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Had a great time at the Preview of my exhibition. I was nervous, at first, but once all my friends started to arrive I began to enjoy it. It was very crowded and several people are going to return for a better look! I was particularly thrilled because our friends from Spain turned up. I had no idea they were coming so it was a fantastic surprise. Gordon (who organised the exhibition) and I had both sent them invitations and then Graham emailed them about the ‘do’ we were having back at our house after the Preview. So they booked the next flight over!!

Lots of people came back to our house and we had pies and pasties from Bolton. This has become a bit of a tradition at our parties and our guests would be disappointed if we gave them something else!

The exhibition continues for 10 days so I will be returning from time to time and meeting friends and family there. I hope the good weather continues as the garden is beautiful.

Paintings on display at the exhibition.

Delivered paintings to Gordon Cooke. He was having a mass clear out in preparation for displaying the work for our forthcoming exhibition.

He runs Ceramic workshops in Andalucia at The Finca (hotel) where my husband, Graham, also runs Writing Workshops. Whilst there I always paint as the views and the garden are beautiful. I am showing some of these paintings at this exhibition.

Over the years I have done several paintings of  two huge palm trees in the garden. You could see these palm trees from miles away but sadly they are infested with a beetle that is ravaging lots of palm trees in the area. I think one of them may survive but I will miss them and they were fun to paint.

My exhibition is fast approaching so it has been hectic getting paintings framed, contact cards produced etc. Decided to have 8 different cards printed to show a range of different styles including landscapes, cities and flowers. This exhibition is at the home of a potter who has a beautiful garden so most of my paintings on show will be around the theme of the garden. There will also be some of Spain and Portugal to fit in with the feel of Summer.

Recently back from a holiday in France. We were staying in a friend’s house in a little town near Limoges in rural France.The countryside is very like England. It was about 2 weeks ahead  so the blossom was still on the trees and the fields were covered in wild flowers. I was hoping to paint outside but unfortunately the weather was very cold and wet. However, I picked bunches of wild flowers and took them to the house and painted them. There was a wood-burning stove so Graham wrote while I painted! Here is one of my sketches.

Lovely sunny day so painted the camellias and purple azaleas in the garden.  The red camellias are beginning to fade but the pink ones are now at their best. Used Dr. Martins watercolours as wanted to capture the vibrant colours.

Different tulips are appearing each day and the little, pale daffodils are now blooming. The Damson, Plum and Cherry blossom is still beautiful.