Pass me the grey track suit.

I discovered things about adrenalin today. It can have a very bad effect on you, and recently I've had the feeling of being like my camera with its memory card accidentally left out. You think things are going in, but really you can't remember the last thing that was said to you (like someone's name) and you just keep on clicking and not retaining anything. You can even have such an overload of adrenalin that the body can't get rid of, that it can make you quite ill, and I was half-way to that state. So the excitement of my sewing getting a good reception has really got to me, but now I'm surfacing and I feel much better. Page 19 of the Church Times - wow! Hold it! I can't take any more. I had a kind of allergic reaction, which took the form of an urge to wear a dove-grey 1000-times-washed tracksuit for a few days, but I haven't got one.

It's the weekend, and I promised some sensible stuff on this blog, so I will tell you about an exhibition by my hero Grayson Perry coming up soon at the British Museum. http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/grayson_perry.aspx A few years ago, he used the same format using the collection of Lincolnshire artefacts. http://www.victoria-miro.com/exhibitions/_369/ It was then that I became a disciple of his so I was pleased the other night that someone said 'Your work reminds me of Grayson Perry's', and I said 'Dead right!' because I most certainly AM influenced by him, I think he's brilliant. Look at this and you will see how I have paid him homage: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/review-23902373-gsk-shows-what-fashion-can-say-about-art.do

At the award ceremony in Southwark cathedral

I thought that this pic by our Jon was a good one. I'm as upright as a pillar of the church. Gradually, the evening's pics of me become remeniscent of one of Dali's, with objects getting a bit bendy and slithering off shelves. Researching Dali + spoon, I discovered he had a little trick to access his subconscious using a spoon and a metal dish that you might like to try; it's a variation on my bohemian bath techniques, for which see http://clothq.blogspot.com/2011/08/thought-bath.html:
"Sitting in the warm sun after a full lunch and feeling somewhat somnolent, Dalí would place a metal mixing bowl in his lap and hold a large spoon loosely in his hands which he folded over his chest. As he fell asleep and relaxed, the spoon would fall from his grasp into the bowl and wake him up. He would reset the arrangement continuously and thus float along-not quite asleep and not quite awake—while his imagination would churn out the images that we find so fascinating, evocative, and inexplicable when they appear in his work…” —from Provenance is Everything, Bernard Ewell". You never know when you might need to use this trick, so do hang onto it. More details can be found here: http://www.arthurmag.com/2010/06/25/diy-magic-dropping-the-spoon-by-anthony-alvarado/ 
It seems a bit cruel, though, the waking bit, rather like after you've had a baby and some spoil-sport doctor tells you it is good for women to have a wee and stop halfway before carrying on. (Oh come on, this is an adult site and it's after 9 pm, why can't I mention wee?)

This black-looking hat is violently pink on its top side

And so by half-past midnight, with a few glasses of Spanish white wine on a not-very-full tum, I sat propped on a train bound for Ally Pally with a sozzled and smug smile on my face, triumphant that I was returning to base not needing to be 'helped'. Thinking how lucky I am to have a year ahead when I can turn down any invitation to do anything by the words, 'I'm afraid I have to be working on my exhibition'. A whole year when I can get away with just thinking up stuff and making it, and feeling virtuous about it. I've devised a whole system of self-education & improvement to support my way through it, you know, those kind of plans for an ordered existence you sometimes write down: "9 pm: Sit down with an improving book about art." Like a mega-blast of new-year resolutions, there are time-slots allocated for cleaning, and little notes posted here and there to encourage me. Only people who find this kind of thing difficult ever write such things down, I suspect. The really desperate ones even blog about it. I have even looked up this site:  http://www.homesanctuary.com/rachelanne/2009/01/householdorganizationsystem.html
But I have my trusty 1950s book of household hints, and I like this entry on Rubber Gloves: "To clean, wash in cold water and boil from 2 to 5 minutes (do not overboil or gloves will be weakened); wash both sides in warm soapsuds, rinse and dry. If gloves are to be worn to prevent infection, test for small holes. Before each wearing, place a small wad of cotton in each fingertip to prevent fingernails from cutting the rubber. Instead of discarding old ones, cut good sections into rubber bands any width desired. To protect your manicure while doing housework, buy a pair of rubber gloves smaller than the usual size required and cut off the fingertips. Slip the tips over the nails." Phew! By the time I've done all that, it will be time to start creating. But I end with an line from the Rachel Anne of the above: "I'm excited about making my home sparkle with peace, order and beauty!"