A few weeks ago I was invited over to Liverpool by Gary and Lena, who run The Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home. I had a residency with them in 2008, just before I started my Masters course, and I always felt horribly guilty that I’d never sent them anything. After all, it was a paid residency – shouldn’t they get something for their money?

To assuage my guilt, I had sent them a few postcards in the mail in 2010 and ’11. I was quite surprised, however, when they got in touch and asked me to come and do some watercolours of their local area, but I grabbed the chance to get out of Bedfordshire. We agreed that I’d stay in their house whilst they were away over Easter, and I spent about two and a half weeks in the city.

I never completed that Masters course in 2008 because I got really sick. I’m mostly better now, but I live with my folks in Bedfordshire because I’m not entirely better, so going to Liverpool was a chance to measure how recovered I was. The answer? Not as much as I like to think!

At the minute, I’m working on collating the drawings I did in Liverpool into some form of document – more than a blog post, perhaps a ‘zine – that I can distribute, somehow. I’m interested in getting it printed as a real document, so if you have any tips on printing, please let me know.

However, after my last post I managed to climb out of my stained office chair, throw on some clothes, and accompany Paul Grimmer on a video shoot. Paul was awarded a Triparks residency earlier this year, and he has been shooting high-definition video across Northumbria. He offered me the chance to go with him this week, and I got really excited and said yes without really thinking what it would mean.

What did it mean? Well, getting in a car, driving a while, getting out of the car, looking confused for a bit, getting back in and driving to a hill and then carrying a bad-ass tripod for a bit. Of course, that was just what I did; Paul, being a seasoned pro, carried the camera.

Paul was looking to take panoramic shots of the area, and we didn’t manage to get many before the rain rolled in.

While he shot the hills, I was looking at the countryside. On a bike, this is the sort of area I guess you don’t see, and I would like to go back there sometime. Even in the downpour that followed, the landscape was quite fun.

As an aside, I must point out that my recent injuries left me confined to a few small rooms for the best part of two months. This means that while a lot of my friends are complaining about this seasons horrible weather, I’m just happy to be outside.

Eventually, the rain got the better of us, and I convinced Paul to go back to the car for the thermos of hot coffee I’d brought with me. But not before mugging for one last shot – check out that water saturated look!

I’d like to thank Paul for letting me accompany him out to the country for the day, and if you want to follow his progress on the Triparks residency, check out the blog hes doing with fellow artist Bridget Kennedy here.