A pleasant Christmas came and went while I wasn't looking. The New Year celebration was enjoyed with friends yet now, after only a week or so, it too has shrunk into a slightly blurred experience like a recent dream, more a fading feeling than memory. Is this a sympton of old(ish) age?
The months ahead are already filling with projects and promises however. I feel enlivened by the prospects, despite the cold, grey-and-white weather. As for 'Resolutions', I want to 'do' more art -painting and drawing. Fleur and I are booked for a two-person exhibition in the early summer in Tulle so this means more thought and planning than usual and definitely more work. It's some time ahead but I know how time will out-run me as usual.
Xaintrie is under snow at present but we're not overly inconvenienced. I'm still not sure how the main roads can be simply wet rather than icy when the temperature is well below freezing. I know the local councils spread salt but there never seems to be ony 'grit' as in the UK. Do the French use only salt - I don't know.
I do know though that it's too miserable to go out at the moment and as it's Sunday and the log fire is blazing away (I blogged on the subject of wood as a heating fuel in the 'Xaintrie Blog' in November 2008), I'll do some more painting. Trouble is, my bedroom-studio is in the roof-space and poorly insulated. There's a limit to how long one can work in temperatures of around 14 centigrade (as it is at present). Ironically, it's over 20 in the lounge, below this room. I can get the studio up to 15 or 16 on a day like this (it's -3, that's minus three outside at present).
So - that's another project for this year; insulate this room. Tricky though, 'cos I want to keep the splendid beams and roof trusses visible. Here I am, thinking about doing some work on this rather oversize portrait. Why so big? Don't ask, as I don't know.
Happy New Year
Michael Durant
WEBSITE: www.artsargentat.com
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