These are drawings in progress that I started pre- Christmas and have just begun to attend to again following the holidays. Over Christmas there were many Dickens programmes on both TV and Radio which was interesting although I ended up feeling that it was overload for me and although he is an important influence upon my current work, I felt that I had to distance myself from these programmes a bit. I have been continuing to read Clare Tomlinson's excellent biography and it has given quite an insight into the character of Dickens. My antennae is constantly tuning to his links to Kent and in particular the estuary and so far there is little mention of it in the book. I am looking forward to reading about when he buys Gads Hill near Rochester and Gravesend in Kent and the walks that he used to make out onto the marsh. I guess that I could skip some of the other writing and get straight into that detail but somehow I like to build up a more rounded picture so I am being very dedicated and reading the whole thing.
It was strange because on a couple of the programmes about Dickens on TV there were scenes from the marshes in Kent where I am working. I felt rather annoyed and upset, almost as though these people were trespassing on sacred land for a fleeting moment. Boris Johnson wants to plough through this land to make a new airport for London and my only hope was that he saw these programmes and will rethink it. I doubt it though, it is all short term gain. It is probably seen as a dirty, lonely, charmless place which is ripe for development. These are the very reasons that I love it though. It teeters on the edge of definition, defys it even. I suppose that I really do feel like a pilgrim when I go there. Every visit is similar to an equivalent of going to Mecca or Lourdes for me. I know that sounds rather dramatic but I really do feel very moved by the place.
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