Grasping an enormous edge

Several notable things happened this week. Firstly, and maybe most excitingly, the invites for Kevin Low and my show Worlds Apart at Union Gallery went out. This, together with posting a sneak preview of our work online, has made the whole things suddenly seem real. 

You are invited!

Being in the studio working with such concentration, I more or less lost sight of what I was doing and why I was doing it. This exhibition, that has been planned since October last year, is almost here and for the first time, maybe, I can almost grasp what that means. Further, after spending much of yesterday photographing (and re-photographing and re-re-photographing) my paintings I was for the first time able to see them all in one place at the same time, even if it was only on screen, and the enormity (if that does not seem too egotistical) of what I have created also hit me.

All of this good stuff happened at the end of a week that did not begin well. It began with me trying to finish the last painting in my new series. I had thought the week before, erroneously, that it was finished. At the weekend, it became clear that really it was not. The problems arrived when I tried to start working on it again. I simply could not find a way into the painting and, after an infuriating afternoon, I lost my temper and it went badly, and notably, wrong…

You are invited to this too!

Happily, I discovered that I am still good at fixing things and so it was that with perseverance, a couple of hours and a lot of glue, the wrong was righted and a day later I was able to carry on working on the painting until it was complete.

Some paintings come easier than others. Few I have ever painted have been as hard as this one. I am glad I have finished it, however I doubt I will ever really care for it because when I look at it, I remember what happened and how it felt; things I'd rather forget.

Writing down, albeit obtusely, what happened is not exactly the best way of forgetting. Nevertheless, I am writing this blog to record my life in art and this was an important event. The painting is drying now, sitting in a messy studio that soon I will have to tidy. Maybe when I see it in Union Gallery in a few weeks, I'll have a change of heart about it. Let me repeat that.

In just over two weeks, I will be delivering my paintings to Union Gallery and a few days after that, they will be on show. In public. This is such a huge and exciting thing that even not I am still not quite grasping what it means. This is not my first exhibition by any means, I've been at this for over ten years now, however it might be my biggest one to date. And certainly, I think it is the best work I have ever made and I just can't wait to see it all hung and out on show. If you're in Edinburgh in April, I really hope you've make it along.

In fact, if you are in Edinburgh on the night of Thursday 5th April, we are having a private preview. Come along and say hello. I'll be the one with the salt and pepper goatee beard and the big smile.