While all about you are losing theirs

There have been times when I have not always been there for the artist, and I would hate for this blog to have me as squeaky-clean, or indeed any marriage as perfect. Sometimes I have arrived home not only long after the birds have begun to sing but also long after they have put their voices away again. (I have been sufficiently AWOL to deserve the sobriquet of Invisible Man.) Throughout, however, and this is my point, the artist has never shirked from her work. This dedication is almost as extraordinary as her patience with me. This is thankfully represented in the kind of work the artist does, too, which is to say long and for all I know painful work that can only be done with unmatchable stamina, because there are no short cuts to be had here and so many high standards. (Sometimes I have seen her bent over her work with her fingers almost claw-like as they graft away late into the night.) Of course, such well crafted work is not always what a quick-fire art world wants but I like to think dedication can have its rewards. It means for example that much of the recent work about to be touted for a show has not been seen before. It is without the disruptive oxygen of a premature audience - like so much work these days - and is literally without peer. And if for a number of years the artist has been building up this fresh body of work without so much as a flash of commercial spotlight, it may very well be her dedication to you, dear viewer, not necessarily to me, which keeps her going.