The house is a GCSE house this year. Harriet is a demon of revision. She requires food, water and the occasional tester. I HAVE ONLY TO: NOT say the wrong thing, SAY the right things at all times, provide treats and ANYTHING necessary to ease the stress, be quiet when it is necessary and noisy when it is not, be amusing and comforting in the appropriate spaces and above all, leave the lovely girl alone.
The studio, it turns out is perfectly suited to the success of this undertaking!
I have been painting a series of intimate little paintings, using ink and gauche and working on some small pots. In the studio, the leaves scrape on the windows, birds chirp outside. Perfect in my splendid isolation; only disturbed by the occasional heavy thud of a cat on a hot wood roof; or the call of a teenager with GCSE needs.