Books '09 Festival

I was scheduled to be artist in residence for the Books '09 Festival at the National Gallery of Ireland.
Unfortunately, it looks as if that won't be happening.
I had been asked to do a large oil painting in the atrium of the gallery during the two days of the festival. It was a scary prospect, but I agreed to do it. Unfortunately, some of the "powers that be" at the National Gallery must have feared that I might go bonkers and start splattering oil paint all around me, so they stipulated that I was only to use dry media.
Whilst I was still happy to do what I had originally agreed to, alas I was not in the position to do a crash course in pastels, and I didn't think chalks would create the desired effect. So that residency is not going to happen this year.
It's a great shame as it would have been nice to create something in such august surroundings, and I think the pressure of working in public might have pushed me to do some good work.
I might yet do a talk of some sort with slides, and I will post details if we can arrange something.