Payment

I do translations now and again.  I'd like to do more - really!  I can do them from anywhere there's a computer.  I have a personal dictionary and and in-house interpreter (dear hubby).  And I always learn something.  For instance, I know more about off-shore wind farm construction and maritime regulations than you might imagine.

Payment is usually the usual - money.   I like money.  But now and again you trade.  That happened recently when a friend asked if I could do a translation for her friend.  Sorta like a second cousin once removed - a friend once removed.  The once-removed friend had won a prize but the description of her work needed translation.  Yes, I can do that.  Or at least I'll try.  And won't that be fun!

After the translation project was finished - more challenging than I had imagined -  the artist herself said Please come and choose a print for payment. What?  I thought this was a gift. I was glad to do it.  But could I reject a gift?  You don't say no when someone wants to give you a gift in return to a gift.  Oh dear, I am getting confused.

But, refusing a gift is not done.  I visited the artist in her studio, had a wonderfully lovely afternoon learning about her work and had a chance to choose my "payment."

Here it is. She called it New York Lines because when she created it, she had a burning desire to visit New York - and still does. I love black and white, and she does too but the galleries don't.  Lucky me!

So now it hangs in our own private gallery and seems very much at home.