The day before the sculpture is freighted to Aarhus. I borrowed Charlotte’s car again and went over to Roskilde for the first time since finishing work last Tuesday. I knew that Lars and Mikkel were planning to prep the […]
It’s ready! And I am so glad. Today I finished the last coat of undercoat then prepared and did 3 layers of top coat on the remaining four panels. I’m not totally satisfied: the joints between plates of plywood are […]
A nasty moment to begin with today. I was a bit nervous about starting the top coat. After all, minor blemishes in the undercoat can somehow be disguised, but the top coat has to be perfect. I mixed up the […]
I was so blasted after Saturday that I couldn’t even write a blog post on my way home. It wasn’t hugely eventful, but I did (almost..just one coat on one side of one panel left to go) finish undercoating. […]
Felt very tired today, back in the studio twelve hours after I left it, and that’s including nearly 3 hours travelling..I didn’t even attempt to plan knowing Mikkel and Lars were also going to be working there. It gave me […]
Sitting slightly guiltily enjoying the sunshine: after days of unsettled weather today is glorious. Spent the morning preparing more surfaces ie sanding and filling! After yesterday’s experience I am determined to give the filler longer to dry. And I have […]
Had to suppress a feeling of rising panic today as I tried to rescue another layer of undercoat which was dribbling and threatening to ruin the finish. Limited time is making me rush things and that’s the consequence. Not enough […]
Another long day, nearly thirteen hours all in all, but I did at least achieve the main goal which was to graphite and glaze the rear of the three wing panels. This should be a relief, and initially it was, […]
After a welcome day’s break I got to the studio a bit later today, it being Sunday. I was very glad to see Friday’s paintwork looking fine and began sanding at the far end of the room, only to realise […]
When I was a small child just starting school we used to have Friday afternoons off, until they decided to increase productivity… Today felt like that as I skipped out of the studio at 1.30pm to go and collect Zach. […]
A very long day. Much as yesterday, undercoating and wondering if I’ll ever get to the glazing stage. Now it’s postponed until Monday. Not great but unavoidable. My proxy vote in the British general election failed to materialise despite my […]
I like this bag, which is for rubbish, on the Danish trains. It reads: Rubbish in the bag. Bag in the hand. Hand on the heart. Where will it end? On the platform. In the rubbish bin. Thanks. Sometimes I […]
A headlong rush for the station today, grateful for my bike. I was literally working until the last minute. I tried a new route by train, which gives me an extra 25 minutes at both ends of the day, and avoids […]
It takes about an hour and a half to get over to Roskilde and back every day. Most of it is mind numbing suburban landscape, it exists in Denmark just as in Britain. But this is a nice view of […]
Began work today! On the smallest of the ten pieces that will comprise the sculpture, but still… Sanding back and filling screw holes in preparation for primer. It rapidly became clear that it won’t be six days’ work […]
Today I got my first view of what’s been going on in the workshop in Roskilde. My first impression: wow, it’s big! Of course I knew it was going to be big, but it takes a moment to adjust to […]
Yesterday I went to the scrap metal yard, early. Fortunately for me, they always have HEB beams in stock and I was able to measure to get those that were closest to 10cm in depth (10.2-10.3cm) I can only hope […]
The first big wobble came today. I got an unexpected call from Mikkel, lead carpenter on the project; unexpected because I didn’t know they would be working today, on the weekend. The wobble came because I came to suspect […]
Today I got word that the carpenters have started work on building House of Cards. Massive relief that they are underway, with three weeks to go before it is due to be collected by the exhibition organisers. Next week is […]
There haven’t been any blog posts for a few weeks because I’ve been in Mexico with family, taking a break before the final push (and introducing my son to his granny for the first time). Now waiting for the carpenters […]
House of Cards has been a massive eyeopener for me in terms of the sheer amount of bureaucracy and preparation relative to the amount of time spent actually making, that goes into realising a large public sculpture like this. […]