Step one
Support others when they aren’t even looking. Support people before they even know who you are. Support people even if they may never know who you are. Support people because it feels good.
Step two
Have a cinematic thought that niggles when you are tired.
Step three
Do absolutely nothing with that thought. Maybe tweet it.
When it niggles, as it will niggle, just leave it be. Even when you see or hear something that reminds you of the niggle and the niggle turns to a nag.
And it will nag.
My cinematic thought nagged every time I drove through the city at night as a soundtrack to the moment was chosen by the radio. Every time, I would wish I could paint the moment, but knew I could not do it justice.
The nag intensified as all the windows seemed to sparkle. Hit by the thought that they sparkle because of the people behind them. How even though they sparkle, the sparkle is not the whole story of what is happening in those windows. How sparkles often have a bigger story. How sparkles have been found, lost or hidden. How a sparkle can distract from destruction around it. How a sparkle bounces off surfaces that have faced enormous pressure just to be here. How some nearly didn’t make it.
Just like this idea nearly didn't make it.
Step four
I was asked if I had any ideas for a poem about the city that could inspire a painting.
I say the thought out loud.
I wrote the poem within 48 hours, after thinking about it off and on for months.
I waited.
Step five
A painting now exists.
An incredible joyous and colourful painting.
And all I can do is stare at it and marvel that it exists.
Tales of Manchester is on now at the Carlton Club until 17 November 2022.