Off with on thing, on with another. There never seems time to breathe. Twelve pictures have gone off to the Affordable Art Fair.

Now it’s full steam ahead with the little exhibition we’re putting on here. Week 4 of the wonderful Brighton Science Festival has Communication as one of its themes. This is our contribution:

‘Telling Tales’ at The Wolf at the Door. Artists have a go at explaining what they’re trying to say in their work, how and why. Painting, glass, self-portraiture, cartoons, collage, children’s art, a few surprises.

Plus: Charlie’s Dead. Who’s Charlie? Recollections. Of what? Auntie Rara at work. Why no tables, cows or horses? Science Story. Who’s hacking what with an axe and why? Where is the Dragon in Night Sky? And, Is Grandma Sad?

I’ve put it all together with a necessary speed and serendipity (I hope). The participating artists, seven or eight of us, can choose what to show – but have to explain the how, why, where and who, plus any back-story. This raises the biggest question, of course: why we do what we do. What is art? What indeed! Everyone has reacted by producing utterly different ‘stories’. Now, today and tomorrow, I have to find a coherent way of displaying it all.

Perversely, this is the night sky at Midsummer. The ground is sodden, the days are still short, I long for summer….This is a new piece, not yet framed. Dark and intensely cobalt sky; stars and planets, and a suggestion of moonlight with a trace of silver leaf.

There’s an awful lot to do before summer. Probably what I need is a darkened room. First, I and a few friends are putting on a show here called ‘Telling Tales’ for the Brighton Science Festival (already well under way). The theme is communication; each of us will display some work (including painting, collage, film, cartoons, maps, music, maybe graffiti) and try to explain what we mean by it and why and how we set about it.

Next, in early March, the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea courtesy of the Nicholas Bowlby Gallery, a real jewel. Ten pieces or so for that. A brief break and time I hope for painting as well as organising Artists’ Open House at the Wolf at the Door, which runs here throughout May with twelve artists. Also in May, possibly, the International Art Fair in London.

From 1st June, a solo show for the season in the new Garden Room at the wonderful Sussex Prairies, for which I’m preparing a series of plant-related pieces. (I’m thinking of calling this ‘Plants Fruits Shoots and Leaves’!) Also in June, the Affordable Art Fair in Hampstead with Nicholas Bowlby.

That’s enough to be going on with….