Open Studio Event is almost upon us

The marquee is up and the ground floor has been transformed this weekend. If you had seen it on Saturday morning you might have wondered if we were moving house! The place was covered in all sorts, paintings of various shapes and sizes, art materials, a box of Terry's jigsaw puzzles of the village, watercolour paper, books and brushes of all shapes and sizes.
It seemed like total chaos but it will all come together and look wonderful by Wednesday morning. I still had time to put on my pinny (that's what we call an apron in the NE of England) bake a red pepper with chili and goats cheese tart and a cheesecake on Saturday morning (Terry's favourite)

Sunday morning and I was listening to 'The Archers' on the Radio (for those of you outside of the UK this is a long running soap about country folk in the fictitious village of Ambridge.... somewhere near us here in the UK) and sorting out a few paintings, when a man in a Scottish kilt (a tartan skirt) appeared in my garden tapping on the glass door. It was not a sight I had expected and indeed once over the shock, it soon transpired that this was our first arrival for the Open Studio Event! Hooray.... although a week early. (you couldn't make this up)



this is the entrance

The Tourist Information centre (also here in Victoria Street, but around the corner) are bracing themselves for lost painters looking for our event. You might think that we should put posters up in the village, well on the face of it, that sounds like a good idea, we did it once and I vowed never again. Bourton on the Water is a bit of a visitor attraction, and the 'year of the posters' we attracted all sorts of curious people, one woman brought her two children into our front room, sat them on my carpet with cans of coke and crisps for a picnic! Can you imagine?
Then we had a group led by a lady who obviously thought it was a great opportunity to tell her friends what the property was like 30 years ago so she did a guided tour around us, like we didn't exist!
This year there will be yellow bunting over the door and a sign saying Fiona Peart and Terry Harrison, please don't expect it to say OPEN STUDIO or it will be OPEN to every man and his dog.
We hope to see lots of artists, would-be painters and people we have met over the years, you are all welcome..... but please don't bring a picnic!
For details of timings etc please look at the NEWS page on my website where you can also print a map of where to find us in the village, or pop into the Tourist Information centre.... they are expecting you!