Not the painting's fault. Mine. I finished the big one, 190 by 160, three weeks of layering cold wax and burnt umber on top of a grey ground that had finally, finally settled into the right weight. Left it on the studio table to cure. Came in this morning and there is a fine white bloom across the whole top half. Not the wax itself. The varnish I mixed myself, too much turpentine, and it has gone milky in the cold.

I know the rule. I know it. Test on a scrap, wait a day, and I have told students this same thing and watched them ignore me. So now the palette knife and the rags come out and I scrape down to the ground and start the layers again. Three weeks gone by lunchtime.

The strange part is I am not angry. There is something almost restful in it. The second version is usually better anyway, that is the joke I tell myself. But my hands still smell of solvent and I have a gallery call on Thursday and nothing on the wall.

Cold studio, milky varnish. If you have done this, you know. If you have not, do not start.