Today we arrived in Manchester. Steven Heaton was there to meet us at the train station. It was surreal and lovely to see and meet my dear friend for the very first time. I have known Steven and his work in since December of 2007. He had been my virtual studio mate before I had a studio at the Underground. Constantly involved in my painting process and I in his. Steven has supported and influenced me in many ways over the years and vise versa and I am grateful. It was he who introduced me to Blip foto and we all know what has come from that introduction...

So, there we were in the train station face to face...

We walked through the rain to a lovely cafe/shop called Oklahoma! We had lunch and chatted, it was such a very good place for him to take us. Homespun and sweet, a comfortable place to unwind after our train journey. His friend Nick joined us and was a burst of fresh and fun energy and even gave me a mixed cd! Nick told us stories that we all want to read. From there we went to the Manchester Museum and Gallery and saw a very lovely Modigliani and many other fine works of art, some mind blowing works of beauty. After the art we went back to Steven's place and chatted around the kitchen table. John Spurgeon came a long with a gift for me of Rat Girl and then later we went to the Black Swan pub down the road where Steven's brother, Rob also met us. There was conversation about art, music, and idle chatter with many Zenith IPA's being consumed. I stayed up until 2am (this has not happened in a long time). It was so great to meet everyone and have some fun.

On Saturday, Steven took us to the OK studios in Standish. It was a lovely place with open studios and we got to meet many of the artists there. Steven is about to become the director of the place.... a perfect fit I think. We also saw Steven's work and it was beyond all my expectations having only seen it online. I even collected a painting that had been promised to me years ago! It was a great visit with art, conversation, encouragement and inspiration. Just what Stewart and I needed. Then it was back to the train station where I hugged my friend goodbye and we headed back to Edinburgh...