It was a while ago now, but the art retreat I attended in SW France was wonderful, even better than I could have wished for, I am so glad I went and it was just the break I needed.

Most of us arrived on Sunday evening, however my housemate Sarah was traveling from Norway and unfortunately her flight had been cancelled, she was not able to arrive until Monday morning. I was the first person to arrive and I was met by Jen (co-owner of La Cour de Husson with her husband Nick) who showed me to the Gite where I was staying. It was a very warm welcome and I began to relax after what had been a very stressful day for me – long story but here’s the short version – it involved me getting lost on a day (the only day in fact) when it didn’t stop raining, I got soaking wet and walked for miles and miles in completely the wrong direction before finally getting rescued by two very kind young French men who went out of their way to help me. They got me back to the apartments where I had slept the previous night just in time to pick up my luggage, get changed into dry clothes (everything I was wearing, even my pants and bra, were soaking wet) and be ready for when my taxi arrived to take me to the retreat.

The accommodation at La Cour De Husson was spacious, clean and tastefully decorated and definitely 5 star. Jen and Nick were excellent hosts. The Gite where Sarah and I stayed had a large kitchen/living room area, a sun room and upstairs two bedrooms with large beds and a fully equipped bathroom supplied with toiletries. The other members of the group stayed in another Gite just opposite ours.

I met the other participants when we had dinner on Sunday evening in the sun room. We were joined by David Shillinglaw, the artist, who actually spent the four full days with us (much more time than any of us expected. That night I met Simon, Dan, Katrin and her husband Harald. Simon and Dan both from England and Katrin and Harald from Germany. Harald didn’t take part in the art and spent his time chilling out or working (from the Gite) on his computer, but he joined us for all the meals and like everyone else he was great company. I also met Nick at the first meal, he and Jen prepared all our meals. I believe Nick did the savory part and Jen the sweets. The vegan food was outstanding and everyone enjoyed eating the vegan diet.

On Monday morning we had breakfast together (again in the sun room) and waited for Sarah (my housemate) to arrive before starting seriously with the art. Katrin was really looking forward to meeting Sarah as they had been friends on Instagram for a few years, but this was their first time meeting in real life. Of course they got on really well when they did meet. In fact we all got on really well, everyone was so friendly and supportive. We met as strangers but after a short time we were all friends, it was lovely.

For the first two days we concentrated on making our sketchbooks. I have made loads of different kinds of books in my life and altered existing books but I had never made a proper hardback book from scratch. David is the most generous, kind and engaging teacher and we all had fun making our books. He gave us all an A3 envelope with materials and equipment we would use making the books – the paper, the book boards, a bone folder for creasing the paper, a needle and thread to sew the signatures together, clips and pieces of wood to press the pages, envelopes with collage materials – and he shared with us all his enthusiasm for and knowledge about making books. It’s definitely something I will be doing again. It’s a very satisfying feeling holding a hardback book that you’ve made yourself, and an even better feeling once you start filling in your book 🙂

Friends through art 🙂

What an amazing group of people – friendly, supportive and caring, after 4 days I loved them all and would happily have stayed another week if we had been allowed.

It took us 2 days to make our books, and we also did other activities – going for walks in the surrounding area to forage for plants to use for cyanotype printing, making the Cyanotypes prints, visiting an antique/junk shop in a nearby village where everyone (apart from me and David) purchased something. Swimming in the pool and also a swim in the river (I didn’t swim but the others did and thoroughly enjoyed themselves)

The Cyanotypes were only partially successful. They looked great when we first exposed them like this:

BUT we left them in the shade to dry while we went out and by the time we got back all the prints were over exposed and useless. Fortunately Simon took these photos before the prints became over exposed so at least we could see the potential of using this type of printing.

We were all also given an A3 sheet of paper with the outline of a body scan on and we were encouraged to work on individual pieces, to play around with paints, collage and whatever we wanted to fill the body scans in. As usual I didn’t have time to finish my piece and even now it’s still a ‘work in progress’, but it will get finished eventually. We also made a book for Nick and Jen they could use as a guest book for future guests. David also gave us the wooden forms to make spinning sculptures. I’m so slow I didn’t even have time to start mine while we were there but I have now finished it at home and you can see it on my Facebook Page here:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1107315045526396

On the last day we all worked on a collaboration a huge body scan made up of 4 sheets of A3 paper.

After I arrived home I arranged for David to send me a ‘life size’ print of this large piece. It’s currently at the framers when I get it back and have hung it on my wall I will share that with you too.

I arrived home on the evening of 8 September. It was lovely to get home and to find the house tidy and T in a good way. looking healthy and happy. Unfortunately just a couple of days after I arrived home he became unwell again for a couple of weeks and it was a struggle for both of us. He’s now undergoing more investigations in another attempt to find out what’s wrong with him and hopefully to get some treatment.

I came home full of enthusiasm for making art but T’s health problems have restricted the amount of time I’ve been able to devote to my art. Never mind, looking after him the best I can when he is unwell is more important.

Before I went away he had been really unwell and I was worried about leaving him but he insisted that I should still go and he would be fine. I spoke to him every night while I was away and he did sound like he was coping OK. Claudine (his carer and a good friend) kept me informed how he was so I wouldn’t worry.

After the Art Retreat, I traveled by train to Paris and spent a few days with my brother, Mike, and his family. Mike and Murial, who is French, have lived in Paris for over 30 years but this was my first time visiting. I had a really lovely time with them. Mike and I had a couple of days sightseeing around the city. We went to the Arc de Triomphe and we climbed the stairs to the top because the lift was not working. By the time we got to the top I was exhausted but the views were fantastic, Paris is such a pretty city. The next day we went to the Eiffel Tower but it was closed so we couldn’t go up the tower at all. Still it is impressive to look at. To be honest I was quite relieved. We had a lovely lunch in a nearby cafe instead.

Since I have been home I have managed to find a bit more time to be creative – late at night or early in the morning seem to be the best times atm.

I bought myself an A5 size gel printing plate so I can print my own collage papers. I have been experimenting but so far the results are not that good. That’s OK because any dodgy prints can be enhanced with pens or painted over or both. So far I am more excited with the results on the papers I use to clean excess paint off the brayer than anything I’ve managed to print. It’s interesting trying different things and seeing the results, even if they don’t work. I’m just playing and that’s OK.

Hope all is good with you
Big love AJ xxxxxxx