A beautiful painting by Pamela Slater Sue and John are having an Open House at their home in La Verdrie, France. I am so cross I can't be here to help - I am off home tonight. I would have loved to have stayed to help with the teas and Sue's fabulous cakes - you know how good I am with cake!!!! Everything is looking fabulous . . .  There will be -  Paintings Greetings cards Textiles Hand-woven Kilims Wood-turning Photography  and Furniture Plus teas, coffee and cakes of all shapes and sizes.   There will also be wood-turning, painting and knitting and crochet demonstrations. 16 rue de la Verderie, 17770 Brizambourg 10 - 4 Sundays 18th and 25th August. if any of you have friends in the Charente Maritime region of France, do share this  with them.  If anyone needs directions - just ring  Sue on  0546 9408 53              Do go along...

Gorgeous shapes in the market. I am staying with my friends Sue and John who live in a very quiet and rural area of the Charente Maritime in France.  Sue and I were at art college together - THIRTY EIGHT years ago! How can it be that long? I try to get over here at least once a year. They are very good friends and know me VERY well.  It has been gloriously warm with clear blue skies - just fabulous. It has been wonderful to have the time just to  - be. Does that make sense? We have been quite social with a barbecue yesterday and a big gathering tonight. I will flying back home tomorrow.  One of the local fields of sunflowers. Taking the dog for walks is a great opportunity to take loads of photos. The sunflowers are nearly over now, just the smaller, secondary flowers are blooming - but they are still very colourful - beautiful against the blue sky.  I love looking at the entrances to buildings and gardens - it is fun to imagine what might be ...

The Abbaye at St-Jean D'angely Happy New New to you all, I hope you had a relaxing time over the Festive Season??? I expect a lot of you will be returning to work for a rest! I am in the  middle of my annual New Year trip away to visit friends either France or Spain. This year it is France. We arrived in France at Bordeaux airport on New Years Eve and had to wait for a couple of hours for my friends to collect us so we took a train into Bordeaux for a poodle about. We didn't see a lot of the city but what we did see was very beautiful. There were several Art Deco buildings in the street next to the station. The Cafe Du Levant had a very splendid frontage with lots of gold tile work and Art Deco statuary.    A beautiful Art Deco building. We had flown quite early and were getting hungry so we succumbed to an early lunch of Moules et Fritte. Heaven!  Heaven on a dish.   We had a reasonably riotous News Year Eve with my friend John playing ...

The beautiful courtyard at La Verderie 2 workshops in France September/October Hot Textiles - Creative Bondaweb  September 26 th – October 1 st Luscious Layers October 3 rd – 8 th I am very blinkered in the way I think and sometimes need a nudge to make me realise what is staring me in the face!  Gorgeous old buildings with loads of inspirational textures can be found around and about La Verderie Because the workshops in France are going to be for 4 - 5 students I immediately thought they would be good for beginners and marketed it accordingly. It has been pointed out to me several times that working in a small group would also be a great opportunity for more advanced students to have their own 'masterclass' with me. There will be plenty of time for one to one tuition for any level of experience so Sue and I have now changed the skill levels on all the advertising. I am giving you all the 'heads up' as I start my show season this week and wi...