Positively productive

A perfectly horrible sleety day with icy winds licking the windows; the cats stare at it all disdainfully and curl up in a warm corner. Ideal for what I had in mind; cocooning, hibernating, nesting... spent some quality time cleaning the studio floor and hoovering the sofa before the (nearly, its always nearly) final assault on my first whole painting of the new decade. Aptly it is also my debut on self-stretched canvas, although Stu has already assumed the mantle of canvas 'tech' - priming and stretching the new one like the natural that he is. I'm sure thirty years in kithens has been the perfect preparation for a new life in a workshop; plenty of similarities really, but crucially some omissions. Like heat, pressure and customers in close proximity.

We also set upon the bathroom today; just coming up eight years in the house, which is the longest I have spent anywhere except my childhood home (and not long till I beat that one), and the shower needed a little attention to grout. We have again managed a fine division of labour, with Stu removing and myself re-filling; look forward to finishing the job tomorrow and getting clean again.

Much cheered today by the reaction from my online 'chums' to the new pic; put a jpeg up in its unfinished state and racked up a record number of comments and 'likes'; it is nice to have the illusion of not producing into a void. Now itcing to get on with the next one, which is hanging ready-to-go in the kitchen. Working from a sketch I did called 'the snowcatcher'; she is another angel and worked in a kind of folk-arty way. Watched 'I've loved you so long' last night, an excellent French film bringing a typically great performance from the very lovely Kristen Scott Thomas; love her face so much especially her amazing, deep set eyes. Spent a happy hour drawing from the screen for use as reference in the new painting; 'The Snowcatcher', when she arrives, will be part Scott Thomas, part me and part Leonardo; I like to have a sneaky peak at the latter when I'm portraiting to see what 'he would have done'. No copying, I hasten to add.

But for now, the evening is left to music, food and conversation; it is dark and grimy out and I have no desire to go anywhere anyway.