Yesterday I went for my usual walk on the outskirts of my village, summer or winter, spring, or autumn, I enjoy the walk, it has a few houses, lots of trees, fields, and dappled sunshine at this time of year in this glorious hot summer sunshine. As I walked past one of the houses there was a middle aged man outside who I had spoken to before some months ago about the strange numbering of the houses on that bit of road, there seemed to be a missing number that didn’t make sense to me and he’d lived there 23 years and he said didn’t know why either! We talked about various things, some of them to do with gardening, then I carried on my walk and when I came back 15 minutes late he chatted to me again and was trying to tell me about a garden centre a few miles away that was worth visiting, and called his wife from the house to tell me the name of it. We three chatted about gardening and I said I was a keen gardener and had moved to the village three years ago and slowly building up the garden and putting plants in. They then invited me to look at their garden, walking through the house, and was delighted to see their garden and trying to work out which rooflines I could see, as the houses at the back of their garden were infont of mine, but obviously with a confusing treeline as to which trees belong to which garden!
We stood in their garden, and talked about holidays to France, and gardens, and local buildings being built in the village, and it was only after 30 minutes or so chatting I mentioned I was an artist, and that brought on more conversations about artwork, a commission they’ve had done some years ago by another artist and weren’t pleased with it. When the man asked me if that had ever happened to me I said no, with a smile, and explained that was why I listen to the client and write down what they want. I don’t put something in the picture that the client has not asked for, or wants, its a working relationship and I do as I am asked. My clients are happy.
I was really touched that the couple had invited me, a complete stranger, into their house, and garden, and were so friendly, and nice. Its so lovely to have a pleasant village to live in with nice people…
When I got home about an hour longer than my usual 20 minute walk, my husband said with a smile "You’ve been chatting haven’t you!" and I smiled back and told him about my new friends….