Never let anyone tell you that time with friends is time wasted…. Livonne

Waking up this morning and realising this was the last full day at the chateau was hard, let me tell you. I slept in a bit later today and had to drag myself downstairs to have my first cup of tea. When the boulangerie goodies came, I savoured that baguette like you wouldn’t believe, knowing it was the last of them here. We will have to leave early tomorrow so will have breakfast in Les Mans while we wait for our trains.

I sat way too long over breakfast again, but I knew this was our last chance to savour the morning. Eventually I got up and started doing a few things. In order to write a blog post about my amazing fellow artists, I did a brief interview with some of them. As I walked around the chateau talking to them, I took lots of photos around the place so I could use them in upcoming images.. And this place is so full of goodies to use. Beautiful art pieces, vases, cupboards, chairs.. everything is exquisite, so my camera got used a lot.

When I was doing a photoshoot with Monica the other day, I noticed that one of the bathrooms here had the most elaborate shower curtain I had ever seen and I knew I wanted to use it. So today, I took it down and wrapped it around Cate and did another photoshoot. I can’t wait to start editing them, but I’m not even going to try anymore with the laptop as it’s just not good enough to edit on. I only have one week of this trip left so there will be time soon enough to do the rest.

A few of us then decided that since the chateau and this particular part of France had put on such a beautiful day for us, we would sit outside and have a glass of bubbles. It was so beautiful out there but eventually got a bit hot, so we headed to the other side of the chateau instead. Armed with glasses of bubbles, cheeses, nuts, salami and every goodie you could think of, we settled in for a while. I had another photoshoot planned that afternoon in that spot anyway, so it worked out perfectly and I had another great shoot. I am so blessed to not only be surrounded by these beautiful people but they are happy to model for me. I can’t ask for more than that.

It started to get a bit cold outside as the afternoon wore on, so we went into the ‘good’ room that we haven’t really used yet. It would probably have been called a parlour back in the day and it is so full of precious antiquities and pieces that I could lose myself in there. We sat around and just chatted and made the most of our last afternoon all together. I mean, we can all talk, there’s no doubt about that. But we also listen. We are running out of time to learn more about each other and it’s what we want to do.

Too soon and it was dinner time. I say too soon as the day is flying by and we are all acutely aware of the fact that this is it. This will be our last night here this visit. We allwant to come back, that’s for sure. We made our way to the dining room and Gary described the meal. We had duck with an orange sauce (oh I will miss Gary’s meals), a rice dish, salad and vegetables. Everyday he prepares the most delicious morsels for us to delight our tastebuds and satisfy our souls. I need to win lotto so I can hire a Gary to cook for me every night lol.

After dinner, and with the daylight slipping away, we made our way out to the back garden to have some photos taken. David is a photographer and it was great having him take the photos of us as a group but to join in the group shot too. David has organised these residencies and we are all so thankful and grateful that he has. It has been life changing and certainly life affirming. I think we are all walking away from here with a new found sense of ourselves as artists. He believes in the vision of artists coming together to share and be inspired by each other and that has certainly proven true with us and I’m sure all the otherh groups who come here. I would highly recommend it for anyone who is looking to stengthen or renew their passion in any kind of art.

We then went up to the loft studio to see a presentation that Lauri had done for us. Lauri is a choreographer who has joined us for the residency before moving onto another part of France to do a public choreography piece. I will tell you more about her when I do the blog pieces on the other artists here. I know I said I’d do it today but you know what? Spending the last of my time here with my new friends felt more urgent today and I can write about them through the week. But for now, I need sleep. My suitcase is packed and we will leave here early in the morning, so I need to be bright and alert for that sad moment.

Happy spending time with people you love…. Livvy xxx