The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has it’s own reason for existing… Albert Einstein

The sound of a howling wind woke me early this morning. It was blowing a gale out there.. I snuggled back down for a while and when I got up, the wind had stopped but it was raining and cool. Heading down for my first cup of tea, I was there by myself for a while before anyone else joined me. I assume Tania had been up before me as the kettle was hot and the coffee urn was on. She is the earliest riser of all of us.

I sat down in the kitchen, enjoying the hot cuppa and the snug kitchen when it was so miserable outside. By the time the boulangerie goodies had arrived (one of our favourite times of the day), I turned around to the door to see that there were blue skies again. Not that they lasted, but I think the French weather was having an identity crisis today. Fine by me. I wanted to just knuckle down and get some editing done.

So what do you do when you are determined to get some editing done? Oh that’s right, you make a second cup of tea, then a third. You join in conversation with the first sitting breakfast partakers, then when the next lot come, you stay and chat to them. In for a penny, in for a pound, might as well stay and talk to the third shift too.

I was concerned about Beth with her knee so I went to check on her and she was a lot better, though her knee is still giving her grief, just not as badly as last night. So when she got up I stayed and chatted to her too. By that time, the early lunch brigade had come in, having breakfasted ages ago, so, you guessed it… I had an early lunch. By that time, I was determined to start work which I did.

Once I started, I knuckled down big time and finished the second of the series that I’m doing. I had already pinned a time down for Monica to model for me later in the afternoon, so I worked through until that time. I’m having some difficulty editing the images as I’m used to my big pc and monitor. A laptop just doesn’t cut it for me. It’s annoying me big time. But I am a composite artist first and foremost so I have at least been able to put them together to a good standard, but proper colour grading and jooshing them up will have to wait until I’m home again.

After that, it was time to shoot Monica (with a camera of course) and I got her in the place I wanted her and then realised I’d left my flash in my room. Okay, doesn’t sound like a big deal does it? Except that we were on the second floor on one side of the chateau, so I had to go back down to the first floor, then down into the kitchen, and up again into the pool room and then back up to the second floor to my room in a different wing. Then back down our stairs, and down into the kitchen, back up to the first floor and then up to the second floor in the other wing.

By the time I got up there again I was wrecked. Thankfully though, she was relaxed as I am not quick on those stairs. It honestly only took about five minutes to do the shoot though, as I knew exactly what I wanted and she was a natural as they have all been so far. All done I had to wander back downstairs again.. Sigh.. It will be worth it for the image though. I know exactly what I am doing with it.

I sat back down at the table where I’d been working, as much to get my breath back than anything, and started editing a new image, this time of Shohreh, who has fallen in love with the canola fields that surround the countryside. I really got into the swing of it and I really only looked up when people started coming in just before dinner. So I packed everything up just in time for the dinner reveal.

Every night, Chef Gary tells us what he’s prepared for our gastronomic feast. He really doesn’t need to as we get the deliciousness wafting through the kitchens, and as dinner gets closer, we have all asked him individually what he’s cooking. He is so patient with us and answers all our questions. Which is just as well. Because…. well Cate!

Cate has taken it upon herself to be the asker of questions to Gary. Everything from his life, his thoughts and of course, his recipes. I can often hear the lively conversations out there and although I can’t hear what they are saying thanks to thick stone walls, I can hear the laughter and the intensity of the questions and answers. I think she has missed her calling and needs to be a hard hitting journalist. She would get the answers we need, that’s for sure. No dancing carefully around questions for her. Ask and keep asking until you get the answers lol. I can feel sorry for Gary though I think he loves it, but God I love Cate’s mind. Always curious. And that is such an important part of life, curiousity. It didn’t kill the cat, it made it smarter.

So anyway, back to food as it always is here. Tonight’s meal was beef bourguignon with egg noodles, caprese salad and beans almondine as well as mushrooms. Every night we say it was the best meal we’ve had so far and we genuinely mean it. There hasn’t been a meal we haven’t liked. For dessert tonight, we had a dish with homemade lemon curd, cream and fruit. It was divine.

I reminded Gary that I had the best bernaise sauce I had ever tasted last night, so, as I expected he accepted the challenge and is going to make it for me tomorrow. He says the one I had last night will pale into comparison. Oh God I hope so. Coz if he can top that, I will be in gastronomic heaven. After much hilarity at the table, we had one of David’s probing questions.

Tonight was what emotion or response we are aiming for our audience to feel. I’m sure I’ve said it wrong but it was along those lines. My answer to that was I wanted people to feel the absolute peace of mind I am experiencing here. I am more comfortable in my own skin here, not worried about how I look to others. I’m happy to wander down to breakfast in pyjamas looking like I’ve been dragged through the brush backwards, and know there will be no judgement. The everyday worries of home are still at home. Here everything feels in place.

Many years ago, I applied for a residency at Bundanon and got it. That was one of the answers I gave to a question when I applied. How will this residency help you? My answer was I could just concentrate on what I was doing, not whether the dishes needed doing or if it was going to rain before I got the clothes in. Or what was for dinner that night and did I need to go shopping for said dinner. Those are the everyday distractions that often stop us for having the freedom to create. And this is definitely what I’ve found here.. freedom to create.

I haven’t been as productive as so many others but I have an arsenal of images to work on when I get home. I have so many photo assets to use in my composite work. And I have been forward planning with some of the others on future projects.

I didn’t expect to feel so motivated but I am.. Both by the beauty around me and the people I’m sharing this time with. I knew it would be special but this is next level. When you are around like minded people, suddenly the ideas start to flow and projects beg to be brought to life. There is also a very chilled atmosphere here. Create, don’t create. It doesn’t matter. If all I walked away with was this sense of relaxation and calm, this has all been worth it. But I will be leaving here with so much more including a new series of work. What a blessing!

I don’t want to share those images yet. As I said earlier, they aren’t completed to where I would want them due to not having my usual equipment with me and that’s fine. I’m sure they will also change a bit as I redo them at home. They are a work in progress right now. More photoshoots tomorrow and though I might not get eall the images edited here, they will be once I’m home.

For now it’s time to shower and get into bed. I can’t believe we only have 2 full days left of this experience and it is sad but I’m sure we can all pack a lot into those 2 days.. Lots of art, lots of food, lots of wine and lots of questions if Cate has her way which I suspect she will lol. So I need my beauty sleep if I’m going to achieve all those things.

Happy questioning… Livvy xxx