Bowls of cherries from our next door neighbours' trees keep arriving. I never thought you could have a surfeit of cherries. But France is a place for surfeits. We have just returned from Ribérac market where I was tempted by trays of apricots, peaches, peppers, courgettes and aubergines but despite having a crowd of hungry artists and writers on our course there is a limit to what they can be tempted to consume. I keep presenting jugs of homemade lemonade and elderflower cordial and honey cake made with honey from our neighbours’ bees. If our customers don’t eat and drink more I shall have to throw food away. Can’t do that! I’ll just have to eat lots myself and endure a surfeit of flesh.
We have no problems with the surfeit of creativity though. Paintings of jugs, lilies and fields are festooning our barn. A full length mirror is propped against the wall and someone is examining herself (fully clothed I should add) for a large Francis Bacon style self portrait. Rosemary (Catling) the art tutor, showed slides of her work: many lonely figures in large landscapes and figures jumping into space – or water. She explained that her work reflects her concerns for the future of her grandchildren. As I suspected having grandchildren means I shall have yet more worries to try and control. There is probably a tipping point after which the anxieties can’t be contained. I shall find out whether I have reached that point next August when my daughter’s baby is born.
While the artists are applying colour the writers are expanding nursery rhymes into short stories written in a particular genre. So Jack and Jill may become a horror story, Humpty Dumpty a detective story. Will (Randall) our writing tutor has been looking at short stories with the group. Someone flung a book of short stories across the table and said that she hated the writer. Any guesses who the despised author may be?
We are always amazed at the excess of creativity hovering within each person. Most of it is suppressed while everyday life is lived, but give someone a peaceful meadow, sunshine, elderflower cordial (or better still Bordeaux wine), encouraging tutors and time away from the common task and there’s a positive Chelsea Flower Show of creative expression.
Surfeits are usually welcome. An abundance of fruit and vegetables is heart warming, a plethora of paintings is inspiring – and you can never have too many words – nor grandchildren, though this may lead to an unwelcome surfeit of anxiety. If so I shall have to do what Rosemary does and transform the worries into works of art. It’s time to go on a Ways With Words holiday course.
For those who want to release their suppressed creativity, or control their anxieties, there are more Ways With Words Holiday courses this year:
Memoir Writing in the Dordogne, 9-13 September
Painting, writing, book groups and philosophy in Umbria, Italy 26 September - 3 October, 3-10 October.
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