Our last day at La Bonne Etoile

Last night, Thursday, there was a chill in the air. Jerome lit a fire. People are feeling a little sad. It's almost over.

It's Friday. Our last day here. Everybody has finished up their work. After lunch we will clean up the studio, move all the tables out of the way, vacuum, arrange our work on large boards propped up by easels around the perimeter of the studio, we'll set a table with champagne glasses, flowers, munchies, we'll clean ourselves up, and return to the studio to greet guests who arrive for the vernissage. As soon as I get photos of our evening, I'm packing away my computer.

Tomorrow we all depart. A shuttle will be outside the front gate at 7:00 a.m., 5 of us will pile on with our luggage and newly finished pastels; I will be among them. Two more shuttles will arrive throughout the day to retrieve the rest of the students, leaving Jerome and Kippy with a quiet house again. And a clean studio.

I think the vernissage is Kippy's way of getting everybody to clean her studio for her.

Au revoir, La Bonne Etoile, Jerome and Kippy. Thank you for two beautiful and memorable weeks.