I made the journey to Boston with my sister and her boyfriend and one of the first things we got to do was see an American football game, New England Patriots v Dallas Cowboys. A great event especially as we went tail-gaiting too, ie shooting the breeze with lots of other people, eating a picnic and drinking beer before the game...great fun. The gang below wearing very large football shirts!
On the 6th day there I had arranged a trip to Virginia to see the fall foliage. I managed to find a beautiful place to stay, Blueberry Hill Farm in the Shenandoah Valley where the accommodation and views were just fantastic, thank you Jean and Franklin (our hosts).
I did have plans to do a bit if sketching from the veranda but to be honest we had such an action packed few days all I managed in the evenings was to eat chips and dips and enjoy the view! I did take plenty of photographs though to paint later, here are some of them...
Stella the family dog also put in plenty of appearances throughout the four days we were there!.....
We did quite a bit of exploring around the region, even visiting Walton's mountain! The views really were lovely and I can't recommend it enough.
On returning to Boston for the final few days of the holiday I made sure to visit the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Gardner Museum, plenty of John Singer Sargent paintings to keep me happy!
On a sadder note, I mentioned that the weeks before my holiday had not been enjoyable, due to the fact that a dear friend of mine tragically lost his life. Shaun my framer who framed my last three exhibitions and had been framing for me for so many years that he became a friend sadly was killed in a collision on his motorbike. Not only was he an excellent framer but also a talented artist, Shaun Malkin all who ever had the great fortune to have met you will miss you loads.
