obviously I'm incapable of keeping my resolution
to blog once a week. It seems vain to apologise - after all, neither
the cyber world or the real world stop turning when I don't turn up.
I don't know what the official psychological
consensus is regarding people who can't keep resolutions and who are
often late, as is my wont. I'll venture that it might be because of a
profound contradiction: a combination of over-confidence ("I'll be
forgiven because I am adorable" ) and no confidence at all ("It doesn't
really matter whether I do anything"). Caught between those
irreconcilable differences, the only escape is to make resolutions, not
keep them, and then compose a non-apologetic explanation and post it as
a blog, three weeks late.
Meanwhile, work on the Trans-Siberian is going
well and takes up all my time and more. One of the beauties of
printmaking is the element of surprise. Until you take a proof of any
block or plate you've been slaving over for hours or days, there's no
way of knowing what you've got. It is always a thrill to turn the wheel
of the press then lift the paper off the inked block and examine the
first proof. Sometimes it's perfect as is, sometimes more work needs to
be done on the block. Either way the process itself is highly
rewarding.
