost desperate to get the painting done so I could go back to the studio.
mine if the staff came and chatted about what were doing and wondered if we wanted to be tied to a mast like Turner (the weather really was bad!) and suddenly I knew how to paint the painting and it fell off my paintbrush in expressive, gestural marks with a nod to Turner. As soon as I was back in the studio I pulled out the first seven days of painting and experimented with what I had recorded. That has already begun to inform my daily paintings. The project should developers and the way it is unfolding and changing will be evident as the year progresses.
