vanilla beer work diary
In Amsterdam, by luck, I met Lino Hellings. She advised me to keep my work diary on-line, exposing my work methods rather than protecting them, risking the humiliation involved in failure. So:celebrate error. In my heart I knew this to be a good idea. My brain, horrified, fortunately tells me it will be too boring for anyone to read.
Monday, 18 May 2026
Friday, 15 May 2026
15 05 2026
Hurrah and hurray, the Stafford book is off and given to Desktop publishing for their approval!
What could possibly go wrong?
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
12 05 2026
Playing host to three cyberneticians, great fun if chaotic - the filmakers and recorderers of my dads 100 years. Now Bobs family are here, sweet folk who are used to me bunking off - which is what I've done, to get to grips with the last of the maths book.
Had a life drawing session on Saturday evening which was grim but I came away cheery enough, just nice to wield a pencil. Totally unnoteworthy otherwise. (though Karim was modelling, her first go - she was v good)
Otherwise, domestic stuff interferes as ever. Bank appointment later. Hospital scan tomorrow. Stafford book with designer, goodoh. So all OK really, just no studio work. Given the huge Asian hornet that has moved in there, I'm not too distressed.
Saturday, 2 May 2026
02 05 2026
Woke up realising that the scanning thang has to go on the back boiler... people coming and still preparing for builders. So putting stuff away and forgetting it, pro tem.
Saturday, 25 April 2026
26 04 2026
Led by a dream, I began scanning my press cuttings, contacts and so forth - from my CV file - as a start in assessing my career. I have 4 volumes of this stuff, all grimy achieved by dogged etc etc and now irrelevant. Got up to 1990.
Either I used to photograph well or I was a very pretty girl!! I had no idea. Or perhaps in the culture of the time, I wasn't right - like so much else.
Got two days before Bob gets back, though today is taken. One day then... well, l can finish up between times.
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
14 04 2026
Saturday, 11 April 2026
11 04 2026
...so, done lots but non art. Moving furniture and books in the study where a window is going to be positioned shorty; and done my back in. Accordingly, started work on taxes; rendered fairly straightforward due to lack of income :) Surprisingly large royalties though.

