Nightmare In Pink (abstract acrylic)

Novelist John D. MacDonald was knocking out suspense novels in the sixties and they’re still a cracking read. He’s famous for his Travis McGee series of novels about a “salvage consultant” who lives on a boat in Florida. He’ll get anything back (mainly loot from swindles) for a 50% fee, no questions asked. He works when funds are getting low but otherwise bums around in the sun. John sold about 70 million copies of his books mainly due to this character’s escapades.

All the books have colours in the titles such as A Purple Place For Dying, The Lonely Silver Rain and The Turquoise Lament. When I read the first McGee novel The Deep Blue Goodbye and he described a woman with a large chest with: “She was styled for abundant lactation” I knew he was my kind of writer.

His second McGee outing was Nightmare In Pink and this title sticks in my mind as I have a repetitive dream in which I’m oddly aware of but can’t seem to do anything to wake myself up and escape from it. In the dream I’m inside a warm moist perfectly pink womb or stomach. What/whoever is carrying me seems to be running and I’m being thrown around the warm bubblegum interior (about the size of a big shed.) I hate it and sometimes wake up with my heart hurting as its been hammering so hard.

I thought I’d do a quick abstract painting of the nightmare using shades of pink. My Dad and Irene were away on their annual sojourn in Malta and I was minding Alfie. He likes to watch the world from the bay window so, keeping him company, I bought a few paints down and got started with a knife. I mixed a few pinks while watching television and here is the result. I’m sure a 8-year-old child drunk on their 6-pack of Kestral larger could paint this but I enjoyed doing it.

I have another dream where I’m on the top floor or an old school like St Trinian’s. There’re lots of school kids on the bottom floor. Showing off I slide down four floors on the long wooden banister. Part way down I realise I’m naked and then once I get to the ground floor I get stuck in some glue and cannot move. Once I had this dream where the banister turned into a steel blade. It’s hardly worth going to sleep is it.

I'm sure you wouldn't want this pink nightmare on your wall. You could hang this in the nursery on the top floor so only your au pair would have to tolerate it. I'm a little skint this week having won a bid on ebay for an Eiffel stature made from ear wax. Call it £2668.