Oils and Pastels by Margaret Dyer

FRIDAY we had our Vernissage. Our class is officially over and I am off the clock. Everyone's work looked wonderful displayed around the room, and a great crowd showed up! I remembered my first Vernissage here, 2 years ago, when I knew zero French. then I smiled a lot and had to rely on Kippy's translations. for the past two years I've been listening religiously to my Pimmsler French language CD's in my car. Last night I was amazed at how much I was able to understand and communicate. I did have to say 'an pieu longemont, sil vou ples' a lot though. When I get home I plan to purchase the next box of lessons, French 3, to study all this coming year. It's encouraging to know that my brain has not atrophied like the rest of me. RIGHT NOW AS I WRITE, the remaining 4 of us are riding in the van with Kippy to the Bourgogne region for more exploring, where we expect to encounter long times without wifi access. So I may be quiet for a while.

Robin is Kippy's sister and she helped facilitate my workshop. So some of her paintings are unfinished, as she had to regularly drop everything to rush to the kitchen to help prepare meals or set the table. She worked so hard, we were starting to call her Cinderella. For someone who has not done any art in 15 years, Robin has produced some beautiful work.

This morning, SATURDAY, Kippy, Judy, Alice, Katie, Joy and I drove to the city of Auxerre in the Bourgogne region for more exploring. I want to live there. Here's what Wikipedia says about Auxerre... Auxerre was a flourishing Gallo-Roman centre, Antissiodorum through which passed one of the main roads of the area, the Via Agrippa (1st century AD) which crossed the Yonne River (Gallo-Roman Icauna) here. In the third century it became the seat of a bishop and a provincial capital of the Roman Empire. In the 5th century it received a Cathedral. In the late 11th-early 12th century the existing communities were included inside a new line of walls built by the feudal Counts of Auxerre. The Burgundian city, which became part of France under King Louis XI, suffered during the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion. In 1567 it was captured by the Huguenots, and many of the Catholic edifices were damaged. The medieval ramparts were demolished in the 18th century. In the 1...

I'm getting messages from people that my images aren't showing up on my blog now because of bandwidth. It is very complicated trying to blog from an iPad. I'trying to figure out another method of uploading my pictures. As soon as I figure it out, I'll resume the blog. sorry. Meanwhile, we're in Vezeley. gorgeous. Pictures to come...

Donna's gone. I'm sad. Just loved her. Donna is a retired school teacher--she taught third grade gifted students. I suspect she's one of those teachers a student never forgets. Here's Donna's work...

Yael comes from Ashkelon, Israel, where rockets have been pounding while she has been here with us. She's looking forward to getting back home to her family on Saturday, but I think she will miss some of us. I know I'll miss her. This is some of Yael's beautiful work...

We are finishing up here. it's kind of sad. Friday is the last day of the class. We'll clean up the studio, pin our paintings to the walls, and invite the locals to our vernissage (private show). There will be champagne and munchies, then dinner. After our guests leave, there will be a mad scramble as all of us try to gather our paintings and art supplies and pack them into our suitcases with all the other souvenirs we've bought along the way, hoping we don't pass the 50 lb. airline limit (thankfully they won't be weighing us because we are probably all not the same weight we were when we arrived). Donna and Yael fly home Saturday. Alice, Katie, Joy, Judy and I will stay an extra 4 days ank Kippy will lead us on an excursion into Burgundy. But today is Thursday; we'll spend a half day painting, then head out to Troyes for our final excursion together.