Painting Again - South of France

After a short break, I have started doing some more painting, the challenge I have is finding a subject that says something to me - not just a nice picture, so have been going though all my reference pics and sketches - this is the first in a new series.
This is a view I saw when on holiday in France, an image that that gives you a peek at life behind the walls in a small french village, still needs a bit of polishing, almost there...

A Short Note

We have been incredibly busy since the Greek Odyssey, with the Barn section of the house being converted into guest accommodation.
It's working well with bookings  almost every weekend since listing on a website called Bookabatch - it's absolutely brilliant with a calender showing when we are available, if you are ever looking for places to stay in New Zealand this is the site to look at. http://www.bookabatch.co.nz

Greek Odyssey 2014

It was all a bit of a 'Spur of the moment' adventure but after a text message to Mrs DIY, from a friend suggesting that "why don't we go to Greece and charter a yacht", after some very fast organisation and five weeks later we had left the New Zealands winter behind, and were climbing aboard a sailing boat in the port of Laverion (Athens, Greece) headed for the islands of the Cyclades.

Mikonos

I was going to put a lot of pictures of our fantastic holiday but after looking through the selection all I could find were pictures of sailing, sunsets, lots of blue and white houses and 4 people eating and drinking and generally enjoying themselves.
So I have only posted a few that covers one of the best holidays we've ever had.

Washing Day!

You get to Know the Greek Waters Pilot very well

The Joy of an Autopilot

The Greek Wine was Great

Mrs DIY arriving in port just before us, but Wet!

The wind was really good, even had some 30-40 knot winds which made the sailing fun, the temperature was around 30C and the water very warm, even went swimming.
Would we go again? yes!

Time just Flashes Bye

Were did the last four months go?
One day it was summer and now it's turned to winter.
The good bit is that I have been able to get the boats heating system working and have found the pesky leak that was filling the bilges with water every time it rained, so now we have a dry boat.
The gallery sales have been very slow, but steady, I will just have to get used to the fact that I will never make any $$$s out of painting pictures.
Charlie the dog has grown  and is almost full size, with his coat now covered in black spots, we had a dog trainer come around to sort out some training problems (mine) after 2 hours of intensive work both Charlie and I were totally exhausted.
The training has worked and now we, have an understanding that I'm the leader, well sometimes...

A Quick update on the Wairarapa Earthquake

• Public Id: 2014p051675
• NZDT: Monday, January 20 2014 at 3:52:45 pm
• Wellington and Marlborough region intensity : severe
• Maximum intensity : severe
• Depth: 33 km
• Magnitude: 6.2
• Location: 15 km east of Eketahuna

Martinborugh the place we live is in the South Wairarapa not far from the epicentre of the quake described above.
We were standing outside discussing when we should take the dog for a walk when the ground started to move and our cars began to rock quite violently on their suspensions
Our little dog (Charlie) came racing around the corner and tried to hide behind us.
Although the quake was quite severe no damage was done to the house, nothing had fallen off the walls etc
So carried on and took the dog for a walk..

Charlie

Promise this will be the last doggy picture!!!
He's great company, the big question is, how does such a little dog hold so much Peee...

Our New Family Member

Charlie

After telling everyone that I was never, never, ever, ever, going to get another dog, well we now have one, a Springer Spaniel, 7 weeks old, he arrives next week.
This has introduced me to a number of tasks, which are to puppy proof the section, build a dog run etc.
You can expect to see a few more puppy pictures...

It was a very  busy Thursday with the decision the get Charlie, that's the pups new name, and someone coming in to see my paintings and even buying one, which was great.

The painting was one of Kitchener St., Martinborough, which was one of my favourites so now its painting, painting as the walls have become a little bare with the 4th painting plus the commission selling in the last 6 weeks.

Painting Commission

 

At last I've finished my painting commission of a team of Clydesdale horses working at a local Gladstone farm, a bit of a challenge, it has been the first time I've painted a horse.

Quite pleased with the results, so I'm going to do a series, there's plenty of reference around Martinborough, with a local stables and horse paddocks just down the road.(painting size760 x 600)

The Americas Cup

They say it's not over till the fat lady sings, well, at this moment she's in the taxi on the way to the theatre...

Tower Health Insurance - Now nib

After being with our health insurance provider - Tower for about 30 years, yesterday I received a letter informing me that Tower Health had been purchased by some Australian company and as a result due to various increase in claims in NZ and the profile of my age group, blah, Increase benifits, blah, justification, justification, platitudes, blah, they, nib have had to increase our monthly premium by a modest 150%!!!! that means we will now be paying over $10,000 per year for a medical only policy.
There were a number of reactions that raced through my mind, one was to do with sex and travel.