9.00 am. I processed two more verses from Matthew, Chapter 20 to begin the day. Over the last few days, I’ve been preparing a number of MDF panels for painting with Spectrum acrylic gesso. Today the fourth and final layer is polished (with ‘wet & dry’):
11.30 am. On to stretching paper (archival, acid free quality) in readiness for the final assembly of ‘A Wordless Gospel’.
2.00 pm. I masked off the sides for the supports related to ‘Image & Superscription’ and ‘Trust in Thy Word’. Burnishing the edge of the tape tightens it to the surface and heats up, anneals, and softens the glue so that it can spread evenly along the line:
3.20 pm. The early onset of dusk, watched while listening to Purcell’s Dido’s Lament:
4.00 pm. Began gridding-up the four supports. The 6H pencil slides across the polished gesso like a skater on ice. I’m working within a tolerance of 1 mm. As such, the pencil has to be repointed after each line is drawn. 8.15 pm. Gridding complete. I ruminated upon an object-based work that illuminates the very origins of my urge to combine the visual and the biblical and visual in childhood.