I haven’t painted for close to three months now. And just when I thought it was beginning to take its toll, I received some great news this week. I’ve been offered a place with the Florence Trust studio residency in Highbury & Islington. It’s in a pretty funky little church. Tis all a bit exciting and I’m curious as to see what will arise over the next year. I’m looking forward to the hard work, getting to meet other artists and having some mentorship. I really am a bit gobsmacked about it all. :) I think virginia woolf was onto something in a room of one’s own.
A couple of happy snaps along the way to work today. There’s a lightness in the step, as things are beginning to turn…


1 week ago

Listening through some old playlists. Strange how music can transport… feelings, places and people are reconstructed inside. Memories re-experienced with a beautiful and nostalgic clarity.
I was cycling through some photographs on my camera and I realised I missed one.
This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago. The exact date I’m not sure, only that I was on a bus going through Angel, looking out the window.
Another thursday night, perhaps too late to contemplate such existentialist questions. Approaching midnight and questions linger. Can instincts be wrong? Can fiction be separated from fact?
My painting tutor once told me that doubt can be crippling. So is doubt’s brother, faith, the answer? If one holds onto faith, will it dispel all fear and nervous beatings of the heart? Will it cause one to act more justly?
Maybe.
Perhaps faith is more like a cool breeze through the window, calming a restless soul that tosses and turns on a hot, summer night.
2 weeks ago

Two months now in London town, and have been doing quick sketches of people on the tube whenever I manage to get a seat. So sketches seem to be made between King’s Cross St Pancr(e)as and Russell Sq. Most often they tend to have nodded off and are speeding along some rem track. Perhaps dreaming of not going to work.
I opened up an old journal because I was hoping I’d find a recipe for an oil medium, when I found this magnet. I had picked it up in Glebe. I remember talking to the artist who made them. He had some quirky ones, but for reason, I liked this one.
2 weeks ago
Head has been thinking too much, getting those clumsy strumings and twangs of nervousness. It’s mostly re: $$$ + time + home + work + my (real) work. Have applied for a studio residency and have my fingers and toes crossed. Need to find some space to work.
There is a scene in the film Hunger where a boy is running through a forest. He stops once and looks behind before he enters the dark abyss. I don’t know why this image is so haunting to me.

3 weeks ago

I think this was taken at aldgate, but memory is fading. Nights are beginning to blur. Dinner in Bricklane. Have been eating very well of late. things are in flux and need to keep the big picture in mind.
It’s nearly midnight. Listening to miss ternheim for the first time, and I’m speechless. very beautiful… it’s a new secret I’ve found…
3 weeks ago
Saturday was spent with M. Whirlwind tour of London starting at Primrose HIll then ending at Borough markets around lunch time for a food feast. Need to start thinking about holidays and where to go. I think I was overly optimistic when I bought some sunscreen on friday.


3 weeks ago


Tired at work today. Went to the canteen and hit the expresso machine button. Nothing more depressing than a coffee machine than doesn’t work. Had to settle for some filtered coffee instead. 73.p. Started to perk up, and in the back of my mind, I was thinking I need to start drinking coffee again.
It’s 14.38. It’s 14.42. It’s 14.47.
Time is either moving too slow… or too fast.
29.06.
How long have I been here now? 49 days.
Clocked off work. Walking through the park. It’s a grey day but not so cold anymore. People resting in the park. Lying down. Reading books. Crossing the road, looking left, then right. Time slips too quickly away. Need to focus. Prioritise. I push through the crowd to Holborn tube. It’s peak hour. A man waves a brochure at me. I take it, and look at it.
About time.
1 month ago