Facebook reminded me today that eight years ago I had my first individual exhibition, at Coffee and Art Restaurant in Altamira, Caracas, Venezuela. My beau at the time, Svenn, helped set it up and I found he had a great eye for display. The artwork was made from pieces of wood cut into 21 cm squares with broken ceramic tiles stuck on and splashes of paint Jackson Pollock-style and some had items I had found in the street. I called the exhibit ¨Garbage to Beauty¨. It came about thus: I was feeling very sad because a five month long affair with a well-known artist was coming to an end. I had told him from the start that I saw him as a friend and mentor and not as a lover but he insisted in inviting me out and paying me lots of attention and used to invited me over to his house for lunch and I would stay 6, 8 and even 10 hours at a time, talking about all sorts of things, seeing movies together, entertaining his friends, seeing him create art and acting a bit as his secretary since he would sit me at the computer and ask me to find any news mentioning his name. Eventually I started having romantic feelings for him and as soon as I told him so he started growing colder and colder and eventually stopped seeing me, which was extremely baffling. After all, he had accomplished what he had set out to do, which was to seduce me! So I was walking with my head down, once again not understanding men and I came upon some pieces of granite thrown away and I immediately got the idea to use the cold material as a metaphor for this man and paint on it flowers with nail varnish since he always complained that my nails were not in perfect condition at all times to which I would always counter that I am not a ¨kept¨ woman who does nothing all day long; I use my hands to sweep, mop, paint, clean, wash, cook, tidy up, plant, create and type etcetera and that it was not easy to do everything on one´s own without help and stay perfectly coiffed at all times...! After painting the granite pieces I stuck them onto velvet-draped wood and sent it to be framed. Only one survives in good condition. One of the series was sold and is now in a house in Miami; others were given as gifts to friends and some are in my mother´s house where there are still looking fabulous!