View from the back of my house

I did this painting as soon as we had moved to our home. Everything was in boxes, the house was bare and I had an empty room to just look at this view undisturbed.

It was summer, the colour of the sky was powdery blue, the farmer had just cut off the grass and there was this fresh smell of cut grass in the air so I parked my easel, took out my paint tubes, pallete and brushes and started to paint, I also wished everything stayed in its boxes forever so that my mind wouldn't be cluttered with other stuff in the room.

If I had to choose a few items in my life, it would be my painting gear that is the only thing that really makes me happy. The photos I have taken of this painting are not good. So I posted two to give you a better idea how the view looked in that lovely summer's day.

The latest on the Colossus of Goya

Francisco de Goya's most dramatic and famous picture - At least it was until January this year - when an expert at the Prado Museum declared it was not painted by him. They now believe it was painted by one of his assistants, whose initials may appear in a corner of the canvass. The final decision to remove Goya's plaque attributing the painting to him would be changed , followed by a lenghty study by the Prado expert Manuela Mena, which the museum published on the 26th of January.

Manuela Mena said X-rays of the picture had allowed her to spot the top half of the faded initials " AJ " scribbled in the bottom left-hand corner, which she said may point to it being the work of one of his assistants, Asencio Julia, who is known to have been Goya's main assistant in the later part of his life.

The news has reignited the controversy that first raged when the museum made it known last year that it had begun to doubt that the Colossus could have been painted by Goya. The Prado's expert also claimed the quality of The Colossus was far below that of Goya's other masterpieces. The brushstrokes were deemed: " slow and insecure " According to the report, it revealed an insecurity in the artist which did not match the bold, direct approach normally taken by Goya himself. The painting will continue to hang in its place but the plaque attributing it to Goya, would be changed.

Mothering Day

In most countries Mother's Day is celebrated on the 10th of May, but in Britain, we celebrate it in March. So, for that reason, I wanted to have her here, so that I can see her every time I look at my picture gallery. Thank you for your kind comments about my mother Robert, and just like you, I also thought she looked like a film star too, so once... at a gathering, when I was a little girl, I casually commented : " On the days mummy was a film star " to the other people. Very embarrased, my mother said: " No, I have never been in films, where did you get that idea from ? Its easy to get this idea by looking at this picture, which I was showing to the other children. There is another photo of hers in profile, where she is smiling and she looks far prettier than on this photo.