(02/04/20- 13/04/20) # 15 - A Lockdown Window

Having used PVA glue and water to paste a newspaper background onto the brown card, I was ready to start my rainbow collage. I decided to do rainbow stripes rather than a curved rainbow. Progress was slow due to the process I go through of finding pieces to fit gaps or cutting pieces to fit gaps rather than a more slap-dash approach of sticking any old bit of paper in any given spot. I worked at a rate of roughly one colour per day. I worked in the bedroom upstairs, on the bed which faces the window. I generally listened to Radio 2 throughout my time doing this piece but occasionally, depending on the time of day, listened to Magic Radio or watched the BBC News channel. My creative hours tend to be between 10am and 5pm but this changes sometimes if I'm really enjoying it or having a less productive day. I always stop to join the family for our daily exercise and for our evening meal although I often have lunch upstairs!

Having misjudged the size that each colour strip could afford to be, I had space at the bottom of the page to collage in white, grey, black and silver. I then added some silver and gold circles which were to represent the pot of gold found at the end of a rainbow. The rainbow itself was created by positioning two thin strips of paper across the coloured stripes in an arc to resemble one half of a rainbow. This came about as a result of an experiment and from a technique I used on #5 using a thin, curved strip of newspaper. My husband happened to walk in and see the newspaper strips before I had decided whether or not to use them. He said it looked good so I decided to go with it, although I didn't want to use newspaper on this occasion. It proved really difficult in the end as the paper I had chosen to use in the end was from an A4 envelope so I was limited on how long the strips could be and also had no back up paper of this kind to use so the pressure was on to get it right! I tried drawing it out, using the newspaper pieces as templates and various other strategies but in the end it just had to suffice! I'm not thrilled with the angle of the arc but it creates an effect and that's all this piece really needed; it was never meant to be a rainbow per se.

My next task was to paint white the insides of the 'windows' or 'shutters' as they now appear to be! I then made a love heart template and drew round it on each side. These are to be collaged in blue as a nod to the NHS. A young girl started a Facebook page encouraging people to display blue hearts in their windows (alongside their rainbows) to show love and appreciation for the NHS workers. This is my way of incorporating this into #15. I hope to post the hearts and rainbow onto the relevant Facebook pages but I will need R to assist me with that as I am not on social media!!

During this piece Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital on 5th April due to his Coronavirus symptoms (high temperature and cough) persisting. On 6th April he was admitted to Intensive Care and receiving oxygen treatment but was not put on a ventilator. Incredibly worrying times considering his age, weight, status and the fact that his partner Carrie Symonds is pregnant with his child. She must be absolutely beside herself with worry and fear, having also experienced symptoms of the virus. As Laura Kuenssberg stated 'it is abundantly clear that power is no protection from harm'. The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab deputised for Boris Johnson during this time. On 9th April Boris was moved out of Intensive Care and eventually left hospital on 12th April to continue his recovery at home in Chequers.