Travellers vs Commuters

The couple are not commuters. There is a liveliness about them that tells you they do not do this every day. In comparison, the commuter is tired, shut off.

Stranded

I took a picture about a year ago, on the day when there was really heavy snow and all the trains were cancelled. I remember arriving at Victoria to see the entire concourse full of people staring at a blank board with the word cancelled all over it. It was like a religious event. Everyone was in the same situation and there was a huge sense of frustration. The picture I took was just a crowd of people staring at the blank board wearing hats, gloves, talking on phones. Wondering if they'd ever get home.

It's an interesting aspect. Commuting, it doesn't feel like travel, normally. It's just routine movement between dreary spaces. But when something goes wrong, it feels like a journey and it takes on a special significance.

I'm thinking of doing a painting of the scene, maybe in black and white. Today, though, I made a lino print of the picture, slightly abstract, the edges of the characters slightly deformed. I'm thinking of printing it a grey colour then cutting more away, if necessary.

First pull on the press:

Second attempt

This time, I worked with a thinner, more turped-down underlayer, made sure it was fully blended, and that the grey tones on the face were accurate. It felt a bit flat to me and half-way through I lifted up the canvas and realised that the brush-strokes were a bit careless, so I took it to the easel and this made a big difference.

Because I was working at a relatively small scale for me, my brush strokes were sometimes like dabs - and this felt neater. I mixed black and white on the palette to get the right tone, rather than on the canvas (which is what I often have done).

Going Wrong

My first attempt at painting a commuter went wrong. The tones are inaccurate. When laying down the undercolour I didn't focus enough on the tones. As a result, the flesh doesn't feel right to me. The blending is poor, too, and up close, the brush marks are pretty shabby. I decided to bin this first attempt and start again.

I'm going to work from home this morning, and go more slowly. Here is the pencil sketch on the grid.

A Station Cafe

Young man with a new-born baby in a cafe on the station – basically a noisy waiting room with hot milk froth. In my picture the man looks child-like, too; tired, but expectant. As if he is buzzing after a night at the hospital.

The other woman in the foreground helps to frame the picture. I liked playing with colour and black-and-white in the composition. It's not a complicated point. Colour is alive, it stands for all things that stand apart from the world of trains and commuting.

Studio

First day in the studio. I'm really pleased with it. There is a good-sized window.

I printed out a picture I'd taken earlier in the week of an old man staring out of a train window.

He seems to be staring out at a colour blur. It made me realise something obvious, that when you look out of a train window, your eye sees what is there as a continuous view. But in a photograph, the view is blurred to a horizontal rush of colour.

I created a grid which I find helps me to place the image on the canvas. I started with a grey-white underlayer, after I had sketched out the face.

I want the inside of the train to be monotone and the outside world to be colour.

Black and white seems best to represent the tired quality of routine inside the carriage. Hard lines etched in the face, hard surfaces, coldness, an exhausted light.

In contrast, what's outside seems alive, warm and vivid - but it also seems to lack a firm shape, as if it is both beautiful and unreal.

Space Invaders

Sitting opposite me today. A young guy. Initially, he had his rucksack on the chair next to the window until a middle-aged woman asked him politely to move it. Space is important in trains. Jealously guarded, fought over. A silent and bitter struggle.

Two big men working on small laptops. I like the idea of the world rushing past them in a blur. This is why, in my picture, I have kept the colour only in the window.

Woman takes out her powder and applies to her face discreetly, facing the window. There is no personal space on trains. Someone is watching you!