MASS OBSERVATION DIARY

MASS OBSERVATION DIARY

12 May 2025

Introduction

I am a 65 year old Male, retired, and I live in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. I’m married and have siblings who live in Lancashire, close to my Mother and Germany. I worked in Further and Higher Education ending my career after a succession of jobs ass Head of Department. Since retirement I have continued to make Art because that is what I do and I have the luxury and privilege to do so.

I donate my 12th May diary to the Mass Observation Archive . I consent to it being made publicly available as part of the Archive and assign my copyright in the diary to the Mass Observation Archive Trustees so that it can be reproduced in full or in part on websites, in publications and in broadcasts as approved by the Mass Observation Trustees. I agree to the Mass Observation Archive assuming the role of Data Controller and the Archive will be responsible for the collection and processing of personal data and ensuring that such data complies with the DPA.

Mass Observation Morning

This morning I woke later than usual, at 7:45 am. This might be the single greatest benefit of retirement after twenty odd years of 6:00 am starts. I have my routine so I feed the cat whilst my wife wakes up and then shower and dress. I had toast and the last of the marmalade along with my cup of tea. I read the Guardian on my iPad and listen to 6 music on the radio. At 8:40 am, as I was late, I went into the garden to feed the birds and open the greenhouse for the day. I’m growing a lot of tomatoes this year which are still mostly seedlings and encouraging the native wildflowers in the garden alongside judiciously placed perennials. I returned to the kitchen for a second cup of tea and to do my daily drawing.

A drawing of a chopping board behind a tap made in coloured pens for the mass observation blog post

12th May Drawing ‘Chopping Board’

I have drawn sitting at the kitchen table at around 8:30 to 9:00 am since 6th May 2020, a lockdown activity that has become a ritual. The drawing is always something I can see from my seat, the sink, the dishes, the windowsill or the whole kitchen and occasionally an ornament bought to the table and placed next to me. I take between 20 and 40 minutes depending on the drawing, today’s was the short end of twenty minutes.

When I finished the drawing I left the house and walked the two and a half miles to my studio in the centre of Doncaster. I rent a unit in the former Art School that stands next to St. George’s Minster. The first I did when I arrived at 10:30 am was put the kettle on.

A model of a white horse with a truncated torus on its back for the mass observation post

Circus Horse after Seurat

Through the morning I set to work repairing a maquette for a sculpture I’m developing. One of my many freedoms now is the ability to do what I want when I want which is as much a curse as a blessing. The lack of a need to make things for exhibitions or to sell can put you in a place where where your natural dilettantism comes to the fore and you end up producing little that challenges. The solution is to try to enjoy the process of making for its own sake, well, it is for me. I stopped for lunch at 12:45 and eat a salad I bought on the way into the studio, I should really make it at home but I’m far too lazy. I usually take 30 to 45 minutes for lunch and read the paper on line while I eat. The news today centred on Kier Starmer’s determination to appeal to the lowest common denominator with an appalling assault on immigration, and therefore immigrants, with an ill thought through policy with so many holes you can only despair of the intellect of his spads and his own venality. It does not help my digestion. I have found that the only way to maintain your own equilibrium in the face of our collective exceptionalism and ignorance is to ignore. I have always voted but the last couple of times I’ve been very tempted not to. The salad, though probably unhealthy, was very nice.

Mass Observation Afternoon

In the afternoon I continued to work on a larger model of the horse. The piece combines strands of work I’ve been pursuing over the last couple of years and is impossible to articulate except through this media. The image shows the revised version sitting on a balustrade I painted for a photographer, Richard, who has the space next to mine. At a quarter to four I bumped into him while I was washing my hands, I don’t have running water in the studio and gave him the balustrade and had a chat about his studio equipment and the state of photography education. I’ve reached an age where I try not to lament but I find it hard to look backwards without rose tinted spectacles.

A model of the white horse of uffington made from polystyrene for the mass observation post

(Uffington) White Horse

As usual I left the studio at four thirty with the intention of walking home, but today it was 24 degrees C so I caught the bus. 12th of May 2025 it costs £2.50 to travel two and a half miles and you don’t even need cash, just swipe the card.

I arrived home at five to five and fed the cat before checking my greenhouse and pond and making sure things were watered after such a hot day. The soil where I live is clay so water is retained very well, too well in the winter, so only plants in pots need watering very regularly.

Mass Observation evening

My wife and I had tea at six thirty, a seasonally appropriate chicken casserole, and I read the paper while I ate and we discussed the news in a piecemeal way. These days it’s difficult to get into big discussions without getting upset with the way things are so we tend to avoid big discussions about current affairs unless we find a point of difference or one of us needs to unload.

At seven thirty I washed the dishes and we settled down to watch TV. Monday is quiz night so we watched Only Connect on BBC2 followed by University Challenge and then turned to Netflix to watch an episode of ‘The Four Seasons’ after which we retired to bed and read for a half hour or forty minutes before going to sleep. An that is my day, fairly typical and infinitely varied.

Less Space in the Studio

Less Space in the Studio

Another New Studio

In the book ‘The Garden Against Time’ Olivia Laing writes about the restoration of a garden, delving into its history and the forces around it that shape that history. She writes

…I was exhausted by the perpetual, agonised now of the news. I didn’t just want to journey backwards through the centuries. I wanted to move into a different understanding of time: the kind of time that moves in spirals or cycles, pulsing between rot and fertility, light and darkness. I had an inkling even then that the gardener is initiated into a different understanding of time, which might also have a bearing on how to preclude the apocalypse we seem bent on careering into. I wanted to dig down, and see what I could find. A garden contains secrets, we all know that, buried elements that might put on strange growth or germinate in unexpected places. The garden that I chose had walls, but like every garden it was interconnected, wide open to the world.”

It is a fascinating book drawing on notions of the garden from Milton’s Paradise through John Clare and the ravages of enclosure and even to Iris Origo’s war diary from la Foce, ‘War in Val d’Orcia’ with all the diversions you would imagine and never shirking the moral ambiguity at the heart of all interactions with the land.

That idea of connecting to everything through a seemingly solitary activity is exactly what I’m trying to achieve with ‘woolgathering’

A lot less Space in the Studio

tree one 16 12 24

So in December I made one more big drawing of the flower beds and worked on the VR world, firstly refining the ground so that the lawn is flat and then working on the jumps between the life size and micro views that will lead into the other worlds before finally putting in the background from Google Maps to place the garden in a bigger environment.

This is the environment before i adjusted the lawn.

This one has the new lawn

and this one has the surrounding environment.

Obviously alongside this I needed something to put my energy into when the VR becomes too frustrating so I started some drawings of trees after seeing a photograph by a friend.

As well as the one above the videos I made two other small ones.

tree two 16 12 24

tree three 16 12 24

Before these the big ‘woolgathering flowerbed’ drawing was done over two days in the studio and is around 130 x 110 cm, pastel on cartridge paper.

Even less space in the studio

Woolgathering Flowerbed

I made a process gif over the two days the drawing took.

woolgathering flowerbed process

Meaning I have even less space in the studio

Even less space in the studio

I started a big drawing of the trees on the 3rd January and also a couple of paintings based on the flower drawings while I was downloading an environment maker for Blender so that I can add a meadow to ‘woolgathering’ after John Clare’s ‘Helpstone Green’

tree four 03 01 2025 in progress

 

Flowers Painting 03012025

Flowers Painting 03012025

Both these are c. 50 x 50 cm

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The December drawings can be seen here

and the November images here

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

The drawings are posted to  Instagram each day.

 

 

 

Even More Space in the Garden

Even More Space in the Garden

Another New Studio

This is a very late blog recording November’s activity because I’ve been suffering from seasonal rubbish. Sometimes you reach what you think is the end of something and find yourself struggling to move past that point and that’s where I’ve been. When in this state every distraction is grasped with alacrity and time that should have been spent resolving things disappears.

I did manage to complete an application for funding from Immersive Arts and will find out if I’m successful in February,

Even More Space in the Garden

Flowers 10 01/11/24

At the start of the month I began a new drawing, Flowers_10, and prepped the boards for a couple more. At that point the other artists in the building were considering an open day before Christmas and I was hopeful of joining in.

Subsequently the Romanian elections taking place in the building stymied us and, as they were going to use three consecutive weekends, we were unable to progress. We’re now thinking of an exhibition in the Spring.

Flowers 9 01/11/24

Subsequently the Romanian elections taking place in the building stymied us and, as they were going to use three consecutive weekends, we were unable to progress. We’re now thinking of an exhibition in the Spring.

Flowers 1,2,3 and 4 01/11/24 backview

I finished the second drawing of the existing set up with ‘Flowers 1,2,3, &4’ and then got the opportunity to get some more free material to help complete the piece.

Even More Space in the Garden

Studio 04/11/24

This meant I had to move everything around so that I could see what I was doing. Never mind space in the garden I need more space in the studio.

Storage Space 04/11/24

I moved my projection booth towards the door so that I could make a storage space against the wall.

When I was finished I started the 6th November with this setup.

Studio 06/11/24

Flowers_10 06/11/24

Even More Space in the Garden

Flowers 11 06/11/24

Between the first and the sixth of the month I made these two drawings, Flowers_10 and Flowers_11 towards the ‘Woolgathering’ project. ‘Woolgathering’ has grown out of the exploration of space in the garden.

Studio at the end of 06/11/24

At the end of the day the studio looked like this.

Thereafter I worked to make the pieces I needed to finish the layout of the flower bed for that piece. First cutting the flowers for the end bed, ‘Flowers_5’.

Cut outs for Flowers 5

Then painting them.

Painted Cut outs for Flowers 5

It occurs to me now that I may need a new naming convention for the 3d pieces.

At this time I also painted ‘Flowers_4’ (3D)

Flowers 4 painted 13/11/24

I built the new bases I needed to complete the flower bed.

Bases for Flower Bed

And then assembled ‘Flowers_5’

Flowers 5 view

Flowers 5 (3d) close up

After this I caught up with some framing as I was still hopeful of the Open Day.

Framed Pictures 13/11/24

The smaller frames are quite effective but I had to break down some of the drawings to make them.

I made ‘Flowers_6’ and painted it

Even More Space in the Garden

Flowers 6 (3d) before painting

after which I made ‘Flowers_7’ and ‘Flowers_8’

 

‘Woolgathering’ 27/11/24

At the end of the month I built a stand to raise the piece off the floor.

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The November drawings can be seen here

and the October images here

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

The drawings are posted to  Instagram each day.