French Residency

I was delighted to be accepted to take part in a week long painting residency -Hambly and Hambly French Residency -  in the beautiful village of Dampierre sur Boutonne. I can't believe its been 3 weeks already since we got back !!

We arrived as 3 vaguely human shaped puddles on a Tuesday in 42 degree heat !! But our fabulous Host Ciara Hambly had the cocktails ready in the shade and that set the tone for the week !

Luckily our art supplies arrived in good shape and we did our best over the next few days to paint in the shade of the enormous stone barn, between dips in the pool to try cool down.

When the weather cooled down to a balmy 35 degrees we did a bit of wandering around the local chateau and the village and got plenty of inspiration from the beautiful French countryside. The colours were totally different from Ireland and inspired a very different pallette in my sketches.

As a perk of the residency, we were given an hour mentoring session with Áosdana member Eamon Coleman. His insight to  my work was invaluable and will undoubtably have an impact on my work going forward.

I can't praise our marvellous hostess Ciara enough for looking after us so well and cooking up a storm in the sweltering heat ! The food was absolutely gorgeous and the cocktails were equally scrumptious. The ambiance during the week was like visiting an old friend - we had evenings full of laughter and brilliant conversations !  I am missing it already and have applied to return next year!

Au revoir et a bientót