I first went to this street because of The Project, which is a gallery that I like. The street is a bit desolate, with lots of abandoned buildings, despite being so close to the main thoroughfare of 125th Street. Maybe it was too desolate to support a gallery, because The Project is now on 57th Street with all the very established galleries.

While I was painting, a girl came by and asked me to paint her name into the painting, but I refused. She said that she understood, but that she’d always wanted to be in a painting. She thought the painting was beautiful.

Later, a man came by to see what I was doing. He was a musician and had just come back from playing in Germany. He asked me out to dinner, but I explained that I had a boyfriend. He said, “How do you know you wouldn’t like me better?”

The painting is based on Richard Wilson’s View on Hounslow Heath. The rust from the girder on which I painted has seeped through this painting, making it almost invisible.