And so it turned June without the faintest smell of linseed oil for over a month. Family matters have prevailed and I now sorely miss my work. It will be a couple of days before I shall be able to return to my studio and I know that when I do it will be a struggle to get back into the flow of things. I always compare these situations to those in top sport. If you stop for a while it takes a lot of training to get back to where you were before the break. I suppose it will not take as long as it would an athlete but all the same, I know I shall be wanting to throw the brush against the wall the first few hours, as it won’t do as I wish it to.
Where the brush is usually a very natural extension of my hand it will now be a somewhat uncomfortable prosthesis, a cumbersome tool that has to be mastered again. The same goes with the consistency of my paints, I can usually feel it through the brush, know when it is absolutely right and now I will have to push and mix and find out once I have applied it to the panel that it is either too wet or to thick. It will pass quickly, a matter of hours and then things will pick up again. But until then don’t bother me with a phone call, a social visit or expect a quick answer to your E-mails. I shall be in training and have no wish to communicate with the outside world until I am fully satisfied with my own dexterity.
Where the brush is usually a very natural extension of my hand it will now be a somewhat uncomfortable prosthesis, a cumbersome tool that has to be mastered again. The same goes with the consistency of my paints, I can usually feel it through the brush, know when it is absolutely right and now I will have to push and mix and find out once I have applied it to the panel that it is either too wet or to thick. It will pass quickly, a matter of hours and then things will pick up again. But until then don’t bother me with a phone call, a social visit or expect a quick answer to your E-mails. I shall be in training and have no wish to communicate with the outside world until I am fully satisfied with my own dexterity.