JANE WILLIAMS

This is the finished version of JANE WILLIAMS portrait. I enjoyed painting it and she was very pleased with it, something I'm happy about. She said: She was "over the moon with the painting" and her mother and friends and clients said it was just like her.

Vanessa's Portrait

This is Vanessa my new commission, right now I have just put up a detail of her face, I'm still working on her scarf. Hopefully she will like it and I won't have to do any changes to it. It was made in pastels on paper, whilst Ruth was done in oils.

Ruth

Okay, I have now worked part of the hair which is framing the face and this will be crucial to see how it affects the lighting on her face. Then I will work on the background and her mauve dress ( this is why she has this colouring in her cheeks and when I advance a bit more I will post that, so that you can see the progress until I have it completed. 

Maggie Thatcher

I'm really disgusted by all the vile screech of hatred towards the woman who saved Britain by lazy louts who were not even born when we were having the big problems facing this nation. For those who were around during Maggie Thatcher's time, who can forget the Winter of Discontent ? when rubbish piled high up and the dead could not be buried ? No one at that time had the guts and the courage to stop the Unions who seemed to have gone mad and intent in bringing down the economy of this country. We were called the sick man of Europe, remember ? When Maggie left office, she had brought back the Great to Britain again. Let's not forget that she had won THREE times the elections in our democratic country and on the last one she won by a greater majority than when she was elected the first time around. That is a great achievement or what ? and that alone has to be a testament to her huge popularity and the approval of the MAJORITY on how she was leading this country. I for one, am grateful for everything she did. Not only was she the first woman Prime Minister but the best Prime Minister since Winston Churchill who had the guts and the courage to confront head on, the difficult decisions to bring about prosperity once again to this country. Had she not been in power, this is time that we would have beaten the Greeks on the road to bankruptcy and poverty. Thanks to her, we are not in that awful situation.Greece could do with a Margaret Thatcher right now. She fought hard to get us a rebate from the E.U. which have meant savings billions of pounds that would have otherwise gone down the plug-hole of the E.U. There is much to be grateful about Maggie Thatcher. I find it offensive when people from Twitter send me stuff insulting to her memory. I don't go to Twitter anymore because I have better things to do with my life but I did wanted to say how much I always admired Margaret Thatcher and I feel very sorry that she has passed away and I feel appalled and offended by how a MINORITY with their hatred and no doubt jealousy taken to the streets because they have nothing better to do with their worthless little lives.  

This is Ruth, my new portrait

Well, I'm now working on a new portrait in oils and see how it turns out. The main thing at the moment is to get a good likeness of the sitter and at the end of the day, that she will be happy with the result. It is early days and a lot of work has to be done. Everything needs to be re-worked in thin layers, especially the eyes so that they glimmer and that is yet to happen with patience and perseverance. I really never like to show the early stages of a painting but someone told me it would be nice to see it. It is like showing the skeleton and bit by bit having the finished product; with a portrait you have to be precise, not like a landscape painting where you can add maybe a house or twist the perspective in order for the picture to look more interesting. Still... with a portrait you don't have to put warts and all. I usually find the most attractive side of the sitter to have a pleasant result. I don't know if you recall the recent portrait of the Duchess of  Cambridge where the poor artist was criticized for making her look too old. With a portrait you have to be careful with the shadows and not to over emphasize the features or you could end up making a very young person look much older than they really are. I'm trying to balance all these considerations and arrive to a happy outcome.

I have been away for so long I don't even know where to start. Happy Halloween! The big pumkin was my last entry for the Floral Art Club competition and 'it has been without precedent that a new member has won the cup with the highest points this year, as she has been with us for only a short time' this was the introduction before Laura the Club's Secretary made the announcement that I had won. Even when my name was mentioned, I had to have a little nudge from one of the ladies to react to my surprising win. It was a real surprise to me since some of the ladies have been in this club for 40 years and I'm a new commer with no experience whatsoever. Well, this means if everything else fails in my life, at least I have a future with a flower shop! but luckily that is not the case, as I also have in sight an art show which will be on the 11th of November so I have the pictures framed and ready for the show. I only need to do some cards and am ready to fly! fingers crossed, things will go well.

Spanish Foot-Ball Win

They defied their critics. The Germans told them that their foot-ball was boring but they beat them. The Dutch told them that their foot-ball lacked imagination but they beat them; the English told them that they had a rotten midfielder but they were beaten too. the Spanish have won not only the World Cup but they have also won the European Cup twice. That has never been accomplished before in the history of foot-ball, three times champions and they celebrated it in great style. Their foot-ball team came back victorious from Kiev after having beaten the Italians 4 - 0. It was quite a sensational win. At their arrival they were greeted with great enthusiasm and the team went to present the cup to their King first and then, the team boarded an open decker bus to greet their public, culminating at the Cibeles fountain where a wonderful welcome party awaited them. Popular singers belted their songs and nearly everyone was dressed in the red & yellow -colours of their flag. People were singing, cheering and dancing until the early hours of the morning culminating in fire-works. The party lasted two days! The first was, the day when they won and the second one the coming home party. The memory of this historical win made everyone so cheerful it should be bottled in a spray can. The Spanish team were humble in their win, saying that it was all worth it to bring so many smiles in people's faces and it was infectious as I felt very happy to see all this too.

PARIS

Without a doubt, Paris is the most beautiful city in the world, it has such gaity and energy and after not going there for so many years, its nice to have been back. Everyone has heard about how bad the French treat foreigners but I'm happy to report that their attitude has now changed and despite me having a very limited French vocabulary I sailed through without a hitch speaking in English all the time and the French were very polite and helpful trying their best to understand me and succeeding in doing so. There was only one particular time in Montmartre in a small crowded shop where I bought a small red handbag in the shape of a rose for my sister Patty and seeing no queues, naturally I proceeded to go directly to the counter to pay and someone sighed: Arg! English! as though I had taken her place. "I'm not English" I said just so the English didn't get a bad reputation and they all laughed relieved. They are like us, if something goes wrong, we always blame the French so I suppose they do likewise. We really enjoyed our few days in Paris, walking around the iconic places like Notre Dame Cathedral, La Plaise de la Concorde in glorious sunshine, what a sublime place Paris is, full of restaurants, cafes with their sweet little tables al fresco enjoying a good conversation. Parisians really know how to enjoy life. We also went for a spot of shopping at Lafayette (which is the largest mall in Europe) and it is by no means like the other generic malls you see everywhere else in the world. At Lafayette's when you look at the ceilings of the building it has this Belle Epoch wonderful look but very modern and chic in the counters. When you are in Paris, you notice the fashions more, as the Parisians are very elegant indeed. I was searching for the latest look in make-up and found it there. Somehow I managed to describe what I wanted to the assistant who was a young fellow with very little English who produced exactly what I wanted with three different products and I left the shop completely enchanted as I thought when I first went in, that I didn't stand a chance in hell to get what I was looking for, so I was very happy that it didn't take too long either. We did this was after spending all day at the Louvre Museum which by the way, how much it has changed for the better. No more queues to see the Mona Lisa, everything seemed so airy and light plus they have opened up more restaurants along side the corridors upstairs of these beautiful buildings shown in the picture. Although when we were having our lunch over-looking the glass pyramid, I noticed that the police had cordoned off the big plaza around it and the public were barred from coming in. Two police cars were at the front and suddenly an enormous bomb exploded! What a fright! but it had been a controlled explosion of an abandoned suit-case. I wondered who had missed their pajamas and their tooth-brush that night. Ha,ha,ha.

I HAVE A NEW FRIEND.

I have a new friend, his name is Louis but yesterday I learned that his real name is Freddie. For weeks now, Peter and I have been wondering: where does he come from? We came across him in a rainy cold day outside at the back of our home. He was looking drenched,cold and hungry. He has beautiful green eyes and his fur is jet-black, so I let him in for a bit of warmth and tried to see what I could give him to eat as I don't own a cat since Diana passed away 4 years ago. I gave him a yogurt which he quickly polished off. What do you do when you have a cat that comes around every day howling to be let in, hungry and cold? you give him warmth and comfort. He is not a wild cat and he wasn't looking as if he was sleeping rough so he obviously had to have an owner somewhere but the way he devours his food was making me wonder if he belonged to an elderly couple who perhaps couldn't afford the cat food every week because of the austerity measures or perhaps he belonged to a family who was away working all day and left the cat out to fend for himself during the day? These were just suppositions of course and apart from food and shelter people tend to forget that cats are sentient beings just like us, in need of affection and company not some furniture or a plant that needs feeding and watering every day. I cannot deny that I'm enjoying having the cat around and perhaps you must be wondering why don't I get my own cat, but since my cat Diana died, the pain of losing her was too great and the sorrow was so much that even after 4 years have passed, I feel I couldn't go through this whole process yet again and I don't have to.- Besides, we travel too much and cats need security. Anyway, going back to my predicament, I wouldn't want to have a tug of war with my neighbours over the cat either. Maybe now that I know who the owners are, I could go round to their place and talk it over with them but right now, I find myself ill with a sore throat and am trying somehow to get well enough, to travel this evening to another town to attend a wedding vow tomorrow, an invitation which has been received and accepted months ago since January. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee is also tomorrow and a street party has been planned in front of our home which would have been the perfect venue to meet my neighbours and talk about Louis/Freddie but that won't be possible either. Life is so complicated sometimes.

IRELAND

Well, we just came back from the Emerald Isle and I have to say the grass is literally greener there. There are areas where it is so unrealistically green that it is magic and I was suitably dressed in green as well like kermit the frog. I love Ireland (the republic), their people are so warm, friendly and with a great sense of humour that is infectious. Anyone who happens to be depressed, go to Ireland; they will restore your will to live. I certainly recommend it as one of the places you must see before you die. If you haven't gone to Ireland you haven't lived a full and happy existence. The pubs have live and cheerful music and there is dance every day. On this working trip we first arrived in Dublin by ferry. We disembarked with our landrover straight into the capital for a few days then we headed south to Cork, afterwards to Ennis a lovely town full of life and then we went north to Donegal where we stayed at the Jackson Hotel. Our room there was a really pleasant surprise, it had a marvellous view of the river from the balcony; the room was lovely with red petals spread over the bed and it even had a massage chair! the bath had a jacouzi too. Really nice. Peter and I must be related to Marco Polo whose voyages over China, Siam and Persia lasted 15 years and were recorded by a writer who was fascinated with his travels. This book has never been out of print since it was published 800 years ago and Christopher Columbus took it with him when he discovered the American Continent. It has been a great inspiration for all of those who like to travel and see the world.

ADVENTURES IN EK-BALAAM

Hi there, I have been away for sometime and it's only now that I have a chance to write again since we have been in Cancun enjoying the beautiful aqua-marine waters of the Yucatan Peninsula but whilst we were there, I wanted to take the opportunity to visit more of the fantastic ancient lost cities of the Maya Route and learn a little bit more about this mysterious culture. The photos you can see here, are from the city of Ek-Balaam which is two hours drive from Cancun, it's worth the trip. There was no tour to go there but this has never been an impediment for me to arrange my own trip to go wherever I wish to go, so I hired a taxi for the whole day which came to pick us up at at 9 A.M. at our hotel. The day was very hot but there is nothing like coco-nut water to quench the thirst! Once we were at the entrance of the site, we hired a guide so that he could show us the city of Ek-Balaam. We climbed a steep temple and as I was climbing the stairs, I happened to notice a sea-shell incrusted on the floor of one of the stairs and asked our guide Casimiro about it. He told me that all of the Ek-Balaam site had been at one time submerged underneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and it has suddenly been uncovered when a huge meteorite fell in Ixalum, some kilometres away. Once we got to the middle of the pyramid I was fascinated to see a sculpture of a man with large wings behind his back like an angel. I found it very interesting that the very idea of winged men could be also be seen in this other independent culture that had nothing to do with the Greeks, nor the Egyptians or Mesopotamia who first showed in our culture the concept of winged beings but the other fascinating thing to see, was a stucco painting which looked very much like the ones you see in the Egyptian tombs, there was also a figure perched in what looked like a ledge and that similar to the figures you see in Budhist temples in Thailand. Casimiro told me that this was an eunoch who looked after the Royal ladies, he was sitting on a ledge on an enormous square slab, this slab had heads of Tlaloc in each bottom corner and the really dark square doors beyond, represented the gateway to the underworld unfortunatelly I couldn't stay too long up there because I had left Peter down below sitting on a bench underneath the shade of a tree as he had previously stumbled on a stone before the climb and he had scratched both knees and hands. Poor Peter had his trousers reduced to shreds and he looked pitiful but a nice lady had given me wet cloth towels to disinfect his wounds so I didn't want to leave him too long down there. When I got down, I hired a rick-shaw so that he could sit on it and be comfortably driven to see the stellas and the other buildings like the stadium, where the ball game was played. Some of the structures had the unusual arquitecture of triangle shape doors, which didn't come into Europe until much later. Afterwards, we headed down to the city of Valladolid founded by the Spanish Conquistadores. Valladolid is the second largest city of the Yucatan Peninsula after Merida (which we visited last year) where we made a stop over for a lunch, I enjoyed seeing this colonial town with its iron balconies and the cathedral just in front of the park. Once we arrived back at the hotel in Cancun, in the evening Peter had a warm bath and I summoned the hotel nurse to desinfect his wounds properly, in two days time his knees had completely healed. I could do this again.

My adventures In Gibraltar

Why travel across the Atlantic for seven hours? forget Floria for sunshine as just within two hours you can be in Gibraltar, a British outpost to the sun where there is no need to change your money into another currency since pounds sterling is the currency there. There is a sense of freedom in Gibraltar, from its shores you can see the North of Africa on one side and Cadiz on the other and a ferry ride can take you anywhere in the Mediterranean you heart desires like you can go to the Canarie Islands, Corcega, Malaga, Tunisia, Melilla, Tetuan etc. these are all within reach by sea as North Africa is only 40 nautical miles away, or you can simply cross the border and head into Spain and visit Jerez de la Frontera where they make excellent port and wines. The first day, we went up to the rock to see the Barberian monkeys by cable car when we got to the top, as the tourists arrived in their mini-buses we heard a woman scream: A monkey had gotten hold of her bag! the cheeky monkey took out a sandwich and she tossed away the ham being interested only in the fruity contents of the bag. She tenderly gave the cheese of the sandwich to her baby monkey and she had a green apple. When we returned to our suit in the hotel, I headed towards our room whilst Peter went to the living room and I could hear him talking to someone I went to investigate and found Peter with a menacing monkey. The monkey was standing up, arms held up in a threatening stance, showing him all his teeth. Peter stamped his foot on the floor and the monkey sat down looking at him like saying with his gaze: What do we do now? Peter reached for an apple in the fruit-bowl and threw it outside the open window, the monkey ran after the apple and Peter and I rushed to the window to close it behind the monkey who was contented outside chomping at his apple.

The Artist That Never Was...

It is said that the hoax which fooled certain Art critics as well as readers who fell for this deceit, was done with the complicity of David Bowie, John Richardson ( who is an expert on Picasso's life and times) and the U.S. author Gore Vidal.

According to them "Nate Tate" was an American artist born 1928 - 1960 the "painter" was 31 years old and he suffered from depression. One day, after having destroyed 99% of his work, he bought a ferry ticket to Staten Island and once on board, the "artist" walked towards the back, climbed the fence and jumped. His body was never found. To give it a realistic touch, Boyd included in the book paintings made by him, the photos that were shown, he took them from his private collection without any identifiable persons.

The hoax became stronger when he convinced Gore Vidal to include an anotation on the book. On the false biography Gore Vidal "remembers" Nate Tate as a "dignified drunk, without anything to say". Karen Wright who is co-director of Publication 21, where Bowie used to work said to the British press that the joke was not intended to be malicious. She added that part of it amused them a lot that people were taken in are were agreeing to have heard of him. Some went as far as saying his work was great. According to Boyd this is a fable for our times or any time in which people become Art celebrities over-night.

The Financial Terrorists

Whilst I was in Ireland I read an article in The Irish Times about an e-mail sent to the staff of the Anglo Irish Bank written by their Chief executive a David Drumm where he writes to his staff about a party themed: 'The Back To School Doombuster Party' that he organized at a time when the financial crisis was deteriorating and the economy was turning deeply negative. The e-mail read:

"Dear colleague, the stock markets are down. They say the economy is in recession. It rained most of the 'summer'. The holidays are over. This is Anglo, so there is only one thing to do - party!"

Whilst the bank's financial position was becoming more precarious in December 2008, the bank spent 175,000 Euros on a Christmas party for staff, that month the bank also spent 53,000 Euros on hampers and wine for clients and 24,000 bringing customers and their children to the annual Christmas panto in the Gaiety Theatre Dublin. The previous year, Anglo spent 272,000 on Christmas staff parties in Dublin, London and Boston and 229,000 Euros on three Christmas parties in addition to 87,000 EU on hampers and wine. Anglo Republic is the bank that broke Ireland. Like if that was not enough on September 5th 2008 ( just three weeks before the government bailed out Anglo from collapse) the bank spent 80,000 Euros on a party for about 600 staff, at the Mansion House in Dublin. The cost excluded accommodation in hotels for staff who travelled from the bank's regional offices for the party. The drinks bill alone on the night, amounted to 24,000 Euros and staff were entertained by a live band.'

Whilst the financial terrorists are having a great time, it is the poor tax payer who has to foot the bills for their extravagances, it is high time someone goes to prison, how is it possible that these people can take a whole country to the brink of bankrupcy putting it into debt with the EU and there is not even one single person accountable for all this financial fraud? I ask. The politicians are in it as well, since its not their money that they gave to the same people in the bank who broke the economy in the first place. It amounts to legalized thievery at a large scale. Its happening in many countries, one cannot help thinking that its organized to fail so that the banks can get a hold of people's money. In other words, the countries are artificially being made to become bankrupt so that they can get their hands on the tax-payers money to create a single European Super State that no one in their right mind wants.

Back from Ireland

Hi there! Whilst we were in Ireland with friends we were talking about the strange custom in the 1700 where the husbands could sell their wives in the market by simply putting her on a plimth and another man would offer a price that the husband could accept. Mischiviously, one of my friends asked Peter how much would he be prepared to accept for me. Peter got serious and he replied that there wasn't a price that he would be prepared to trade for yours truly, my friends looked surprised at this answer and they said they were very impressed to hear this after a marrriage of nearly 30 years they said that was not the answer they were expecting to hear maybe that was a reply a newly wed man would give not after a 30 year marriage. I have to say I feel the same towards Peter as well and this brings us to.. in a couple of years time it will be our 30th wedding anniversary and I'm thinking of something special and romantic where we could go to. I Thought about the Orient Express, although I'm a bit claustrophobic I do like travelling by train anywhere especially if it will be to Venice and Austria on the way and all the lovely places the Orient Express takes you to. I also like the idea of dressing up in the evenings and imagine I'm in one of Agatha Christie's stories but without the murder because I think that would spoil the romance of being in such lovely surroundings. I'm however not too thrilled to hear that the rooms haven't got their own bathroom and you have to share it with other people too by walking along the corridor, that is what it really stops me from going ahead with this plan. We have done the cruise travels and frankly, we both don't fancy doing that again besides, I get sea-sick anyway. I'm thinking of something else to do and I would love it if someone can give me ideas. Where is a romantic place to visit. Whatever it is, it has to include Venice because for me Venice is the most romantic place on earth but of course there has to be many other places in Europe that I still have not visited that might be very romantic too. I would like it to be special, so there is no room for experimentation as I want everything to go smoothly and without a hitch. Any ideas?

I may have been discovered

Well, this has been an exciting couple of weeks for me. The town cryer asked me if I would lend a couple of my paintings for a show at their church, to raise money for repairs and one thing has led to another. Whilst the paintings were on show at the church, a gallery owner saw them and he has invited me to put them up for an exhibition he is having on the 27th of August. Later on, I learned that this gallery owner is extremely well connected with famous people like Zandra Rhodes ( the fashion designer and Rula Lenska the actress ) among some of his friends and that last year, David Hockney had exhibited at his gallery. Everyone in the art world knows who David Hockney is, as he appears in every contemporary history of art book. So, I suppose this is great news for me. I also learned that this gallery owner also has another gallery in London, so I hope that this leads to more exciting things. He came to visit me to my home last Saturday and told me to be prepared to meet famous people at the show opening on the 27th of this month and to bring the paintings on the 26th. I will try and take photos. I will keep you posted...

Evil Racist Breivik

The enemy within. Billions are spent in wars abroad whilst the real danger resides in our midst as our own online bigots encouraged Breivik to carry out this massacre on its own people its about time that these racist bigots should be classed as terrorists. Is not enough to show contempt for these evil xenophobes, they have to be starved of excuses and of anecdotes, to stop them feeding their twisted bigotry to others by closing down their organizations and stop them from operating. Anyone with a modicum of biology would know that these people who fool themselves about inbred racial purity doesn't make biological or cultural sense, its only an ignorant delusion. Inbred racial purity in real terms only brings haemophilia, stunted growth, premature aging, stupidity and a much shorter span of life. It has been proven. They also cannot accept that as an enterprising, roaming and colonising nation, we are all a mongrel people with a mixture of Saxon, Viking, Celt, Roman, Greek, Norman, Arab, African, Indian etc. our blood is a cocktail. Racists fail to see that this is a source of strength and interest, not weakness and dilution. They don't know that the very language in which they rant, is a tapestry of borrowings from incomers, from the moment they drink their morning tea or coffee in pyjamas, to the last cup of cocoa under their duvet.The next thing we see, is one of the BNP chiefs Chris Hurst giving a Nazi salute crying: "Seig heil" to Breivik's heroine, a Swedish pop singer who goes by the name of Saga and who sang the Norwegian fiend's favourite songs at a rally in Hungary. Chris Hurst also spouted racist bile to an undercover reporter from the Sun who infiltrated the hate-filled festival attended by thousands of neo-Nazis from across Europe after the massacre in Norway. Chris Hurst, the far-right party's London Regional Secretary gave a chilling verdict on the massacre committed by the Norwegian madman Anders Breivik. He said: "Its good to fight back- but not by killing young white people"

Painting Shows

I have been working for two paintings exhibitions, one takes place on the seventh of Ausgust whilst the other one a solo exhibition is on the 10th and my kind friend Sue, is going to organize the nibbles, the wine and the invitations for the opening, I have managed to paint a small series of landscapes plus other paintings for the four walls of a room in my solo exhibition, which I'm hoping will do well. On top of that, I have a House Warming Party here at our home of which I'm organizing and looking forward to, plus my dear friend Marilyn and her daughter Ximena are coming to visit us later this month too, so August is going to be packed of fun and only fun for me. Then in September our friend Carlo is coming to visit us and we will also go and visit him in Florence so that is another exciting event to look forward to as well, then in November we are off to Gibraltar and we have already booked Christmas in a hotel in Oxford, so we pretty much, have got the rest of our year mapped out. As soon as I put on the finishing details of my last landscape, I will post it on the blog but now I must run !

Heir Hunter´s Show

The BBC has approved the seventh series of the ´Heir Hunter´show. We have now finished the sixth series which will be shown either Jan or Feb of next year and the BBC liked it, they are pleased with it so that´s why they have now commissioned the seventh series too, which in my opinion will be even better than the last ones, because we have very good, exciting stories and they will be surprised by them when we write them the new ones for their approval, as this show has in itself become an effective tool to reach more people and even solve cases that have remained unsolved until now.. in very surprising ways but I won´t be letting the cat out of the bag as I want people to see the show and find out for themselves. Peter is also getting more used to the cameras, so he looks more natural having had all this experience now is coming to him like a second nature.

I learnt that David Pacifico from Fraser & Fraser's is a keen ball room dancer so if the series continues the way it is going.. I can see myself dancing with David in that other show for celebrities! ha,ha,ha. I had better start to learn how to dance though. Just kidding here. It was a member of the public who told me this detail about David Pacifico she is a Jewish lady who watches Heir Hunters and had met David somewhere. Also, the BBC has sold the show to the History Channel and also to the Australian T.V. where some of our clients have seen us in the show there too. They also put sections of the show in You Tube. In the new series, we will appear at the new office, so you will be able to see how it all looks, with its wooden beams, Oh.. and before I forget as this is the most important thing, is that the BBC are going to start showing the programme at Prime Time, round seven O'clock maybe they will have Peter and Hector presenting the show or they might just re-edit it the series for a one hour show in the evenings, we are not sure yet what they will decide to do, but all in all, things are going very well.

Once the show hits the prime time slot ( which it has already been approved ) everyone will see it, as right now, we are missing the people who are at work in the mornings but this new slot will reach people who come back from work and sit to watch their telly whilst having dinner. I can see that it will really take off. Although at one point last month, it was being shown in the morning and again in the History Channel at 7 P.M. so I suppose the viewing was good and have now decided it will do well at the other BBC channel in the evenings. Well, that's all the news.

Sketching in the summer

"Every life can be told as a novel, each of us is the protagonist of his own legend" wrote the famous author Isabel Allende. I prefer to tell what I see in drawings driving through the beautiful countryside in my car; stop when I see a pretty view and set to work. The sun was shinning and the troubles and cares of this world vanish the moment I find my pastel colours. The only way to describe it is bliss! I work quickly before the weather decides to change and the image of that first impression is gone. Somehow when you draw, the scene gets imbedded in your memory and it becomes part of you. That is my tree and my hills. Are things really as I remember them or as I have painted them here? When it's done, I always feel disappointed that I have only managed to grab a 10th of what I saw. Still, the impressions of the day are there in mere chalks of what it was like to me that day.