We are quite cut off here from many things but the internet allows me now to be in such a remote place and still I am able to work on my projects with very little distractions. I am blighted by distractions, or should it be attractions. I remember being the kind of art student that liked walking about chatting to everyone else. Happy to be enjoying joking around. I was also strangely serious in my pursuits though so soon developed a knack of working with little sketchbooks and scribbling even in the college bars or going to one of the many concerts or performances of the other students at Dartington.  I really loved taking photographs too so still have lots of black and white contact strips, negatives and the odd photograph even.
In the UK I had a string of part time work of many kinds. I became very resourceful and worked in gardens, cleaning, shop work, youth work, bar work, teaching crafts including mosaics and I worked on building projects including slating a roof in Wales. I did an Arts Trails from my sister's house in Bristol in a place called Southville.
My painting has only really developed more recently. This being largely due to not being in a financially viable position before. I have a partner these days. He bought houses here in The Morvan 20 years ago when he couldn't bare being in London any longer. When he arrived people were horrified as most people were moving away then. It's a lot easier these days to be here. We feel relatively well connected. It improves too.
I am in the process of ordering a few things from Jackson's they do discounted art supplies and if you spend £100 they do free shipping or if you live in the UK you don't need to spend as much for it to be free. (£39ish) They are also doing pastels for a £1 box. Great if you are doing workshops with kids.
I use Jackson's for buying larger amounts of oil paint that works out cheaper. I also buy big rolls of canvas from them too. So if you wondered why I have a button for them on my blog it's just I think they are quite good to know about. If you have experience of good suppliers do share! I can't find eyes for hanging my paintings in France.  I have tried a couple of DIY shops so far but need to look further a field or learn to make some.

I did try going out earlier. Unfortunately we decided the roads were not as clear as they should be.  Normally the big roads are clear enough. So with a sigh we headed back home. We only have a little silly car. It was snowing still and the journey to Autun, the big nearby town was really not so necessary. We have plenty of food so we shall venture out again later in the week. We are running short of sheep food. Hopefully we shall be o k to fetch food Monday. My sheep that got bitten by hunting dogs still has trouble on her legs. She is unsteady in the snow so I had to move her to a little stall of her own. Otherwise she falls in the slippery snow and can't get back up. 

I feel like the Spring might not be too far away now. I can't wait to be outside again working in the garden and going for walks. We have an owl in the garden. I put my outdoor light on and saw it in the trees last night. I think it must be a Tawny. There is a pair of Haw finches visiting the bird table along with a Merlin. I feel a bit  defeated by winter now. It is hard up here away from the daily business of life. It's so cold sometimes I can barely move away from the stove. Still with fewer distractions I am forced to work on my painting. How is life for you are you happy to be noticing the gradual lengthening of daylight? I am making a sketchbook and because I am coming to the end of some of my paints I have been looking at ordering new supplies. I am actually wondering whether or not to buy some dry pigments to mix my own. Has anyone tried this? I have only ever used dry pigments to paint on walls mixed in with white emulsion.

Tolix Chairs

The article I just found below appeared in the Independent. I googled  Tolix and was surprised to find  these chairs were actually made here in The Morvan. The name Pauchard of which it's designed by is everywhere here.  I often see stools, tables or chairs in the small ads here in France, for substantial amounts of money. Typically 50 Euros for a pair of chairs. I spotted the one above in a local garage. Anyway we have ongoing car adventures. Today we lost a fan belt whilst trying to get to see a Salamandre stove. Luckily we hadn't yet left home and so were able to take another spare car. We have a few crap cars and a lovely van, that's still in the garage waiting for parts. The stove turned out to be badly broken. The back where the chimney flue fits to the collar was really badly smashed so with sadness I walked away. The man selling had forewarned me. He'd put an advert up and only when I rang to inquire he spotted the damage. It was so heavy otherwise I think I may have taken it and we may have used it for a garden feature. We hear more snow is coming so instead of the stove we went to the Cooperative for more sheep nuts. http://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/409449350.htm?ca=5_s 
Here is the link for the stove I nearly bought.

Xavier Pauchard was born in 1880 in Le Morvan, known as the green heart of France. Unsurprisingly wood was the most important construction material but despite that, he and his father and grandfather before him were zinc roofers.

In 1907, Pauchard discovered that he could protect sheet metal from rusting by dipping it in molten zinc, or galvanising it. Ten years later, he set up a factory making steel household items and eventually registered his trademark symbol as Tolix, by which name the company is still known.

That classic chair, a favourite of cafés and retro kitchens all over the world, was designed in 1934. It was meant to be outside in all weathers, which is why there are holes in the seats – to allow the rain to drain off. But café owners were quick to complain that the chairs wouldn't stack properly and Pauchard had to tweak his design. By 1956, the classic Tolix was finally created. With its slimmer frame, you could now stack 25 chairs to a height of 2.3 metres.

They were immediately popular, not just in cafés, where right up until the 1970s they were often given out by breweries in return for the owner stocking their brand, but also in factories, offices and hospitals.

By the end of the 1950s, the factory had about 80 workers and produced some 60,000 units annually. The company remained in the family until 2004. Now, the chair is part of the collections of the MoMA in New York, the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Vitra design collection in Weil am Rhein in Germany.

You can buy them new from the Conran shop for £195 or you can hunt about for a vintage one and prices will vary. The modern ones come in around 50 colours, while the vintage are more classically red or their natural steel colour.

Sir Terence Conran is one of several influential fans of this simple-looking chair, which, nevertheless, takes around 100 manual operations to create. "Over the years, this chair has come to symbolise what I like to term democratic excellence, meaning that it's mass-produced and universally acceptable," he says.

And just as the Panton S chair was famously featured on the cover of Vogue magazine (with Kate Moss wrapped around it, admittedly. Oh, and she was naked), so the Tolix has just reached the dizzy heights of fame featuring in Agent Provocateur's spring-summer 2011 campaign, though it's just possible that some of you might not be looking at the chair.http://www.independent.co.uk/property/interiors/the-secret-history-of-the-tolix-chair-2245307.html

Sommant

Sommant

I was inspired by a Saturday outing along a winding road that brings you to the most amazing landscape. You can see for many miles from a ridge. There are the remains of old volcanoes curving into the distance. The land is speckled by small cottages farms and cattle.  There are outcropping rocks and this day we saw clouds bringing along snow.
I bought a wonderful woodstove today too. It's really rather splendid. I am picking it up this Wednesday so I shall post images.

Sommant, a photo by pink.rust8 on Flickr.

I'm painting the garden and George's shed. I'm working from  photographs as it's far too cold to sit outside. The images below were taken from the car window yesterday. The snow is thawing here and much of the snow is slushy and wet now. There is colour in the landscape but very subtle. Oddly the Beech forests surrounding us are coppery still. Leaves  still on the trees. The grass is in unusually good condition and as the snow melts it's still green. It's startling to see my painting against the images below. I seem to be cranking up the palette. I think I have always been a colourist at heart. I'm more toned down these days but it's often bubbling underneath the surface. I remember being interviewed for a place at St Martins School of Art in London.  My paintings were really bright. We used a lot of Gouache in out art college preparing for a place at University. I tended to use as many colours as possible in all my projects. Colour is very much on my mind through these days where light is low and snow covers the land and trees look so dark. I still see colour everywhere but it's a very different experience.

I just found this image from a article written about 'Assistance Publique' in The Morvan. It's a couple taking in an child who they are being paid to raise. All the peasant farmer's wives were involved in this. The extra money was used to change the roofs from thatched to slate or buy extra land to keep cows. This picture was taken in the village just up from here, Glux En Glenne. Cottages here are tiny the lady who lived across the valley from us had a one bedroomed cottage and had a series of 14 children over the years. Looking after 2 at a time.