Wednesday 05. 05. 10 Have been fiddling around with these two paintings for a couple of weeks but I think they are now finished. Today started on a couple of monoprints, one of leeks and the other of grapefruits and if they go well they may be the beginning of yet another series. I am printing them in black ink and then adding colour with coloured pencil. Winter came back yesterday with a vengeance with winds and heavy rain. I drove through the storm to Pezenas where I helped David and Monique hang David’s paintings at the Caves des vins de Molière. He has a show there through to the end of June.

Saturday 24. 04. 10 This was the week that I was supposed to meet my brother in England and see all our cousins, however due to the volcanic cloud, neither of us could get a flight in so we had to cancel. It was a disappointment but we will reschedule for the Fall. So this week I bought three more large canvasses courtesy of the Dalbe sale and George’s car to ferry them home and I am hoping to do a night landscape of Celles with a white van. I have done some drawings and shot some reference photos so hope to start the painting next week.

Thursday 15. 04. 10 Yesterday I went with Gisèle to what I thought was a gourmet wine tasting but turned out to be a high class tupper ware party. We went to the Domaine de la Tour which is a rather grand looking house on a hill overlooking Nebian. Instead of standing around sampling wine we were subjected to a spiel about high end German cookware and cutlery. Good for the French but for me ultimately deadly boring. However after a couple of hours we come away with a bottle of wine and a jar of paté each. Today instead of staying in at the Accueil we had a field trip. We drove out to St Jean de la Blaquière, parked and then had a walk down to the river which is known locally as a miniature version of the Colorado. As we walked Alain pointed  out the various wild flowers, aromatic herbs  and edible plants found there, some of which we sampled. It was the perfect Spring day, sunny but not too hot. After lunch I decided that it was such a lovely day that I drove out to St Jean de Fos and Aniane and shot lots of photos of various white vans. In the evening instead of going to my life drawing class I went up to George and Laurene’s for aperos and caught up on their recent trip to Italy.

Tuesday 30. 03. 10 I have finally finished the first two of my white van series. Currently working on a third in this new series.

Thursday 25. 03. 10 I am pleased to announce that George aux bois Wymondley has been bought by Lawrence and Diane and will be receiving guests in the new extension of their home in Stevenage.