ARMAGNAC TASTING AT FOURCES

"I WANT YOU TO FILL IT UP TO HERE".

THE AMERICAN ARTISTS IN GASCONY 5-12 JUNE 2010

Jim and Mo have just been to SW France for the seventh time. And, as usual, they brought some friends with them. But the holiday was soon over, because Jim set them all to work.

But occasionally he gave them time off to eat, and to eat and to eat. And, from time to time, they had a bit to drink also.

Look what we painted in France.

At the Bar du Commerce in Mezin.

Underneath the arches at Poudenas.

Painting at the water lily farm.

Lunch in the garden at The Mill.

Painting in Fources.

LES ARTISTES PEINTRES AMERICAINES EN GASCOGNE 5-12 JUIN 2010

"You all get started now. And don’t stop painting until I tell you."

www.rays-books.com

THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL TRILOGY

The idea for Coup de Grâce – the first book in The Triumph of Evil Trilogy - first came to me when I stumbled across a nondescript roadside memorial near my home in Gascony. It marks the spot where a young boy was shot by the departing Germans a few months before the war ended, and I felt perturbed that such barbarity could have taken place in this idyllic part of France almost sixty years ago.
I immediately started researching and writing and talking to people, and ten years later, in January 2010, I felt that Coup de Grâce was finished.
The action in this book starts in outback Australia just before World War I and quickly moves to the Western Front. It ends with the Liberation of France in World War II.

Read an extract from Coup de Grâce by clicking on the link at top right of this page: rays-books

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

“The spring has sprung, the grass is rizz. I wonder where them birdies is?”

As you can see, spring has definately arrived (at last) in southwest France, and we’re expecting it to last until Christmas (at least).
So, after a long, hard winter with some studio painting every now and then, here we are, Debbie, Jacqui and Maria, painting en plein air again.
This is Trignan, a beautiful Romanesque church only about 4 kilimetres or so from Mézin.
We plan to try to do at least one painting per month that will be suitable to go on a 2011 a calendar.
Watch this space.
Send me an email if you want to know where the quote is from.
ray@johnstonesinfrance.com
(Click on "Contact Us").

VIEW OF MEZIN FROM A LONDON KITCHEN

This is a photo of Mary (as in Lucas and Mary) cooking dinner in her/their kitchen in London. On the wall behind her is my painting of Mezin. She's preparing a 3 sausage and white bean Italian stew and butternut squash and roasted red pepper with chilli soup. If she turns round she'll see a view of Mezin from my studio window, looking out across the rooftops towards the magnificent St Jean-Baptiste.
You can see more of my paintings of Mezin by going to:

ray@johnstonesinfrance.com
(Click on "Contact Us").

PROBLEMS WITH THE LITTLE RED BOOK

Unfortunately there are several typos and spelling errors in my Little Red Book, Coup de Grace in Three Acts. These are in the process of being corrected and the second edition will be available shortly. I'll add a post to this blog as soon as it appears on Amazon.
My apologies for this, but anyone who has a copy should remember that the early copies of James Joyce's Ulysses were also plagued with printer errors and spelling mistakes. (The first edition of Ulysses contained over two thousand errors and as each subsequent edition attempted to correct these mistakes, it incorporated more of its own.) Needless to say these copies of the Joyce book have now become collectors' items, so we live in hope as far as my book is concerned.
Apropros absolutely nothing, Mao's Little Red Book was the most printed book in the twentieth century. An estimated 5-6 billion copies were distributed. When my Little Red Book gets close to this number I'll buy back any copies of my first edition that may be for sale.
There are no problems (as far as I know) with my novel Coup de Grace, (the blue one in the photo). It's very easy to find on any Amazon site - and in all countries around the world.