* * *
A few months later Bengal was again clinking glasses with Virginia Prior, art critic and writer. “What new development in your life has prompted you to look me up?” she asked.
“It’s a remarkable thing. It’s like some kind of a religious conversion or something. For years I’ve had this thing where for days or weeks at a time there was just no inspiration. I would travel the desert paths of the soul or something. So my output was severely limited. Now suddenly I’m swamped with inspirations.”
“Both parts of your mind?” she asked jokingly.
“Precisely. I’m turning out more canvases than ever before and the small but perceptible difference in stylistic viewpoint is there. It’s amazing even to me. Or especially to me. At any rate, some people may wonder how I can be getting together a new major show only six months after the last one when the last one was more than two years in the making. It’s a whole new me. The ideas are flowing and I’m working as hard as I can to capture as many of them as possible with both sides of my mind. It’s a great experience.”
Squirrel Bait and Other Stories Page 17
