I saw Belgium, I saw France... ;)))

Ahhh, it's good to be home!  Don't get me wrong.  I loved every minute of my time in Belgium and France, but as much fun as it was sleeping in a castle, shooting photos of Lucie the mouse, playing Pokemon and dinosaurs with small boys...

Soren and Kai got crafty with me. 

...exploring the markets, sampling the foods, and learning from and with a classroom full of accomplished artists, it always feels good to come back to the quiet, calm comfort of my own Belle Amie.  House and yard were well tended in my absence, thanks to some precious friends.

The copper cooling rivulet makes walking side-by-side a bit tricky on the streets of Durfort.

 Over the next couple of weeks, I plan to post links to some of those artists I met in Dayle Doroshow's class.  It was held in the little town of Durfort, France, an hour's drive from Toulouse, and I got lots of photos of  quirky old buildings, crumbly old shutters, intricate iron balconies...

...and gorgeous door knockers.  The whole trip was an artist's eye candy overload, and I know my Europe murals will be much enriched by having experienced the scenery myself.

I'll also show you some highlights of Lucie's adventures, both in Belgium and France.

She was much admired in her fancy robes.  I, on the other hand, was looked at like a slightly crazy tourist (shooting photos from a mouse's perspective involves a lot of inelegant belly crawling).

Okay, so the postmistress wasn't all that into it.  Still, a few badly pronounced words and hand gestures, explaining it was for a children's book, got me friendly cooperation most places, though I admit I chickened out on asking a rather serious monk to pose with her.  I still regret that one.

Lots to share from that, while I get back into the swing of painting walls and publishing the bookazine.  Speaking of that, did you see the summer issue, yet?  You can order it in print or PDF at 365being.com, single issue or subscription.