Stained Hotel Bed

Recently I saw a stained mattress for sale on the internet (see photo) and it sparked memories of a heavily stained duvet. A few years ago I was staying in a hotel in Weston-Supermare. At £120 for four days it was one of those budget coach holidays. Being on my own I was put in a narrow room comprising a single bed. I could tolerate it for three nights but ensured I wiped the door handles, light switches and television remote control for fear of picking up germs.

Despite the rooms paltry dimensions the window looked directly onto the curving beach. One hot morning day I left an opened packet of chocolate fingers on the bed and went out walking. Upon returning I found sunshine had tipped directly into the room and warmed up the chocolate fingers. A stain oozed onto the beige duvet. Wiping it with toilet paper and warm water only spread the stain. In the end I turned over the duvet to find a large artistic stain on the other wide (dry thankfully.) It was about four feet by three feet and artily made from billowing brown clouds of different density. Wonderful stuff. Surely the hotel would have replaced it but it was a budget place (I didn't have the eggs as they were probably from a battery farm.)

I got started painting a bed in a corner. The single rooms I've stayed in were probably old maids rooms refurbished to bring in more income. I can't sleep well unless I'm in a corner and have dragged a bed into a corner many a time. Anyway I pressed ahead with this one, painting over the basic shapes in oil paints. It was completed in one session; the momentum didn't lose pace and suddenly it was done. I left the stain until the next morning and took the painting downstairs into the front room. The brown billowing clouds were daubed in within a few minutes and it was finished. Perhaps you could buy it as a Christmas present for someone you're not keen on.