2019 is behind us, and in that time I completed the practical side of my ‘Bed’ Project, by displaying it with the hangings in my studio during Somerset Art Weeks in September. It looked beautiful in the corner of the studio, set apart with the white embroidered hangings while sunlight drifted past it during the day. Visitors came and looked, pulled back the hangings to discover the bed, and a few actually lay down – as I wanted them to! – to rest, and see the embroideries above their head.

Normally there would have been trees and sky, if the bed had been out of doors, and this will be the quasi-reality when I complete the next stage of the project, which is to create two films from the bed on the river: one of the bed on the river, with effects of light and the sounds of running water; the other with the camera pointing upwards, capturing the view above. Both films will last upwards of 30 minutes, and allow the viewer to join in at any time, or enjoy the full slow viewing of life as it passes at its natural pace, as one sits or lies on the river bed and watches the films.

I have just about completed the edit of the first film with Somerset Film, and found the creating of the footage last summer exciting and full of unexpected moments. I discovered that the effects of light on water, and sunlight shining through the hangings, and cast shadows to be of greater interest than the simple documentation of the bed, and the running water. There’s more to life when you start to look in earnest!