That would really be the point of today. …. it happens every year around this time. It might be scottishnessthat makes it a problem or maybe not. But outside it was quite warm . Inside it was quite cold. Outside it is not possible to work on a big painting. For one thing the light is different but secondly there is almost always a wind blowing in my street. ( am not even going to mention flies, bees and cats and a little dog.) The point being I feel I can’t paint outside . Inside however I would need to light the stove as it is quite cold. So to resolve this problem I went back to bed with a book.

I was quite tired today for no particular reason.

Waking up at 5.30am probably didn’t help. This morning I enjoyed writing and then put the washing machine on. It is easier to handwash small stuff and save the washing machine for bigger things. And then maybe it will last longer. I forgot to check for the leak until it was nearly finished and was pleased to see there was hardly any damp patch.

I may have been having a bit of a self critical day when I thought that the washing looked a bit seedy. No nice crisp white towels blowing in the breeze but black tee shirt covered in fluff, horrible green patterned sheets bought because they were cheap and the least horrible and James ‘s cardigan that I have been wearing a lot recently which is warm and the colour of mud. I like washing blowing in the wind. It’s cheerful and when you have a ” dicky” washing machine then every load is a bonus. But not today.

However I decided eventually that I had said I would paint my chandelier today and even if no one else cared I did. It was a bit scary at first but to my surprise it worked out reasonably ok. I can fix some little bits when I go over the whole painting. I am awfully impressed with myself. It feels like I was talking to myself and saying , ” That chandelier is there in the room , therefore it should be in the painting but you couldn’t really paint it cause its much much too complicated for you and no one would notice if it wasnt there. Who says I couldnt paint it? It would bring the whole painting together and give it some depth. But what if you do it and it looks a mess ..then you will have FAILED!

I think maybe a lot of artists have conversations like that.

Now I am so glad it is wine time. I don’t like feeling so tired. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

There are another 6 cases of the virus in Basilicata . And I read a report that the Uk could end up with 3 times the number of deaths that Italy has had. I even checked the populations of both countries and they are similar. Hopefully that is not right.

Tonight am not making the mistake of saying I am doing anything tomorrow . In a few weeks the hot/cold problem will not exist . In the meantime I will need to find a way of dealing with it.

But right now I have a glass of wine and some olives. Cheers!