Sunday Batucada drum day...

... End of the fun day.

We broke down the show today to the sounds of the Batucada drummers upstairs and now I'm chilling wearily to Eddie Vedder with the last of my single malt whiskey and a low key sense of completion.

What a cool week.
Yesterday was wonderfully wild - I did a floor talk for the folks from the Deaf Association, and their spirited interest was a total delight. Their CEO Rachel Noble has bought 'Words Emerge Like Birds' (the large key piece from the exhibition) for the national office in Auckland so everyone in the deaf community can enjoy it (and to me it's where it belongs - I'm SO pleased). It feels like the whole project was worth it for their total engagement, I couldn't have wished for a better response to my work.

You know last time I felt it; and this week's been the same... this sense of privilege about being there and being part of the Thistle fabric for a short while.
You sit with your work in the quiet times, contemplating the completion and incompletion of it, (planning where to next and thinking about what the hell it is that viewers respond to) and you talk about it ad infinitum on request... And then you meet all these GREAT people.

In my Moleskine there's a page of addresses, websites and insights. Incredibly precious. Richard, if you're reading this, talking to you was great, I'd like to stay in touch - and Gill too, I'll be there tomorrow at your opening.

On Friday Peter McLeavey came in to see me. I hoped he would, but you know... mumble mumble (somebody slap me why don't you).
He sat and talked about painting from your heart (and listening to the murmur it -I didn't realise he operated so much on that level, and I'm glad; a consummate salesman who appeals to and operates from the heart - no wonder he's been so successful), of finding someone to represent you (or waiting for them to find you) who loves your work with the same passion you do, and of consolidating and doing the work over the next two years before showing again. I'm not sure I can manage that - but I know where he's coming from.

I think I'll always fight the need to paint versus the ability to draw, and the frustration of being less eloquent in one medium than I'd like, but I reckon it just means plenty of room to grow and lots to learn. A wealth of possibilities. Gad the potential of it's so exciting!

Only one regret - I didn't get anyone definite to photograph the opening night. Alan's translation was apparently something to behold as I read my speech. Six foot, built like a lock and standing behind me as I talked... I wish I could have seen.

OK, so now I'm off to bed and not much looking forward to a gear change tomorrow. Has anyone got any bright ideas for the reentry phase? - I'm totally crap at it !!