Poets, painters and puddings. These three things make the world as it ought to be.

Virginia Creaper and Geraniums

To see more of my water colours and paintings click here

To view my christmas cards click here

This is for sale for 180 euros it is 26cm x 18 cm and is water colour on Arches Paper, to find out more you can email me on

tessart@tessabaker.com

This little one is called Vines through the Sunset and is 11 cm x 16 cm and you can buy it for 100 euros.

What do I love doing more than anything else in the world. Well more than anything else in the world, I love painting then I love writing, I love to see the beauty in everything if I possible can. So then why do I keep doing things I don't want to do, is it pure beligerence or just down and out fear that I may succeed.

Anyway my lovley friend Kristy whose blog is called French Word A Day keeps suggesting to me that I should advertise the books I like on Amazon on my blog, and that I should do the painting a day gig that quite a few artists are doing and are doing well at it. She suggested this two years ago, I thought about it, tried setting it up and then stopped. I kept thinking I need the big money coming in to keep me going, but I have been learning that in a way it is better if it comes in more constantly then it doesn't matter if it is in small amounts, so I am going to have another try at really makeing this blog work for me and sell more paintings over the web.

Yesterday I sat in front of our old pink farmhouse, dogs at my feet, sun shining, bees buzzing, feeling full of the love of life and painted for several hours, enjoying every little movement of water and colour on the page, and how one tiny drop of colour reacts to another when they meet, they can either repel each other and move apart of the mingle and fuse together, I always feel when I paint watercolours that I have no control over the outcome that the water, the paint and the paper are what makes the picture, and I am the lucky person that can see it all unfold. Of course it often doesn't work and there is one glorious mess, but that is life, and if I could only accept what happens in life as I accept the painting, I know i would be less angry and nicer to be around.

So love to you all and peace to the world.

They Say

Kiss Fish Cards are still for Sale, Get your's now before they run out!!!! Click here to order.

Sisters are doin' it for themselves, who was that now, Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin, I cannot quite remember, I know it was Gloria Gaynor who sang it's raining men Hallelyhah, and I would not quite agree with the Hallelujah , especially when they make such a terrible mess about the place. Anyway a have digressed before I have started. so I shall begin again.

Above is the view of our house and all you can really see is the gold of the virginia creeper on the side of the house reflecting todays suns bright light, which brings hope to my gloomy thoughts and reminds me of my sisters, not just my blood sisters of which there are many, but all my great girlfriends who offer support and love when times are hard. I think times are hard for a good many of us at the moment, and when I am feeling the poor me's I need to remember all the important things that put it all into perspective. I have a roof over my head, I have food in the fridge, I have a car with petrol in it, I have wood in the fire keeping me warm, I have a man who loves me and who I love, I have chickens that lay eggs and make dreadful noises all day, but who I love dearly because they really are quite eccentric birds. I have four of the best sister's  or five if I pop my dear friends Alison in there as well, which I usually do,in the world who I love with more love than I have words to describe, I live in a pocket of paradise, and even though financially times are hard, I must look on the bright side of life because things could be a great deal worse.

I keep reminding myself of what I can do to make things better for the world we live in. When I have sold my cards I shall be sending a percentage to WaterAid. I can pray for a better world and put kind gentle thoughts out there instead of angry ones. I can pray for love and have Faith and beleive in God and trust the process, however strahge the process may seem.

So today is a day to send everyone including all of you who read this, loads of love and happy thoughts, and with that in mind here are two glowing photographs, of our walk this morning.

Where on earth am I

So more than a week is over, the exhibition has become a dream of the past, I have painted, printed and sold over 90 Christmas Cards, Father Fish Christmas is busy delivering his deep sea consignment to the red hot kissy fish, Jack is here on half term holiday and so is David's family, halloween is about to happen, we are painting bats, and vampires and cutting out pumpkins and hastily trying to make a great halloween for Jack, whose buddies in England are all having a great time on mass as they are going to invade a village, twenty of them, trick a treating, and we won't be able to do that here, because the french don't do it, so we have to try and make up for a small boys dissapointment.

This week has been a hard week for many reasons, and worry distroy's my creative mind, I am no sure how proffessional writers keep going when there minds have literally let them down and decided that they are going to play a different game today, a game of obsession, of ceaseless worry, and unrealistic projection, a destructive holocaust of reasonable thought, blown into millions of anxious atoms, unable to communicate with one another and pull out one sensible sentance. That is where I am today, hopefully tomorrow will be better.

An Exhibition coming very soon

I am having a small watercolour exhbition at the Chateau Grand Cros on October 18th 2008 at 6pm to view more of my art please click here

The chateau is on the D13, between Carnoules and Besse-sur-Isolle in the Var their number is

tel:04 94 01 80 08 their website is

www.grandcros.fr

From the Living-Room Door

                                    

My Neice Kim Sherwood, wrote this beautiful Poem for David and I, so I would like to share it with all of you.

From the Living-room Door

                           The sea filled the sky, deep turtle blue,

                      And the trees shook with the merest breeze.

                      Sun brown leaves rattles peaceably,

                      Distributing their shadows-soft-skittering shadows-

                      As harsh, beautiful grasses made their song.

                      Love, made in warm moments, glittered

                      And burned in the hearth.

                      I stood amongst them, stones of peace,

                      Stones of peace, and watched,

                      Stirred only by a wind of safety

                      That moved me to blue still mountains,

                      And soldered resting symmetries,

                      For I was in the presence of warmth,

                      And stood before love.

Well as you can imagine I was a waterfall of tears and brimming emotions, I had not heard it before the actual blessing, and on hearing Kim's Poem we were blessed indeed.

I have a bit of catching up to do what with Rome and England, but now I am at home and things are begining to get back into a rythym I hope that I will be able to concentrate more on my blog in the coming weeks.

tara

Time flies

The sunset over Sospel, we did finally find somewhere to stay and I finally am back at the blog. Jack was quite disconsulate that we had not found a camping ground, and the fact that the veiws were spectacular did not console him, the dogs distracted him for a while and so did the food, what was keeping him going was the fact that he was going to the Maginot Line the next day. We slept really well that night, sad that the end of two wonderful days were almost over. Breakfast and a clean up and on we go to Sainte Anges, I think you all know about Sainte Agnes, or at least I think you do, that is where I used to live and I was as excited to go there as Jack was to learn about the war and see 24 kilometers of tunnel. We got there just before 12 and I booked in for lunch. David tired slept on a bench and Jack and I walked to the top of the small 800 meter high mountain to look at the old fort ruins dating back to 300 AD and even sometime before Christ. The sun shone, we wnt for lunch and a huge cloud circled around the tip of the mountain and we were engulfed in a foggy moisture whilst we ate. I had promised Jack pancakes at my friend Jean-Claudes pancake place, I really don't know how he fitted it in after demolishing a plate of steak and chips. He did.

The veiw down to Menton from St Agnes, the tunnel opened at 2.30, Jack was almost could not wait, he was over the moon when we got in he could not beleive his eyes, we saw a video of how th emen lived in the tunnel, the hospital the rooms the latrines, the command rooms, all so dark and dfamp, how did they live in there I don't know, the guns, real life guns in the same place they had been when they where fired at the enemy. I was glad Jack was happy, but I felt so sad.

Yesterday september 21st was Peace One Day, day, a resolution by the UN that the 21st of September should be a world wide day of peace. I didn't even know about it until I decided to watch a documentary that was on tv the other night, sadly there is very little about it in the newspaper, the young man whose name I cannot remember but I will find it  out was inspirational an gave me so much hope for our world. so watch this space.

There is so much to tell you about as life flies by, I am glad to be home and glad getting back into what feels like my other life, the winter life. A demain.

From Nice to Rome and just another day

So where was I with our little story, picknicking in Italy, which is where funnily enough we are off today, David and I, we are five hours late, we missed our plane by one minute, there had been a huge traffic jam on the motorway, an articulated lorry had turned over and spilt its contents all over the road, so here I am sitting and waiting in the airport whilst David is in Nice, I could not bear anymore excitement or rushing around, I thought I was going to have a minor heart failure as we drove to the airport like the clappers, I thought we were going to be the next accident on the road and would be the cause of the next traffic jam, luckily we were not.

So there we were in the van, Jack, Tess, David and his dogs, we had such a nice picnic and now we were off down the otherside of the mountains, down down down round round round, now we knew why all the French stayed on the French side and came no further than the Col de Lombard, the road was very tricky and steep and I was glad David does not like my driving and was doing it all himself. Down and down we went and we stopped for a rest in a layby on the side of the weeny road and looked down and there we saw this beautiful scene, Jack and I determined that we would swim no matter what that day, put on our bathers, david rather more sensible at this moment, stayed in his shorts, that water was icy icy cold but felt fantastic on my skin, Jack played with sticks, I watched butterflies and David watched us both.

Time to move on and find a place to sleep for the night. We drove and drove and drove, we went through the long tunnel whose name I cannot remember, we drove into France, we needed to find somewhere for the night, I was driving and feeling terribly responsible for the people in the van, I missed the turning for our camping spot I did nto turn back I was nervous, I was aggitated , I messed up, I was feeling like shit. I suddenly stopped and told David he could drive, he did thank god and I calmed down, we did find a nice spot it wasn't by the water which we all wanted, but it was pretty beautiful ( time to check in)

Col de Lombard

Two hot chocolates and a coffee later, we went all five of us to the Cold de Lombard, which is extreme in it's beauty, bunkers left over from the maginot line, are scattered here and Jack came equiped with a torch to explore the last world war's bunkers, where soldiers lay in wait for the Germans to come, Italy just over the border, I must say I don't care to think of war or the history of it, Jack was leaping about saying that he was learning more here in one hour than he could learn at school in a whole year, he is fascinated by war. We explored the claustrophic bunkers, whose bare concrete inside's smell predomonatley of sheep shit and the occasssional strong sickly smell of human urine. I was exploding within the tightness of being, I was exploding within the chaos and misery of ancient memories, I was exploding with the lack of air, I ran with the dogs to be outside, I ran up the hill to fill my lungs with fresh air. Why oh why do we fight?

For Jack, this was his best day ever, he was over the moon, under the stars and around the world and back, being with this kind of happiness can eliminate fretful thoughts, as long as I allow my self to participate and mingle with the joy of an innocent child.

Jack and David and not forgetting the dogs at the frontier, one minute you are surrounded by french people, two strides and a second late we are surrounded by Italiens and amazing looking cows Peidmont, were they french or italian, I could not quite work out their accents. It was already time for lunch, I couldn't wait to lie in the sun by a lake and snooze and eat and soak it all in.

                                  

What did we have lunch? I cannot remember, I just remember thinking of all the people in the world who don't have anything, who live in high rise appartments that have small concrete area's to play in and crowed schools, people who cannot afford to eat, peole who are starving, people in war torn countries, and thinking I must be one of the luckiest women alive, we were basking in the heaven of being now, lying on the grass, listening to people laughing and joking, children playing in the water. Jack and I painted, he painted a wonderful water colour, which will go up in the family gallery at his family home in Ireland. Peace enveloped us, I have an inkling that peace even tickled us into the most serene happiness I think I can rmember having for a very long time.

Now it was time to pack up lunch and move on through Italy to find a camp for the night.

High Time Too

We seem to go on our August trip, just the three of us and the dogs, at the time of the full moon. How excited we were to go off in Neffetiti, slight trepidation on my part, camping with David and Jack and two dogs was a new experience for me and I wondered how I would manage to sleep, the three of us in one tent.

We set of early in the morning, I was working at lunch time, and Jack and David were invited to join in the lunch, lucky them, after a splendid provencale buffet, and the kitchen all cleaned up, we left a cheery lot in the van, Jack chattering eagerly about paint balling with Helen's two sons next year, and how he wouldn't mind shooting a lot of paint ball bullets and how he wouldn't mind being shot at a lot, it defies belief, I am sure I will never understand the unequiveacable desire hurt and or maim and or kill, that comes so naturally to most young boys.

So quickly I started to to sing camper van songs, which got us all going, David put the Blues Brothers tape on and happily we sang along to Rawhide and other absurd songs. The journey was not too long, winding and extraordinary scenery up the Var Valley, twisting turning, overhanging rocks, mountains unfolding, immense, so handsome and strong and peaceful, almost guiding us, nurturing us, holding us on our trip. Around seven pm we started to tire, we were almost at Isola, where David and Jack go skiing every Febuary, they had promised themselves they would visit the snow covered mountains in the summer and cross over to Italy via the col to Lombard, which is at the top of one of their favourite ski slopes.  There were not many people on the road and dusk had started to fall, there was a beautiful river and pcinic area to the left of the road, this is where we dedided to stop, over and old bridge, along a pebbled lane and hiding between tow hills, we parked the van and found a flat spot for our tent.

Heaven, we were in heaven, the last of the picnickers left, we were on our own in this small river valley, flowers every where, dog heaven, human heaven, cool night breezes, a happy Jack hitting rocks with sticks and climping up hills to be the King of the Castle, whilst the dirty rascles set up camp and made the dinner. I cannot rmember what we ate, was it roast chicken and potatoes, I think it may have been.

Jack said to me, 'Tess, I don't know quite what it is, but I feel so free, I just feel so free and I don't know why' Jack is nine, I suggested, that it may be because we had decided to go with no particular plan except to go to Isola and the Col de Lombard and to go to Italy, other that that we were free to do as we wanted for two and a half days, I always feel a sense of freedom when I go away in the van, no phone, no computor, no responsibilty for anyone other than myself, of course with three of you and two dogs we were all responsbile for each other, but I felt so happy that Jack could feel and express so clearly this wonderful sense of being free, which I beleive is very close to feeling bliss and a sense of enlightment.

Happy dogs, do you know I slept like a log on that hard ground, Jack in between David and I and the dogs in the van. Waking up to the mountain morning smells, the goats in the hills, the stream softly splashing the rocks as she went by, Jack in his element, we had a nice breakfast, David washed up in the stream, we put everything away, collected other peoples rubbish and wwnt to Isola itself for a second breakfast, not very nice there in the village either in winter or in summer I could not wait to get out and got to the Col de Lombard.

A day out on chips

Well I am not sure where to begin, perhaps with the sun is shining and it is a beautiful day, the weekend I was dreading is over, and I can look ahead now for the next few weeks with a mind less anxious and occupied with, which fridge will hold what wine, which fridge will hold what food and where everything will go. What on earth is she talking about I hear you say, and what on earth has it got to do with that beautiful tranquil photo of the sea and rocks, well, the sea and rocks was a wonderful day off with Alison and David, out on our little boat Chips,  no dogs, yippee, a great picnic made by my pal and an entire day in the sun beach hopping on one of the Porquerolles Islands, south of Saint Tropez. The reason I put the photo on is because that was my last day until today of reasonable calm.

I catered for a big party this weekend, huge party this weekend. Friday night formal dinner for 44 people, canopes, champagne etc, and 110 the following night. Over three days I worked 48 hours, which is quite a bit in a short space of time and yesterday I slept nearly all day. I feel as though my 51st year has been filled with bit parties. My fiftieth, my wedding and this party, only three, but three is quite enough.

We snorkled it was pretty, and now I must get on with my day.