Friday 01. 01. 10 Have had a fabulous Christmas and New Year. Christmas was the usual family extravaganza with lots of presents and good food, unfortunately marred this year by some sickness. Carole and Daisy were not in good shape on Christmas day but Carole still managed to cook the dinner altho she didn’t eat it. Julia was sick between Christmas and New Year, Poppy and Jason were sick before Christmas and I have had a cold since New Year. However despite all this we all managed to have a good time. New Year was quiet this year but that was OK too.
Journal
Christmas Presents
Friday 27. 11. 09 Why not buy someone a painting for a Christmas present? Above are several small paintings for sale. All the 8″ x 10″ paintings are oil on board and are framed (see pic above for style of frame). The larger ones in various sizes are all oil on canvas unframed. Click on the painting for size, medium and price. If ordered before 10 December I can bring them with me to Toronto where they can be picked up or I can send them on from there by post. I wish you all a merry Christmas and thank you for your support.
Céret
Sunday 01. 11. 09 Have had a good week this week. I have made progress with working with the soft ground for my etchings, finished a small painting based on The Ride series and have started a large painting of vineyards. On Thursday went to Céret with George and Laurene to see the exhibition there. A good show of 100 years of landscape painting in and around Céret which is an attractive village near Perpignan. It was a beautiful fall day and we had a tasty meal outside in one of the many squares there.
Fall
Tuesday 27. 10. 09 Yet another productive week. Have done a small painting of my bike from a sketch I did for the Ride series. Have been working on a winter scene based on a photo of Daisy toboganning in the park and managed to find a couple of 100 x 80 cm canvasses in Mr Bricolage at a good price. Today, in my engraving class, worked on more tests with soft grounds and Joan has ordered some new etching grounds from Lascaux which should arrive by next week. Thursday hoping to go to Céret to see exhibition of landscape paintings from 1909 – 2009. Vines are all out in their fall colours and weather is still warm. Ate lunch outside today chez Giséle.
Bastille Day 2 – les voleurs
Wednesday 15. 07. 09 Went just north of St Guilhelm le Dessert for a swim in the Hérault, parked the car, had a swim and then discovered that the car had been broken into!!! Quelle Horreur!! All our bags which had been locked in the trunk had been stolen. We went to the Gendarmerie in Clermont and made a declaration of everything we had lost – money credit cards, driving licences etc. I drove the car up to George and Laurene’s as I didn’t want to leave it downtown with the window missing, we had dinner and then went to the fireworks in Clermont to try and forget all about it. This morning I drove the car into the local Renault dealers, went to the local Municipal Police to get a form to replace the Carte Grises and then on to the bank to get a new bank card and some money. The car will hopefully be ready tomorrow, the new cartes grises cost 38 euros each and hopefully I can pick up my new bank card. Have filled in many forms and am reminded of France’s appetite for bureaucracy. Luckily we are going over for a swim at Giséle’s this afternoon and are dining chez George and Laurene this evening.
More Prints
Wednesday 27. 05. 09 Have been working on some coloured monoprints this week of les Ruffes which is an area around lac du Salgou where the earth is quite red due to the oxides in the soil. Also finished another triptych of Moureze with Vines. Have started a painting of les Ruffes and am still working on a large painting of Moureze so lots going on. Have sent all my stuff off to St Mathieu de Tréviers for my stint there for a week at the end of September. I am taking part in a week long workshop with five other artists. I have also booked the week of 3 July 2010 for a show at Baillargues which is in Montpellier.
London
Tuesday 19. 05. 09 Just got back from my trip to London. I stayed at the Europa Hotel in Paddington which was, central, clean and cheap with a serious full English breakfast. Met various friends and caught up and also did some serious gallery hopping. Henry VIII at the British Library, Picasso at the National, Constable and Richter at the NPG, Sickert at Dulwich, Rothko and Turner at Tate Britain, Messager at the Hayward and a few others. Also have set up an expo for November/December 2010 at the Naval and Military Club in St James’s Square. It was a great trip and I now have had my big city fix for a while. Lots of ideas which hopefully will percolate onto paintings. Photograph is Rotten Row Hyde Park.
Bank Holidays
Sunday 10. 05. 09 This is the month of public holidays in France, I believe that there are four in May and we have already had two. Had a very civilized lunch last Sunday at Gisele and 
Jonathan’s. It was a warm, sunny day so enjoyed a leisurely lunch with lively conversation and finally got home around 6. Monday evening saw flinty, squinty Clint in Gran Torino here in Clermont. A predictable tale well crafted. Wednesday made it to the beach for the first time this season – 28 degrees. Not too crowded but already the camping cars were there. Wore shorts for the first time this year. Thursday afternoon went to my first ever book club meeting. The book was The Yacoubian 
Building by Alaa Al Aswany which is a great read. Enjoyed the club – good articulate people with diverse opinions. Yet another vernissage Thursday evening at the ANPQ gallery. This week I have done another triptych monoprint of Moureze and have began painting over the previous one in oils. Not sure if this is going to work but will continue with it. Finished Green Landscape and another small landscape that I painted 
near Pinet en route to the beach. Also done a couple of non landscapes just to have a break.
Maryann’s Visit
Saturday 18. 04. 09 Maryann came down last Monday from Nice with her husband Greg. Greg went back on Tuesday morning but Maryann stayed until this morning. We managed to jam a lot of things into four days. 
Besides visiting Villeneuvette and Pezenas, we went to life drawing classes in Octon and last night had a wonderful dinner at George and Laurene’s.Maryann never stopped drawing from the moment she arrived: the gate at Villeneuvette, the market at Clermont and the square at Pezenas, all documented. Yesterday while walking through the Cimetière Marin 
in Sete we discovered a book on one of the graves. It had been turned in to a piece of sculpture and was in English. Very bizarre. This morning I realised the bus schedule had changed so I had to hastily drive Maryann to the airport on the scooter with her suitcase between my knees. Not to be recommended!!!
New Directions
Sunday 10. 04. 09 Finally finished Lac du Salgou and have been trying various new methods of working to try and loosen up. Octon is a small 12″ x 12″ on board where I drew the image in oil stick, washed the whole board in linseed oil and then painted into the wet oil. I have also been working on adding colour to my black and white 
monoprints. I have just varnished the print and am waiting for it to dry before adding colour in thin loose oil glazes. Seeing the work of John White last week at the Peret vernissage, I have again been thinking about how to add text to pictures, something I have been interested in for a long time. I have discovered a local writer, Max Rouquette, who has written prose, poetry, plays and music about the Hérault. He wrote in Occitan and seems to really capture the sense and smell and feel of this particular landscape. I went to the libray, here which is named after him, and borrowed an anthology of his work in Occitan but also in French. Now all I have to do is figure out how to make this work with my paintings and prints! Yesterday went to another vernissage this time at the Prieuré St Martial. This is a cluster of Gites which hosts an exhibition once a year I think. Each artist has his or her own Gite in which to show their work. Interesting international collection of painters, sculptors and photographers all living and working in the Hérault.