8 December – I seem to be falling prey to the cold virus that’s going round, that, and family responsibilities are keeping me from working. I was talking to a fellow-artist (what an interesting phrase!) about the choices we make, how we want to work but are constantly demanded to do other things by our family obligations. We could just say NO – but we never do – in the end family takes priority. That is why women artists, especially older women, find it so hard to develop their work. Virginia Woolf said (in A Room of One’s Own, 1929) ‘ a woman must have money and a room of her own, if she is to write…’ or make art of any kind, it seems to me. I don’t think it’s very different today BUT of course there will be lots of exceptions.
All I know is that if I had time and space to myself, to work unheeded, I might actually really discover what it is that I’m about!
