A train ride to London, an eye test, tea with the Belgian collectors, a helpful meet up with Brian the rock, a snuggle with Curtis, and a far too brief visit with son.
I'd fallen into a little pit of minor despair, (a big black hole, couldn't move), all energy had gone and I was feeling a bit hopeless, thank goodness a quick trip to the Smoke revived me. I walked lots, covered quite a few miles, squashed lots of errands into a few hours, it was nice to be back 'home' in the city with my boy, all be it briefly.
I rarely meet up with collectors, my paintings tend to fly off via couriers, my gallery/representation and trusty dealer (so far), is a little thing called the internet. I met this lovely family in Kings Cross, who came over from Belgium, with a kind artist who introduced my work to them. I wasn't expecting such a lot of enthusiasm for the commission I had made, it seemed to cheer my very bones up. Plus they brought chocolates, (Godiva!). They were full of ambitions for me, and encouraged me to get back to big paintings on canvas.
Brian the rock, is based near where my son is making music, so that was handy, we managed to sort out quite a few things, paper work etc, that I had let pile up. I had a couple of blisters by the time I got to my son's place, from a lot of healthy tearing around. Jamie has built a log cabin in his friends garden, and is staying in there with his two dogs, it was super nice to see them all, he's always sharp to point out things I haven't even thought about, like "why don't you get laser eye surgery?" I'll have to check that out another year, if I'm suitable for it, I don't know how it all works, I just spent a small fortune on glasses.
I cuddled up with Curtis, admiring the inside of the cabin, pretty impressive. Curt is getting on a bit now, he is huge, with only three legs, always a great pleasure to see him. I got to know Count Basie a little more too, Jamie's rescue dog, a complete tearaway, but a real sweetie when he finally chills out. Felt so sad saying bye to them all, I wish I lived nearby. Curtis looked at me in such a way, I ached with guilt leaving him.
The optician said my eyes need to go up a notch in lenses, the glasses I had for my work, are now what I need for everyday, distance, and then I need some more magnified ones for the painting. I thought things were getting a bit blurry again, so it will be nice to get that sorted too. It's surprising how close up I get to the canvas, or paper when I am working, I didn't realize till I mimed the position of my hand and arm to the optician. So I got some new frames for the second pair, a slight pink colour, I chose them quickly as they felt just right.
Whilst picking up mail in town, I saw a dusty lemon cardigan too, but it was out of my league price wise, cashmere, the chance finding of it and then the loss of it, "Stella I am the cardigan of your dreams, you will never find me again!" It had a sweet 1950s vibe about it, you'd have to get very lucky in a charity shop to find something similar, though not impossible.
Jamie has just co-produced an album with his friend Coreé Richards, it's called 'Damaged But Not Broken', (+ on Spotify). Coreé was is in the boy band Damage, he has one heck of a voice, they work so well together too.
Travel plans are a little on hold whilst I get a bit more organized, I have a few ideas ticking away, paintings, shows, so we shall see, I'll just keep working for now, not sure where I will go next.
Writing this with cuddles from this little baby fox.
Jamie building his cabin, photo by Coreé Richards, 2014.