No longer terrified of having no work

Well, all the advertising has been done. People have said they are coming to the Preview on 14th February at 7.00 - 9.00pm.  And I have been terrified that the work, which i have been planning for 3 years, wasn't actually going to materialise . . . . . But thank goodness, it seems to be falling into place. I should learn to just TRUST MYSELF. 

The main part of my work is in the preparation and thinking process. In some ways, the end result has been established long before the work becomes reality, and then making it reality is quite scary. Does it actually need to happen, or is it then too much about ME, too personal to want to share, or expose.? It becomes a very intense experience, which I sometimes want to hide from. 

Someone asked me yesterday whether artists create work for themselves or for an audience? Adding: "Presumably it is about communicating - so needs an audience, ultimately?" My answer came, suprisingly for me, without apparently giving it much thought, but it seemed to come from my subconscious and sum up exactly how I feel about my work:

 "I think art is like your child. 

You make it for yourself and have a very intimate relationship with it, 

but it only fulfills its potential by having relationships with others."

Here is the first piece in the exhibition: appropriately called "No 1: Sites Inhabited"