Gifts

My dear Friends

Every year the Cambridge artists open their studios to the general public. They started two weeks ago and I have been amazed at how God has showered them with gifts, all of which are unique.

I started on the South of the city, in a street lined with beautiful trees. The first artist I came across was Jane, who does striking still life, landscape and animal paintings in in a highly original style, combining Chinese painting methods with Western influences. I was very struck by a painting of Loch Rannoch, at the entry to the Scottish Highlands. I ascended to the first floor, and Jane's studio, and sar for a while in a lareg wicker chair.

Quite a contrast when I went on to Heloise! She is a young painter and paints bold and quite radical portraits, one of a handsome black young man. She also had two paintings which I could have sworn were Pre-Raphaelite-the style was almost identical. Heloise has four sisters and her mother was in the house, which has a quite definite feel of the turn of the twentieth century. Heloise's nudes were good too and lined the wall on the staircase leading up to the first floor.

Round the corner was Eithne(I suspect her name is Gaelic, although she sounds English) and some beautiful abstract paintings. The one I liked the best was of the standing stones on the isle of Harris in the Hebrides. Drawn from photos, it was nonetheless authentic and the dark red colur of the stones was striking.

It was nice to receive hospitality from these artists and to glimpse a little of their artistic life.

More later!
Sister Gila