Keeping up my newly renewed socialising, I met up with two other friends of a friend, this time writers from New York. They were rather surprised that they had to enter my studio crouching down through the dungeon-like basement so as not to hit their heads on the pipes and emerging covered in plaster dust, but were sportingly witty about it. If I now tell you that one of these New Yorkers is certified blind, you will realise how urbane that is. They took me out for a great German lunch, food piled up and marvellously fast and amusing New York chat. Having been an artist hermit for a month, more or less, in the studio, it made me elated to be with them and gave me so much energy to do my work. Maybe it is because of the groundwork put in, but now I feel on solid ground with what I'm doing. And it does somehow come out of all that I've been experiencing here. The one thing that was a bit of a shock was when I went to Boesner's today, the big art shop, they said it would be at least a month before I could have the stretched canvases of the large size I want. That has to be got around somehow.
