Monday, September 15, 2008

I arrived here a week ago, three more weeks to go. Time seems to slip away when I am so absorbed in my work. It is awesome. I took some time off on Saturday and visited a local winery with some of John's cousins, Susan and Rupert from DC and Karen and Tony from Springfield VA. A couple of the wines were lovely and they were plentiful, 17 varieties and the sommelier poured us a taste of each one, (some abstained from tasting each one) a good size portion, no charge! Needless to say we did not visit any other wineries and I took the remainder of the day and evening off.

I showed the cousins around the Sweet Briar College grounds, the VCCA and my studio of course. We had dinner in the dining room and then one of the composers and one of the writers welcomed us into their studios. It was incredibly interesting and I think that everyone left with a sense of this place. I had a great day and I feel honoured that John’s cousins took the time to visit me.

I'm in the company of some amazing people from across the US, from Ireland and from Malta. I'm working long days, painting 12 to 14 hours a day and it is blissful! I am exhausted but it is a good exhaustion. I get out of the studio most afternoons for a swim in the lake with some of the other fellows. Other than that I have been walking the forest trails on the VCCA grounds and doing some yoga. Nevertheless I think that I’m gaining as Rhonda, the new chef is a top notch gourmet cook. We had Indian food last night and it was every bit as good as Vij's.

We have some evening events to look forward to this week, Joelle, one of the composers will play some of her music tomorrow evening, there is a studio dedication and poetry reading on Tuesday and a dinner for guests from the neighbouring golf club on Wednesday. Some of us will open our studios that evening for any of the guests who are interested. There is never a dull moment here.