Friendship

'Coast walks' Orkney Gallery, 2006

A friend called round today on the off-chance that I'd be in - it had been such a long time that I hardly recognised her since she'd had her hair cut completely differently and lost weight.   Nevertheless it was lovely to see her and we spent a couple of hours catching up.

We'd met at art college - both mature students - shared a love of Orkney - she had to be one of the best ever friends to go on holiday with - practical, cheerful and appreciative - and several exhibitions, both locally and in Orkney.   Beyond this we had little in common so there was no compulsion to keep meeting.

Nevertheless it was great to catch up, to find we still communicated on an equal level of trust and liking - and we look forward to getting together again in another couple of years or so ...

Place of importance

I took this photo of one of the work benches, next to the hotplate, in the Print Studio at Cleveland College of Art & Design, some time in the early half of 2005, the year I graduated.

It was where I had been interviewed, nearly seven years previously, then a terrifying room full of brooding alien machinery, high ceilinged and with tall, tall windows in a elderly brick building that had once been, so rumour has it, a lunatic asylum.

Over the course of the next six years (I was a part-time, mature student) I was introduced to printmaking.   My first tutor a skilled lithographer, meticulous and precise in his instructions, less so in his professionalism, but endlessly encouraging.

While he was off sick a second tutor was found, casual, very different in approach, much more encouraging of experiment which, in conjunction with the skills already learnt set me free.

After six years I was heartbroken at leaving this haven, with its toxic smells and liquids, it's mysteries mostly explained.   I cannot go back since the following year the BA course was transferred to the University of Teesside and the studio re-sited, sans magic.