Despite my decision to withdraw from formal teaching, the day started with an online talk about She's At The Controls for some undergraduate students, more than 150 of them. I think I've realised that an hour's not really enough to slice through the cake and show all the different layers. Ten years' research can sound superficial if there is no foundation of prior knowledge to build on. However, a female student has already contacted me for advice and that is quite encouraging.
Talking about that work is always unsettling because there are so many things that are true and terrible. I was glad to go straight to the studio and continue this drawing, an A2 sized portrait of two street cleaners, one more shy than the other. I can not tell you how proud they are of their job: I just hope there is something in the drawing that conveys this.
Of course, it fits (just) into an A3 size, but then you'd lose the big nothingness around them and that's really important.
I uploaded 14 of the hi-res scans of the drawings to be printed, and then walked along to Kensington High Street to try to persuade Cass Arts to give me a discount on 30 frames. Alas, they were not persuadable and I tubed it home, finshing a trashy crime paperback on the way.
This has been quite a tiring day, but a nice thing happened. Often, people don't want to be photographed, but the manager of the Troubadour in Earl's Court called up and seemed delighted that I want to do a portrait of their sound engineer. Hooray!
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