This is the biggest studio I ever had. It was enormous, about 1500sq.ft, on the top floor. It was so big that when I took it I never noticed a pattern cutting table that was 12 feet long by 6 wide with flaps that took it to 10 wide. Paradoxically, it was where I made the least amount of work.

I had to get out of the squat because of repossession by the College and for some reason I was in my old stamping ground round Old Street. The times had changed, there were drinking clubs and wine bars, Hoxten Square was being developed not the place it had been in the 70's. I met a guy called Dick French and he told me about a building he was trying to get on the usual three month rolling lease while they tried to get the money for development. This was so common, you'd just get a studio sorted and then you had to move out. Space and Air gave a better longevity but there was a waiting list and their places were becoming a bit like going back to Art School. So, after a few beers we worked out if we were a 'thing', some entity then there was a better chance of successe. And so was born City Artists.

Dick did all the negotiation and I wrote up some sort of manifesto and we got the top two floors of the building. I took the huge space rather than partitioning it off because I could afford it. I was working on the buses as a tour guide, thanks to Marian, and was about to fall into the trap I have seen so often. An artist wants a studio to make work and also it feels more professional, in order to pay for it he/she must have a job, if you have a job you have no time to work, apart from evenings and weekends, which feels amateur. In my own defense I must say I was earning more money than I'd ever had in my life, but it was a 24 hour job putting me on the road all round the Isles for up to three weeks at a time. Also, when the tourist season was over I was doing loads of teaching, Wolverhampton, Liverpool and Kingston Poly. plus visits to other places. All this to explain the slightly embarrassing work to follow.

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