Friday 20 July 2012

Plumbing on the Farm



When one has both hands occupied fixing up the horse's water troughs pipes and one's head is itchy and needs a good scratch it is handy to have a plumbers mate to come along and scratch that itch.


I am lucky to have such a helper and a very good helper he is too, don't even have to ask, he is there and on to it before I even know I need him. Such intuitive empathy is hard to find in human animals.









Painting Murals in Winter

Painting outdoor murals in Winter is a slow process. The work is not vigorous, energetic and getting the blood pumping. The work is contemplative and the physicality of it involves tiny careful movements of the hand with the brush keeping the whole body still and all the while the cold breeze keeps one very cool.
Not cool like an awesome hey look at that fabulous person cool but cool like fuck I am so bloody cold what the hell am I doing here I must be mad.


This particular Mural is a 1925 Grocery store and is fully stocked up with masses of detail, has two different light sources and is a complicated exercise in perspective drawing so the slow and cold pace is OK. The frequent days off doing other things like keeping warm and snug allow me the time needed to think the composition through. The passersby don't seem to mind, they tell me they enjoy looking to see what is new on the mural and seem to enjoy it coming slowly, piece by piece.