Andy Hudson

Our painting group is now well installed in the studio in the Cloisters, given us by the mairie about 6 months ago, and despite the inadequacy of the heating, we have managed to survive the Winter.  Major renovations to the Cloisters are planned, but we don't know when these will take place.  In the meantime, we need somewhere to exhibit, and this is also giving us some problems:  as a group we need to show work soon, as we haven't been able to do so for some considerable time.

In the small hours of  Monday 30 August the studio used by me and my colleagues burnt down, the indirect product of an act of vandalism.  Half the canvasses and equipment were lost, and we are currently without anywhere to work, although the mairie has allocated us a space, which we will be able to use in a week or two.  Our main problem will be the replacement of lost materials - at present our insurance company is refusing to compensate us.  The battle goes on.

17-9-21:  We have had our first session in the new "studio".  My colleagues all started new works, while I attempted to repair smoke-damaged canvasses.  The last painting I was doing before the fire survived, but needed refurbishing, i.e. "Red satin black lace".

As at Thursday 18 February my art group's studio has reopened.  3 of the 6 members of the group resumed working together, all of us starting new projects.  We are constrained by the need to wear masks, to observe social distancing, and of course o wash our hands on arrival.  Not a problem at the moment, but a further problem will be when/if other members join us in due course, as the distancing thing will not be possible...

Many of my pictures are marked "not for sale", but this does not necessarily mean that they are unavailable.  If you see a picture that interests you, you can talk to me about it. Contact is possible via this website, or you can write me an E-mail:  my E-mail address can be found among my personal coordonnées.

As of Friday 30 October, and due to the new nationwide lockdown in France, all artistic activity at my art group's studio here in LR has ceased, at least for the interim.  Our last meeting was the day before, Thursday 29 Oct.  The life classes that I organise are also cancelled, the last 3 sessions of this season no longer scheduled to take place.

11-1-21:  We understood previously that bars and restaurants would not be allowed to reopen till after 20 Jan, and I had planned for reactivating my groups' artistic activities at the same time, but this date has now been pushed back to mid-Feb, so planning - cetainly for the life class - is now totally up in the air...

I find this all more depressing than I can say.

Everyone knows about the Corona virus and the effect it is having on everyone.  From my point-of-view, the regulations put in place here in France mean that I have had to cancel, or at least postpone, the life classes that I run, and access to my painting group's atelier has stopped because of the dangers imposed on us by working closely together.  As all my equipment is in the studio, and is too cumbersome to move, I am currently unable to do any painting:  which is why you are not going to see any new works added to the website for some time to come.

The studio used by my group of artists and myself has once again been vandalised, the result of which is that we are debarred - physically - from entering the studio for the time being.  The entrance has been boarded up, and as it's the holidays, there is nobody available to fix the problem.  No work can be done for the moment, as all my equipment and materials are inside.  16-9-19:  Have now been able to access the studio for the first time in about 5 weeks, so that artwork has only just resumed.  We only have to hope that such violence committed against us will not occur again...