"NOW!"
This is how the painting looked originally.
It was quite popular on its various
outings in France and America.
The accompanying text goes like this :
Beyond the old wooden casket, the river, the wash,
a paddle-steamer, reeds, sand-bars,
and in both his thoughts, with help,
escape, the Now.
But during its stay in the USA, the painting got caught up in a fire.
there were pieces missing
there were scorch marks on the foundation sheet,
but fortunately very little on the painted surfaces,
though there was water and grime damage
and traces of a fireman's boot!
in order to work on the painting I had to
carefully lift back the collaged paper and
cut away the paper tabs I use for fixing,
my scaffolding
then I could get started on the repairs
luckily I had kept some left-overs from when
I put the painting together, in 1995,
but some elements had to be re-done.
it was curious going back into my old creation,
both behind and in front
I was pretty pleased with result,
better than I had expected.
the new version is tabbed onto a paper foundation,
itself pasted onto canvas, rather than being hung
in a cradle as it was originally.
but that's ok, the disjointed steamer is still puffing away
and the two cranky heros of the story are still hoping
to get out of their box
one with a pill on his tongue,
the other with a holy wafer!
a couple of videos during repairs :