Things that don’t burn
There was a fire in our studio: not bad enough to bring the building down, and thankfully no one was hurt. Much of our artwork was destroyed or damaged. All of my work was destroyed or damaged, except the things that I’d sold or given away over the years, and a couple of things I have at home.
But it’s not all bad.
The people around me have been amazing. Everyone in the studio is working together to clean up and fix things, while my friends and colleagues got together and donated towards these efforts, which is absolutely lovely.
Knowing so many people care about you is a wonderful feeling. I feel very lucky, and I’m incredibly thankful for all of this.
It is hard to lose a lot of work, and in the immediate aftermath I was very upset.
But, on the bright side, I had got to a point where everything I paint is planned and calculated cleanly enough that it’s repeatable. And I haven’t lost the plans, because of compulsive iPhone camera use.
And most positively, I didn’t lose my experience and progress. So whatever I do paint next will still have the benefit of everything I’ve learned along the way. I want to repeat my most recent paintings, and they should turn out a touch better than the originals. Slow and steady painting will resume shortly :)
Another thing that doesn’t apparently burn? Rolls of kitchen paper.
