Day 4 was divided into two parts. The morning, doing our work, with Lucinda as tutor this time. The afternoon, a gallery visit.

I had quite a few ideas but only had time to try one of them. I had drawn the factory with TYPE on this side the week before:

  
I tried painting over it with a white base, then painting some orange, pink and red layers. Lucinda reminded us we could use PVA glue to create  transparent layers. 

Then I stuck a cut out photocopy of a man and woman on the train over it. This is already beginning to feel repetitive. I discussed why the result was so dissatisfying with Lucinda, who suggested that the photocopy was too solid and too small to give any feel of a train window. It certainly looked better when I taped a frame round it. The orange pink and yellow also looked like a sunset, which I hadn’t intended, and didn’t want at all.

But anyway, it got rid of a few things.

  
 
I’m really enjoying the book Station to Station, Searching for Stories on the  Great Western Line by James Attlee. He stops off at different points geographically,  politically and philosophically. He’s quite left-wing.

‘People from all walks met each other in newly constructed social spaces. Previously isolated individuals and communities were connected to the centre of things. Today the miracle of mass transportation is rendered banal through repetition, only the hiccups in our progress remaining cause for comment. Yet all the possibilities that intrigued early train travellers –of observing humankind en masse, of seeing the world in a different way when travelling at speed, of finding new ways to utilise the time provided by the journey between our homes and places of work –remain accessible.’

Gallery visit

We visited the Victoria Miro gallery in Islington. We walked quite a long way, my bag was heavy and my legs were aching particularly. For this reason partly I think, I didn’t really get involved in the visit.

 The gallery was a great space but was quite hard work physically. The outdoor space was good.

Some of the work was interesting, but I saw nothing overwhelming or that particularly excited me. The collage below was probably the best piece for me. I will write more tomorrow.