Painting by Johanna Spinks
As some of you may already know I used to live in France. To cut a long story short I returned home to my city of Dublin about a year ago. I love being home. I have not once thought about moving again, not for an instant. I feel that I have gained this permanent root that was always there yes but only truly felt & appreciated and lived after I had left it to live in other parts of the world. I loved living in London also . My daughter was born there. But France namely Dinan was a wonderful place to live & to experience. Anyway, I lived in a little 'nest' over there. I called it a nset because it reminded me of a bird's cosy nest high & safe on top of a tree. A Pink House Top. It is medieval & adorable although tiny in size it's huge in character. Original shutters & beams etc. Dinan is an arty place packed full with artisans & appreciations. It is a small city built within medieval castle walls. My little pink house is also within the ramparts.
Through blogging I met a wonderful person. An artist. A classical portraiture artist. Highly regarded as a master of her art. She has been featured in The New York Times & one of her many affiliations is CA State Abassador to The Portrait Society of America . Johanna Spinks.
Johanna had commented on my post about Dinan. On my post I had loaded up a pic of the pink house. She told me that she was from California & that she was about to travel to France -to Dinan! She was invited there by Les Amis de la Grande Vigne to stay in an artists' dwelling to paint to her heart's content & then to have one of her paintings chosen to be added to the gallery wall. I'm not surprised as she has that old masters' style ,rich in depth . She really gets to know a face prior to & during painting and has the ability to paint a person's 'being'. She has told me that she is a 'slow' painter. And evidently that is the way it SHOULD be as in reality it IS slow to get to know a person & her paintings show this clearly. As I followed her blog it was as though I was there! It was a funny read , a charming read and at times a little sad especially when she kissed her Husband goodbye after the first week there (I'm not telling you any more -visit her blog!) I knew the streets & buildings that she painted & understood her frustrations and delights. We emailed during her time there & then on one blog she mentioned that the only thing she wished to paint (at that time during her four week stay) was my little pink house! Then she emailed me again & when I opened the attachment there it was- a perfect painting of My Little Pink House! . WOW !How cool is that? I was- I AM chuffed! I squealed with delight lifting up my laptop to show whoever was there! She KNEW I'd feel like that too! Imagine-she saw my house from America on my blog,flew to France and sat in front of it whilst she painted it & whilst I was in Ireland!! Anyway her blogging for that period has been compressed into one jam packed well written engaging post. You'll enjoy I'm sure. So here is the painting of my Little Pink House by Johanna Spinks.
Thankyou Johanna x
