9.00 am. On with my final mark-up review of a submitting Fine Art PhD student’s thesis element. I’m merely polishing at this stage. But one should make a commitment to exactitude, when necessary. And in scholarly writing (at which artists, too, can be accomplished), this is the case:

11.00 am. Off to School to conduct an extended PhD Fine Art tutorial with one of our distance students, a discussion which (both of necessity and desire) spilled over into the lunchtime. At 2.00 pm, Mr Croft and I interviewed a PhD Fine Art applicant from China (via Glasgow). Talking with artists from other countries and cultures is a rich experience. Exciting things are happening in the East. The western hegemony of contemporary art practice is collapsing, along with much else. In the next decades, the best in art is as likely to come from China, Africa, and places that, presently, have no association with it:

Afterwards, I held a tutorial with one of our finalising MA Fine Art students. The latter part of the afternoon was dedicated to postgraduate admin. Applications are still coming in.

Some principles and observations derived from today’s engagements:

• As a deplorably flawed individual, I’ve no problem accepting the conspicuous mistakes, bad calls, weaknesses, prejudices, and stupidities of others. They have my fullest sympathy and understanding. In this sense, my inadequacies are one of my greatest assets.
• When distracted, what, then, am I attending too? Why was the distraction of more pressing interest than that upon which my attention was originally fixed? Does the weakness lie in the power of the object to maintain my attention or my capacity to remain attentive?
• An abundance of ideas and plans will be our undoing.
• The requirements of the work are paramount; your needs come a poor second.
• It’s possible to solve a problem without recognising the solution.

I closed the working day as I’d begun it, reviewing the PhD Fine Art thesis submission.

A new addition for Pedalboard III. This will permit me to the pitch of the guitar input and blend higher and lower tones of the note (the ‘wet’ signal) with the input note (the ‘dry’ signal):