A slow and low day of continuing mouth pain, but things seem to be improving. Most of the pain seems to be my left tonsil, always a problematical one as it has a calcified 'stone' there, which hurts whenever I have an infection of some sort; though this ache can function as a sort of 'early warning system' for colds etc.
I added a new intro to Effervescent, but later in the day removed it. Many songs now have more feeling based, more improvisatory intros that echo the main theme. I made this one because it sounded nice, and because Effervescent is rather short; but perhaps this is overkill, akin to some baroque curves in a carving. I could use it elsewhere or include it as second track instead.
I also worked on some very old sequences, a rock tune called 'Cat Covid', and another surreal track full of energy in the style of the some of The Dusty Mirror songs called 'Walls (And How To Hit Them)'. The Cat Covid one is a bit silly, and there only because it's a bit silly, as well as being largely complete.
Linda came round to drop off a gift of some old picture frames, and, though it was painful to talk, we happily talked a little about painting. I miss painting and exhibiting. It's hard to feel like an artist when I have no place to show my work and no people to share it with. I increasingly dislike showing things online. The ephemerality of it all worries me philosophically, so oil painting trumps my music in this regard. Yet so much of the visual art world seems to be internet based too. If it were not, how would most people hear of it?
I spent a happy hour removing the faded prints from the frames, and cleaning them from their sticky tapes using a hairdryer and a solvent called Goo Gone; making them ready for new oils. A new frame and a blank canvas is a wonderful gift - there's no better one, apart from a commission or a competition.
I've wasted too much time browsing Wikipedia, reading about Dennis Potter. I watched the rest of Casablanca, a film I've never seen, but one certainly worth seeing as its reputation indicates. Some of today was even spent in a semi-sleepy stupor which is most unlike me. Things will get back to normal when my mouth and face doesn't ache so much, and when I have a million thrilling tasks rather than vague notions of one or two.
