The dock leaf grasps the nettle

The week has been hit running and today I have made contact about the artist meeting up with the gallerist in the heart of the capital with the new white space. My old friend, the go-between, is also helping arrange all this. All that needs happen now is confirmation of a time and a place for the artist to meet the person doing the introduction, with some recent examples of her work. This will happen some time next week and coincides happily with a rush of work on some miniatures - black ink on white paper - which accompany the larger pieces, excitingly, like a magnifying glass on some different but connected path. I am watching the work being done right now, four feet away from me, with the unusual sight of a sharp and old-fashioned nib in her hand and an opened bottle of ink. I am tapping on the keyboard deliberately gently in order not to rock the work. Also, her head is bowed and her eyes are covered by her hair. The hair is like a drape across the door to a studio. But I am happy there is a hint of progress on the long road which still lies ahead, and I can sympathise with the artist fully that it does not and will not happen overnight. It is not as if she is not doing the work. No, all she really requires now are some intelligent allies who have a great deal more power in the art world than her husband. (There is only so much I can do.) I also sympathise with the artist because the good news is always needed to outweigh the bad. That said, I have received a fresh blast of possibilities due to an important pair of eyes viewing today something or another about me which I am told has muscularised my chances of a posting. Wait a minute. The artist in the course of that second last sentence has questioningly and diffidently presented me with another small image to look at, her natural modesty preventing the work therefore from receiving immediate praise. This is what happens when you show something - which is good - guardedly and defensively - which is bad. People are put on the back foot. I must make a note of gently suggesting to the artist that she be more confident in her meeting. (Easy enough for me to say.)