Flux - and beyond

Well, this has been the season of delight and joy, hasn't it? All that lovely snow and picturesque whiteness, the frosty mornings and the icicles in the hedgerows, hanging from the guttering and just about everything else. And all of those unexpected waterfalls when the thaw came and the pipes celebrated by splitting so very thoroughly .....

BUT tomorrow will be the first day of January 2011, the first day of a new year, and all that has gone before will be wiped clean and we start anew. I will take time now to gloat and to tell you that we will be leaving about 1pm on an aeroplane for sunnier climes, and that forgetting all about the cold will be a little easier for us that it will be for many. I am, however, being serious when I suggest that we should all take a deep breath, have a lie in - and start afresh. No matter how one sees it, there is a significance about the first page in a new calendar, the first space in a new diary and planner. The previous set are hidden and we are confronted with an expanse of blanks and an array of things 'to be done'. I have all sorts of notions for new things I want to try out to fill some of those spaces - but I hesitate to commit anything to this blog, so I shall have to report back if and when I succeed in anything!

On a more serious note, 2010 has not been a year on which I shall look back fondly. There have been many good things, and each I will remember in its own right. But there have been sadnesses and troubles for many friends and people dear to us in 2010, and I will be glad to move on and leave as much as possible behind. 2011 will be a year of sorting things out, putting things right and all manner of fixing yet other things to somewhere nearer my satisfaction! So there.

And now, at the end of this complicated year I have to make sure the opening show of 2011 is as well prepared for as I can, make sure I have sent payment to as many artists as I can, clear the gallery and paint the walls ready for the fresh start I seem to be insisting upon. Oh - and pack and get ready for an early start for the airport.

So - to all of those who read this thing, Elisabet and I would like to wish you a very peaceful and happy 2011.

December 12

Given all of the dreadful weather we have all been experiencing
in the last weeks, and the upset it will have caused for everyone, we
thought it might be an idea to tell a bit more about what we have to
offer here at The Line - we hope to bring a little cheer!

We are delighted to have new work by Laura Hudson in the current
exhibition - The Sixteenth Angel* - summery paintings of pears and
olives, beans and figs from her home in the centre of France. The
warmth of the sun glows from the canvas - see the images attached.

The last weeks or two has brought out the best, and sometimes the not
quite so 'best', from people all around. Neighbours and complete strangers
have stopped to help dig out cars and clear pavements, teas and coffees have
been supplied to 'the workers' with all good humour, dangerous icicles
and threatening snowy overhangs have been marked for all to see. Odd
and thoughtless abandoning of cars has been a bit of a pain, but the
thaw has seen the end of that, for now at least.

So - come and warm yourself in the glow from Laura's painting, and
receive a warm welcome whenever you feel inclined. We will be
pleased to see you

Gail and Elisabet

* to answer a question we have been asked several times - we always
have an 'angel' in the title of the Christmas exhibition, and this our 16th
Christmas show. We simply could not think of an appropriate title in
time!