Tuesday 23. 05. 17 Just back from a great weekend in Bordeaux. I was invited to Olivier’s retirement party which we celebrated at Le Prieuré an old priory in Castres sur Gironde just outside Bordeaux. A wonderfully French weekend with lots of good food, including 2 roasted pigs, good conversation and good wine. Happily we could also stay the night there. I gave Olivier this painting to mark the occasion.
Thursday 18. 05. 17 Worked more on this today. All of the portraits will have the gold ‘frame’ and some writing on them. Now I just have to finish the actual painting but I’m happy with it so far.
Wednesday 17. 05. 17 I think I have finally found a format for these. I’m going to make an accordion book on Kraft paper with ten different pages for different stages of my life. The page size is 75 x 60 cm so it is quite large. This is the start of the first page when I was about 3 years old.
Friday 05. 05. 17 Went to Marseille on the train today with Patricia. Visited MUCEM and also the magnificent Notre Dame de la Garde overlooking the harbour.Had a very tasty fish lunch in the Vieux Port.
Saturday 29. 05. 17 Monday is May Day here. The French tradition of giving lily-of-the-valley flowers is supposed to have begun on May 1st, 1561, when King Charles IX of France was presented with a bunch as a token of luck and prosperity for the coming year. .
Monday 24. 04. 17 Did a new chalk drawing for my bedroom today.
Sunday 23. 04. 17 Had a ride around the lake. Lots of sweet smelling broom with poppies just starting to appear. The whole house now smells of broom
Saturday 22. 04. 17 We are all holding our breath!
Friday 21. 04. 17 Finished this big landscape today 100 x 80 cm which I did with oil pastels on paper. I think I will try some oil pastels for some en plein air landscapes perhaps next week.
Sunday 16. 04. 17 The church here was crowded this morning. The eggs were very tasty!