It's mad being a painter and at times it’s maddeningly slow. I brought a bunch of new canvases and spent the past while building up layers to get them into my “pool of pieces on the go”. I don’t know yet, but right now it seems like this process might continue for months. No magic in it, just technique and labour, waiting for the spark.

Having been dancing with paintings near their peak over the last few months, now that they are all finished I have to switch gear to the speed of starting new ones. Usually that’s quite an enjoyable task as it doesn’t involve much fighting but for some reason yesterday it drove me a bit mad so I threw away the brush’s and took off in dark puffy form. When I went back to the studio early this morning I suddenly saw that I am in the middle of the “treading water” zone and I was stressed because I could’t see it for what it was.

I really don’t want to use blue at the beginning of these pieces but it’s so hot here I think I’m using it subconsciously to cool down. I can’t seem to stop it from appearing all over the place. Once I was in North America on a residency during winter time and was working while a blizzard raged outside. At that time I couldn’t stop painting orange. Extremes of temperature isn’t something we get a lot of in Ireland so I notice the effects on my work all the more.