JKR

So for many of us, the lucky ones, today is the first working day of 2012. Above is Ford Madox Brown’s painting ‘Work’ which depicts road digging in Victorian Hampstead, or an upheaval that effects all strata of society, depending on how deep you want to look. No particular reason to use it here, other than that its title chimes with the subject of today’s post and that it’s a painting worth sharing.

Anyway, even in the ‘creative industries’ coming back into work can feel a little like returning to one’s toil. Albeit without much physical exertion. All those briefs that came in just before Christmas that we have been trying to studiously ignore for a few days now need attending to. So I wanted to share a few lines from the new biography of David Hockney (A Rake’s Progress), which illustrate his working ethic in the early sixties:

“When I moved to Powis Terrace” he remembers, “the biggest room was where I painted, and I had my little bed in the corner. At the end of the bed was a chest of drawers on which I painted a message rather carefully that said in large capital letters ‘GET UP AND WORK IMMEDIATELY’. So the first thing I saw every morning was the sign, and not only did I read the sign but I remembered that I had wasted two hours painting it, so I jumped out of bed.”

As I pass this on, I note that in our line of work we are so lucky. 2012 presents us with a blank sketchbook and a brace of sharp pencils. It’s up to us what we do with them and that’s rather an exciting prospect. Have a happy and productive new year.