TUESDAY, 7 DECEMBER, 1999, PHILADELPHIA

Friday I had a little gallery opening for most of my paintings in Wilmington. My favourite thing was to wander around the gallery when there were people viewin’ n’ gabbin’ and eavesdrop on their conversations without them knowing I was the artist. Here’s some more memorable quotes: “I just don’t see it ... no wait ... oh wow ...” (frequent) “I think he just randomly dripped all the paint on here and it ended up looking like that guy.” (This one baffles me. If modest I could ‘randomly drip’ paint on glass and have it be an exact replica of the American Gothic painting, details on down to the floral print in the woman’s dress, do you think I would have a day job?) (Said in a scandalous, offended whisper:) “I hear he’s not from Wilmington…” (Who is?) (Dela-What? Dela-Where?) “I - have - this - cousin - who - paints - sometimes - and - once - made - this - one - painting - sorta - like - this - one - except - it - was - different - and - wasn’t - on - glass - and - didn’t - have - lines - or - dots - or - whatever - actually - it - was - a - still - life - of - a - bowl - of - bananas - and - watercolor - but - anyway - my - cousin - and - I - were - in - Michigan - once - and - we - were - shopping - for - shoes - and - that’s - where - I - got - these - boots - and…” “Honey, did you remember to take the trash out to the corner?” Et cetera.