All over the place!

Since I last put up a post, we've been in Italy (where I was painting until the moment we left for Dorset, England) for a mega family Christmas which was organised by Robert's niece in a large comfortable farmhouse on beautiful, wild and muddy Eggardon ... then back to Montisi (Italy) to pack everything I might need for my exhibition in the middle of the busy post new year social life ... then back in the car for France with the dog ... and now back in the little French house with all the difficulties of speaking (trying to speak) another language, although I am lucky living in an Occitan area where the older people seem to understand a bit of Italian when I'm really stuck.

So, here I am finishing off my last painting, sorting frames and cataloguing my work in the warmth of the kitchen. As I searched my very chilly studio for something, I stumbled across this painting, which for some reason I had completely forgotten about what with all this moving around. I painted it in the great heat of August, near the small town of San Giovanni d'Asso. The place from where I wanted to paint was in a lay-by (always a mistake!) and I was mightily offended when nervous English holiday makers stood behind me for ages, until the man stumbled towards me and said, "Er ... excuse me, but are you Sheppard Craig?" I did have a baseball cap on to shade my eyes, and I was wearing shorts, but to mistake me for a man who must be at least 6ft 4ins was a bit upsetting to say the least.

Sheppard is a good friend of mine and was a very distinguished painter until the gardening bug got hold of him and he has been making and designing the most amazing set of gardens in the woods near San Giovanni d'Asso, while his wife Frances Lansing, also a brilliant painter, has been making whimsical and beautiful sculpture works for this magical place.

Here are two links;

1. About the garden http://www.laragnaia.com/EN/intro/
2.  And some lovely photos  http://www.flickr.com/photos/dermod/sets/1448135/