Yes/No

[WEDNESDAY 20 JANUARY 2010]
It is snowing again. Third Wednesday on the trot. Welcome to 2010, where Wednesday is snow day. It’s quite wet snow, but it’s so heavy it’s begun to settle.

I am in the loft, and it is cold. I had to move out of the spare room in the house, because it is now full of boxes from the other loft (the bigger one). I lay in bed this morning pondering on what to do:

I’ve had the pink-path/rock-face painting up in the lounge for a few weeks, and have picked enough holes in it to see where the werk is needed.

I have this painting that was started as far back as 2006 – it reads ‘Ne Travaillez Jamais’ a graffiti quote from the 1968 Paris événements. I spent a long time building up a wall-like ground, and then it stopped. I didn’t want to ruin all that werk, I wanted orange-red neon words, but I hadn’t a clue how to make them work on a contrasting green-ish ground. I still don’t.


Today is the day I start werk again on that wall. It is also the day I get on with the rock-face. First the wall: I found an old canvas sketch and sanded it down, drew out some rough words and painted them in.


I mixed up some mossy green paint and plastered it onto the canvas. The words are rougher than I’d wanted, but it’s just a sketch, an experiment, a tester. I need to try some methods of glow on top of green ground to see what works best.


With a shiny new no.1 brush and some Rose Madder paint I take on the pink neon path in the crack of the rock-face, hot soup for lunch.

2.45pm it is still snowing. There were foxes on the prowl in the field, so I had to lock up the chicken. It’s like Jollity Farm round here. Only without the jollity.



I just realised I turned the heater off when I went in earlier. No wonder my werk rate was slowing down. I sat the sinister crow on the easel, and gave his neon perch a going over with some rich, ruby red. Now I am struggling with SSSHH, still the white neon glow eludes me. I need inspiration. And a cup of tea.

I came back, I added a bit more glow. Then I had the bright idea of some shadows. Then I went too far.

I will stop and clean up now.