Last night we had our annual Christmas Paint-a-long, and yet again it was a lively crowd of painters full of Christmas spirit. Earlier in the day it was the usual slightly disorganised chaos for the setting up of the village, mulled wine, broth of various descriptions bubbling and smelling out the kitchen in the Evans household, people running in and out or in Brett`s case, mincing in and out, (I DON'T MINCE!) Carol and Kirsty  as usual being the bosses of it all.  Who am I to disagree with them, I just live here.

Quite a few people came quite along way, one couple came from Chester, not exactly local but as you will see from all the images a good time was had by all. It has to be said, there were some pretty damn fine paintings turned out on the night. I am not sure how much was of this was to do with artistic talent or the amount of mulled wine that was consumed. The interval about half way through the painting turned into a lovely social affair which is of course was always the intention.  It was a lovely way to round off the year as this was the last of 2007`s courses from home. 
23/12/2007

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As normal everyone complained about the amount of buns and various other foods but Margaret insisted they ate them all or they wouldn't be able to leave.  The paintings produced over the 2 days we truly stunning I was proud of them all. 2 wonderful days were had be everyone including me, hopefully the weather is as good next time.   

01/12/07

About 3 weeks ago I was over in Ireland yet again as you can tell from my frequent visits I really like the country. The people are fabulous fun loving and friendly people. I had a full group as usual at Kilkea Lodge Farm, Marion who was as usual an ever obliging host although it has to be said she is a bit of a female John Cleese (Basil Faulty). But this just adds even more charm to the courses that I do there. It was a little bit cold, sometimes the weather was a bit unpredictable but we had a few fabulous days in the studio painting from sketches or photographs of the immediate area. As you will see from the images we did a good diversity of paintings even down to horse and foul.

Marrion and Godfry who own the farm also have a lovely stable yard with their own horses so the subject matter is really close to hand. There was a slight difference in this one in the fact that I took my mother with me she always tells people that HE never teaches me to paint, well this time she was on the course and did as many paintings as everyone else. I have also never seen her drink so much, she is always telling me that she cant drink because of her pills well now the truth is out! I ever got a shot of her one night over dinner in a local hostelry downing a glass of Guinness. This picture is not as good as the rest because it was taken on my mobile, but proof is in the pudding.  IT was a lovely group as usual a lot of familiar faces and I have seen their paintings grow in confidence and proficiency over the years, and it has to be said I'm really quite proud of them. I am over there again in the first week of December, speak to you again after that.

The last France holiday of the year was a resounding success. In fact it was said many an occasion throughout the holiday that this one was the best abroad holiday ever!  Brett and I went in both of our cars, split up as soon as we left home and went our separate ways picking up people along the way (3 people each) and eventually met up at Dover and sailed club class to Calais. During the trip of about 2 hours we were waited on hand and foot. Free champagne flowed and some gorgeous young ladies even offered all guests 15 minute massages. The thought did cross my mind but I declined.

When we eventually landed in France, we has a really easy trip down to the chateaux at Quesmy.  In time for a wonderful dinner in fabulous surroundings and lovely company. And guess what, the wine flowed like water.  This holiday was bound to be a good on. The next day it has to be said the weather was disappointing it rained for most of the day but we did manage to go outside in the grounds of the chateaux and with stunning subjects easily on hand we painted in doors all day in our luxurious inclement weather room.

The next morning started off misty but was dry and cleared by lunch time and we had a lovely day painting the hillside which was enjoyed by all even Marcel the French artist teddy bear. It has to be said, he has been to a lot of locations up and down the country in his short life.

On the Wednesday we went into Paris. And after a very eventful trip getting there, in other words Brett and I got spilt up in the traffic (I've got European GPS, he hasn't, must get him one for next year) we had a fabulous day in Paris sitting around lunching in Cafes drinking superb coffee ohhh and of course doing some watercolour pencil drawings as well.  Everyone got on really well with the pencils. Although it has to be said I thought they might lynch me when I stopped in the middle of Champs Ellese and said we'll do one from here. I think everyone was fairly petrified at that prospect but after 5 minutes of starting, they soon forgot about the people watching them.

The rest of the week carried on much the same really.  Every evening at dinner in the chateaux it was a bit of a party atmosphere. Jean and Claudine were impeccable hosts nothing was too much trouble and everyone was made to feel completely at home. Normally this place is not one that does evening meals, and so they were cooking especially for our party every day. So consequently we had true French cuisine. Brett proposed to Claudine on several occasions because as anyone who knows Brett will know his belly is the most important thing in the universe.  We have 2 of these weeks forecast for next year both of which are already full. We are being urged to put on a third week because there is a waiting list for that one. Because of the fabulous time we all had I must say it seems likely that we will be having a third week.

Click here to view some photos.