“Why should I not publish my diary? I have often seen reminiscences of people I have never even heard of, and I fail to see – because I do not happen to be a ‘Somebody’ – why my diary should not be interesting. My only regret is that I did not commence it when I was a youth.”

So begins the journal of Charles Pooter, as documented by George Grossmith in his seriously funny novel The Diary of a Nobody, published in 1892 and never out of print.

Nowadays, we might call this a blog and although this blog will not be a diary, his introduction strikes a chord with me. I want to create better work and hope that adopting a Daily Painting discipline will keep me true to that ambition.  I will try, however, to avoid the fate of Charles whose surname spawned the word “Pooterish” to describe a tendency to take oneself excessively seriously.