Erm... er, okay.

The painting's done. The last dab, final flourish - and I've even done the bit I always do after the date. It's done. Phew.

I like it - maybe even more than that. It tries to say something, and may succeed in articulating a couple of syllables... probably vowels though. It is more 'photo-real' than normal (though of course I have to muck about with that), but there is a reason. Anyway, I'm kinda proud of the detail there - its not easy, but it is a little pat on the back in a 'I can paint what's in front of me too' sort of way. It addresses some of my thought's about politics and society - not coherently naturally, but it raises some of my frustrations.

So in general I'm pleased.  Obviously it bares no relation to my other work - yet again I seem resistant to the idea of building a body of work that relates to each other! But I'll just have to hope that develops over time.

It's been a busy few days, the irony is that as I finish this new one, this fish out of water (I'm hoping it'll be a salmon), I've finally managed to get some work into a gallery - earlier stuff, some colour work, some slapstick and the dinosaurs.

Not my finest hour as I went to show my work - a bumbling impression of an overweight, bespectacled and bearded Hugh (Huge?) Grant. I entered the gallery and tried to make eye contact with the owner: "I've... well... here's some... its just something I've... what do you think... they're rubbish, right... shouldn't have come... I'll take them away immediately"; my anti-pitch.

Well at least that's what my head did, fortunately I shut up and let my wife do the cool bit - "Hello's" and such like, make the connection, take away the panic and then... well, I got the paintings, we looked, we talked, and there's no guarantee that people will buy, but they will be able to look, to think, and well, you never know? I made another step - one that tells me more about where I'm going, and how much I'll need help and love to get me there.  

So a weekend of newness, a weekend of fear and hope, a weekend of trying to work out the various bits of myself - my voice, my expectations and my pragmatism. Amazing how two days can seem longer than a month, but now it's Monday and there's a new week to face. "Hi-Ho, hi-ho..."