Christmas news

Apologies for lack of Christmas cards but due to an over reaction to the swine flu jab I did not manage to get many cards sent this year.  In fact I have managed to do our whole Christmas on line this year which is quite an achievement for me.

In November Janet arranged a fascinating trip to the RHS Lindley Library  for the ‘cygnets’ with a lovely lunch in a nearby bistro afterwards.  At the library we were able to inspect with magnifying glasses a selection of their vast botanical archive including some of their most recent acquisitions.  The star of the show for me was a stunning painting of gooseberries by Augusta Withers.

In January the RHS in conjunction with Fulham Palace are mounting an exhibition of botanical art by six contemporary gold medalists (including yours truly).  The exhibition will run from 29th January until early April and will include recent work by the artists plus work from the Lindley collection.  More about this later.

Hurrah!!! The book has finally gone to the printers in Singapore and is still scheduled for publication in early April.  Thank you all for your patience and lets hope it’s been worth the wait.

Next year is set to be even busier than this year with painting holidays in Spain (end Jan – still a couple of spaces if you fancy some winter sun), Italy in June (fully booked), France in Sept/Oct (fully booked) and now Sri Lanka in December (dates to be confirmed).  Visit www.paintsrilanka.co.uk and you will get a flavour of  what’s available. If you are interested let me know as there are only four double rooms available.

In March I am off to visit the Arizona Desert Museum near Tucson for a 3 day workshop and then on the Denver Botanic Gardens for a 5 day workshop (fully booked).

Let me wish you all the very best Christmas you can have and happy ‘colouring in’ for 2010.