Diary extracts for February 1948

1st Feb 1948:

Started painting the organ screen in the Chapel picture

3rd Feb 1948:

Old Mr Vincent [one of Mavis's relations]

wants me to paint a picture for the family with some of them (very small) in it. Rather a good idea. So we decided on £100 with frame extra. This will certainly come in very nicely if we are hard up in a year’s time.

7th Feb 1948:

Worked on the 'Harvest Festival' again (50x30). It looked awful when I got it out, made me feel no end depressed.

8th Feb 1948:

Decided that one of the things which has made the Harvest Festival not right in scale is that about 4” must come off the bottom, there being far too much floor. So started extreme alterations.

9th Feb 1948:

Working hard on H F (46x30) something seems to be getting going on it now.

10th Feb 1948:

Funny how Grock (the Dalmatian) lets a fart or breaks wind and he thinks something has bitten him! Jumps up with his tail between his legs and goes out of the room if the door is open, looks at the hearth rug to see if there is anything running about.

10th Feb 1948:

Started painting again on Excalibur. It seems everlasting, but the fact has to be faced that it is not what I want.

11th Feb 1948:

In the evening thought quite suddenly of another vision of childhood picture, sailing fireboats (paper) down a tunnel. Bradford Back perhaps. Boys watching them and gasworks etc coming up over the top of the coping – a good subject I think. [Paper Boats (1951)]

19th Feb 1948:

Painting all day on the old ‘Pears and Grapes’

22nd Feb 1948:

Walk with Grock in the snow:

Having observed the remarkable camouflage of animals in snow in patches, and having watched Mr Crouch’s cows in the heather and gorse, I decided to have a quick go at a picture of such, so started a 20x24 but did not get as far as I had hoped owing to bad light. [Winter Landscape 1948]