Weeks of Nothing

In a weekly family-life newspaper column, I read recently about how the author tried so hard to relate from the heart but occasionally she had a week where nothing happened at all. She disliked engineering situations or exaggerating but sometimes there was just not anything worth writing about. Short of causing a major 'pet ate other pet' drama or deliberately losing the sports kit to initiate a morning riot I can see that sometimes life just 'is'.

This made me think about how many weeks we have in our lives and brains where nothing much happens and whether these weeks, rather than being dull are really the ones to appreciate. Just as Albert Camus suggests we should stop looking for the meaning of life and accept its absurdity, perhaps we should also accept its occasional nothingness?

Being of the mind that appreciation of something makes us think more, I shall be starting a tally of 'frothy happy weeks of nothingness'. From now until the start of July, (this is my birthday month so something had better happen then or else), I shall be keeping track of when time slides by in a haze of warm plateau-like comfort.

I realise this may appear not much of a challenge but really...with two businesses, four children, two dogs, a cat, a fish and a man, if I rack-up one of those weeks each month I will be entirely satisfied. In-fact I am now wondering whether this is one of those ideas which should have stayed firmly in my head because if I do have had a FHWON will I even notice enough to make a note?

I am spending time drawing at the new Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, (first of this batch of pictures below). My idea here is to document a building growing. Many have criticised the new development as a little-needed folly, I hope it will develop into an arts hub, a venue for Shrewsbury to be proud of.
Alongside other work, I will be showing some of these drawings at Bear Steps Gallery, Shrewsbury from 30 March until 9th April 2009. If Shrewsbury's a bit too far you can see some of them on my website.