Now living with my cousin and family in the beautiful town of Crickhowell, I felt as if I have died and gone to heaven!
St. Edmunds Church in the middle of Crickhowell.
The Bear Hotel in the High Street.
Even though I had been back to the UK for holidays during my 28 years of living in the States, this was a totally different experience. With the knowledge that this was a permanent move, it was as if I had allowed all of my senses to be reawakened. The smell of the soil, sounds of birds, the wonderful skyscapes that seemingly changed by the minute, the colour....and yes the tastes. For example Bakewell tarts!
Bumble, my cousin's beautiful golden labrador became my friend. I quickly established a pattern of walking with her twice a day, and through Bumble, I met many of the local people.
A picture of Bumble with Kara - 1994
Although I didn't have any work waiting for me, I had done my homework. During the previous year, I had begun a correspondence with Linda Norris, a Welsh artist, and had written to The Hill College in Abergavenny about my giving workshops I had been introduced to Catherine Mansel Lewis who was helpful, and over the years has become a good friend. I met with the curator of exhibitions at St. Davids Hall in Cardfiff - and possibilies of my having an exhibition there were being discussed.
Water colour portrait of artist Linda Norris - 1994
My cousin Lyn and her husband PG were in the interior design world, and so later that year, through them, I was commissioned to do a large mural project in Cardiff. The new Cardiff Bay was just beginning to be developed at that time...when many people thought it would never happen!! More about that in another post.
I quickly established rhythms in this new life. I painted and wrote letters every day. Each morning Bumble and I would take a four mile walk through the town, over the River Usk, through the fields to Llangattock, then up to the canal, where we would walk along the tow path a mile or so, and back again. During the twelve years I lived in Crickhowell, I never tired of this walk. With my senses totally awakened, it allowed me to become familiar with the rhythms and flow of nature in a way that I hadn't done since my childhood.
From my divorce in 1987 until leaving for Wales in 1994 my feet had barely touched the ground. In many ways I had been living under a great deal of stress. Now with Christie at university and Jarrod aged 28, for the first time in many years, I was able to totally take in and benefit from the beauty around me. It was a most healing experience.
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I hope people are enjoying my images....I am certainly enjoying the scanner.
All seems well in Kent.
A Bientot
