He who limps is still walking

The artist with effort pulled out three of her large pieces from their neat but ever-expanding parking space by the door, and I must admit I was stunned. I think I have said this before but when you don't see the work for a while you are immediately struck by the intensity of detail. There was an element of defiance in this gesture, too, after yesterday's failed meeting, which is being rescheduled by the way, but there is also a kind of regrouping taking place as the artist contemplates a new image she wants to do, which both corresponds with the others and yet takes them all forward. No, the artist left in high spirits when she went off to work on her mural; I had business in the centre of the capital and left similarly propelled. After doing what I had to do I went to see a film made by a friend and former colleague. (I seem to be surrounded by images these days.) It is set on the fringes of the war zone and is based on a true story - frankly speaking, the beheading of a journalist. It was an unfussy film and - through the eyes of the journalist's surviving pregnant wife - just got on with it, if you can imagine such a thing. For me, the message of the film was clear: terrorism only succeeds if you let the terrorist terrorise you. I came away from watching it, still depressed generally about the situation, maybe even more so, but also reminded of the danger of blanket cultural dismissal. On another front, a more selfish one but all the same important, I had a huge amount of communications taking place in between the events of my day, and my world feels like a busy place at present. A dear friend, a musician, got in touch. He is building a small studio. Two big players in the work department also got in touch. Also a newspaper. And a TV news channel. But perhaps the nicest message of all, certainly as far as the artist is concerned, came with the offer from another friend of a list from him of all the galleries he knows well as an art critic, so that the artist can let him know which ones she wants him to get in touch with on her behalf. Champion.