ferrens mural

Not a brilliant morning. Had to wait for the 11.47 bus and whilst waiting attended to some bits and pieces, one of which involved dealing with a sign that has suddenly and apparently illegally been attached to our garage. This and the fact that the hunt are using our land put me into an unreasonably bad temper. Actually, probably more upset about news of Vivienne's health - not good.

At Ferrens' the work seemed fay, too gutless to be cave painting. More like a fashion advert background. I melted some beeswax and mixed with pigment, found it made a marvelous surface when painted and rubbed on top of the work already there. Not having too much control of the pigment distribution helped. Pausing to mix it in meant the wax solidified, so I didnt, so it was uneven and highly suitable.
But slow. Had to keep returning to the gas stove to heat up the hot water to keep the wax fluent. Thought to try mixing with turps but didnt have any so walked to Campagne and found some white spirit in the shop. That indeed helped by thinning the wax and with the help of warm water under the pan managed a deal.
The architects of Ferrens house -Michel and Simona - arrived and we agreed that the mural should stretch across the wall rather than ceiling to floor, a swathe rather than a whole wall. Well up for this as I hate working without my feet on the ground. They pointed out that the wall looked like three separate pictures and should be united, which I happily set about. Very pleasant working with them, they talk to each other quietly in German and it reminds me of operas, kept expecting the orchestra to break in. Relaxing and attention gathering at the same time.
Acting as a function of wall surface and pigment delivery -the process entirely dictating the image- is very liberating.

Without a hotplate it was all getting hard... went to catch the 2.00 home and got picked up by the Scottish Daves. Will find hotplate and carry on work in the studio.

Later; en route to studio discovered washing line had collapsed and wet sheets lying in grubby drainage ditch. Wondered whether to just go back to bed. Curiosity got the better of me; wanted to see if the prussian would work. It did. Then the caput mortuum had to be reworked and the grass stuff at the bottom. Still not finished, dunno why not, it all seems to work. Have picked out around the head with a razor to revive some lost luminosity.
Reworked the jackdaw of prague painting, the body of the satyr was gross so Ive cut it down, nice, rebuilt the grass to an hysterical luminosity (love lustre pigment) now find the face dosnt fit. Always have to loose that with which you started. Like compromising with the original error until you can see the error and change it.

No sign of a hotplate.