P Godwin interview w C Wood S.H. Ervon Gallery

It was a strange day in all respects. I had tried to read one of C Wood's novels in the past but didn't get to the end. She was shortlisted for the Booker so presumably is a respected author. P Godwin does nice atmospheric paintings in lovely colours. I was particularly impressed by his muted palette. I had never heard of him before.

Amazingly the pictures behind the pair are very large prints. It wasn't clear to me why they had to be so large but because museums and institutional galleries are getting larger presumably there is a demand for this sort of work. It would be hard to imagine one in a home.

I say it was a strange day.

I got off the tram in Darling Harbour and a man was lying on the ground obviously distressed. A woman standing over him was making a call and I asked her if she was calling an ambulance. Once that was settled I went to get food and sat down with a bowl of fish and salad, when this small child insisted on trying to talk with me. I ignored the brat. Her mother was standing nearby and evidently didn't see her child misbehave. Once the talk at Observatroy Hill was over my friend and I went to get the tram but a tram on the track nearer to Central had broken down. We caught a cab instead. As I say a strnge day.

The talk was not strange, just patchy with odd bits of information about oil and the matter of when the painter considers a work finished. I was grateful when it was over. I hadn't been into the city for a while so it was a relief to learn that it is still there, for all I knew if might've been carried away by carniverous seamonsters. Godwin had introduced the maritime theme by talking about tempera and frescoes, but managed to forget Botticelli's painting with a seashell. Someone in the audience called out the wrong title so ignorance was widespread.