Mary Ann Rogers

At last I am getting on with the paintings which will form part of the new print launch at the Spring fair at the NEC in February.

It has been a very busy month, thank goodness. Two Christmas open weekends, with a total of about a thousand people! Ruth, Tom and Paul managed to keep a tally as they coped with mulled wine, mince pies and coffee for everyone who came in. This should make preparations for next year a bit easier.
It was great fun. Nobody bumped their car, got stuck in mud or tripped. The weather was not great, but not so bad that people did not dare come. We only just managed to keep control of the parking situation, with Fifey directing traffic in his high vis gear, people assuming he is just hired help, and asking whether 'he has been inside yet?' ha ha! Oh, and we sold a very healthy quantity of paintings, prints, gifts and cards, and even managed not to run out of things, largely due to my assistant, Jane, who is good at stock control, among other things.

Annie graduated as MMus at Trinity last week, so i went down for 3 days of shopping, cinema, show (free tickets - friends in high places!) and celeb watching (they are EVERYWHERE!) and came home stunned that nothing had actually gone wrong for the first time ever...until I got a call from Ruth to let me know that nobody had been hurt..but..she crashed her car crossing busy lanes in Newcastle, on wednesday. I have to admire her, cos she waited til satruday t tell me rather than spoil my trip. What a girl!
I went with a gang of frined to mamma Mia at the newcastle arena on thurs, which was just fantastic fun. I sang, clapped danced all through it. Very scary drive home through the snow though, luckily we had a big taxi which got us safely back.

Have a great Christmas, and and a healthy 2010
xx