A week ago I did a Vlog, my first foray into video.  I took a painting I had done 16 years ago and put it beside one of my latest recently finished paintings.  I set my camera up and chatted away about seeing links to the old work that you find in the new work.  I replayed the video and found that I had been standing too far to the left and wasn’t actually in the picture.  Ho hum… a true beginner, I sent that one straight to the trash can and chatted away again.  On screen this time and ready to publish.  Then the world changed.

As I watched footage of the crisis of Covid-19 unfolding in Italy and Spain, and then watched our government ramp up it’s response, the links between my old and new paintings faded into insignificance.  I couldn’t give a toss about what I liked then and what I liked now, and that in my diary I had scheduled ‘VLOG’.  All schedules were off, not just in my diary but in diaries all over the globe.  People were going mad in the Supermarket.  My grocery list of items I needed for all my pre-planned meals for the week was in disarray as I scanned the empty shelves. No rice, no flour, no oats.  What was I going to have for breakfast?  Tuesday’s dinner required rice!  The kids lunches weren’t complete without a muffin and I needed flour!!  Thankfully our toilet paper situation was healthy.  You could sense a feeling of quelled panic as people filed through the aisles slowly placing unfamiliar foodstuffs in their trolleys because their regulars had all been taken.  I resorted to buying a jar of crushed ginger because there was no root ginger in the fresh produce section – I hate that stuff, you can’t beat fresh ginger and I always give it a delicious sniff before I chuck it in the trolley.  I didn’t sniff that nasty little jar…

Things only got worse.  In a matter of days we were in national lockdown, my partners business closed and the kids at home for school.  For a couple of days it felt surreal, as if we were playing out some blockbuster movie (without the paycheck).  Email after email came through cancelling all activities and planned events for the foreseeable future.  Normality was on hold and whatever we are living in now is it until who knows when.  My partner was threatening finding solace in alcohol – he hasn’t touched the stuff for well over a year.  The kids were taking it in their stride and kind of excited to be playing out history.  I just felt the need to cook good meals for them and to try and remain positive, although I did have a few wobbles on that front.

Now, we are 4 days into lockdown.  I’ve sent the VLOG to join it’s first edition in the trashcan.  I’ve written off this year as far as my painting goes.  Nobody is going to want to buy paintings at a time like this – that might come back next year when we have a bit of distance from the horrors we are witnessing on the news every night, and when people see their bank balances starting to go up again.  I will still paint, because I love it, but I’m not expecting any sales. 

Instead I am focusing on the present.  There has been a common cry as everyone has gone into lockdown – WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?????  Well, as an artist, this is not a problem for me.  Fortunately I had just received a paint order, so I’m flush with paint and time – what a heady combination!  But unpredictably, I haven’t thrown myself into preparing canvases for my next batch of paintings.  Instead, I had a minor brainwave and have started a Facebook Group called The Baggy Jeans Art Club.  Why that name?  Because ‘it’s a comfortable place to create’!!  We are all at home in our comfy trousers or baggy jeans, and while things are going Covid-crazy out there, those of us who are so inclined might as well get creative.  And as we have no-one other than our partners and kids (bless them..) to talk to, we might as well chat to other creatives from all over the globe, sharing our experiences of this time.

I’m pivoting with a capital P!!  I’m making videos of me doing arty things, and people in the club can just watch (apparently this is relaxing, I am told…) or they can find some paper or card and join in the fun.  We’ve only been going 3 days so far, but already there are over 80 people in the group and the vibe is good.  People want to be distracted and it’s a great time to do something you maybe did a long time before you got really busy, and now you have time.

I think the world will be a better place after all this.  For one thing there is evidence already that it will be healthier.  The planet can breathe and reminisce about what it was like before we all went crazy with planes and industry and engines and stuff.  And as people we can reconnect with the important things that satisfy our souls. 

If you would like to join The Baggy Jeans Art Club either as a relaxed observer, or as a participant you would be very welcome and I can guarantee you some fun – even if it is only watching me swimming in the deep end as I grapple with technology!  If not, take care, stay calm and find something that you will be better for when we all resume normality – whatever that will look like.