Power Surge Crisis in Chessington: Power Cuts, No Heating, No Electricity, No Hotwater…No Painting!

Art Journal December 2010 by Jenny Meehan

I am not enjoying this week!  So much for painting.  Though I managed to do some colour mixing experiments at the beginning of the week the rest of the week has become a distressing experience…No boiler for several days, household appliances not working, power cuts, then mains fuses not working, so only partial lighting.  For much of the week the house has been cold and dark.  Not ideal for painting in!

Things seem a little better today, but still no freezer, fridge, washing machine or cooker. Heating is nice though, and hot water.  I had hoped to do a lot of painting this week, and that has all gone to pot.  Only just recovered from a problem with rodents…which also involved a whole week of doing everything but painting.  Where is my so called “Domestic Bliss”….Maybe that is some kind of perfume I could buy for Christmas or something?

Many houses on the Chessington Court Estate have been affected, it must be well over 150 I should think.  There are now huge holes being dug everywhere; it’s as if giant moles have arrived and are settling in for Christmas.  The company “Haste” are calling at all houses, and they are doing an excellent job of trying to sort out the problems, but it is all very depressing.  It was also quite scary…When the power surge happened we had 6 huge bangs in our house, nasting clicking sounds in the boiler, and all kinds of small appliances turning into fireworks.  Firemen came to knock at doors to make sure that people didn’t have fires, which was reassuring.  I believe that there had been some fires, though this is word of mouth, so I am not sure if it’s true.

Well, here is one of my paintings.  I am working on using texture more at the moment.

Drawn from the Imagination by Jenny Meehan

I have been looking at many of Turner’s paintings recently, and also experimenting with a greater variety of brush strokes. This experimental painting is on a textured ground using acrylic paints.  I prefer oils, but acrylic does dry more quickly.  The quick drying time of acrylic makes it easy to experiment with paint within a short period of time, which suits me for my work in the studio.  At home, however, I like to watch the paint dry!