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Hello, and apologies for taking so long to produce this newsletter. It has been an unusual year for everyone and for me, it has turned out to be a very busy and productive one. You will see many improvements to the house and gardens, and additional options for the art holidays.

COVID virus
Well, I must mention it.... Up in the mountains of Italy we have adapted well and I have the house well organised for cleanliness, distancing and the provision of masks, gels etc and it is all working easily and effectively.

Of course, I have not been able to offer art holidays for the major part of the year and all bookiings have just been transferred to 2021. It has been strange not to have the regular sound of chatting, laughter and the noises of artistic production but I look forward to a busy year next year.

I've been kept busy with teaching English to local people and by having Italian B&B guests who are holidaying in the mountains.

I've incorporated 'stone trees' into the large ventilating areas of the hay loft. I wasn't allowed windows because it overlooks a neighbours house but, I made the trunks of the trees from stone from one nearby river, and the leaves of the trees from the nearby river, then the fruit of the trees are made of coloured drinking glasses. The idea was that it would allow small shafts of coloured light through. It did indeed work well and I expanded upon this idea in the kitchen extension.

I've incorporated 'stone trees' into the large ventilating areas of the hay loft. I wasn't allowed windows because it overlooks a neighbours house but, I made the trunks of the trees from stone from one nearby river, and the leaves of the trees from the nearby river, then the fruit of the trees are made of coloured drinking glasses. The idea was that it would allow small shafts of coloured light through. It did indeed work well and I expanded upon this idea in the kitchen extension.

I've kept the inside as simple as possible retaining the history of the building.  The ground floor is a big simple room, where the old columns have been retained, the arched ceiling made of hand made bricks, and the old metal retaining bars. 

The spiral staircase with a tree trunk column and handles of washed river wood leads up to the first floor.  A big spacious bedroom has beautiful windows one of which leads to the little balcony.  The bed and door are made from old bedheads. 

 The bathroom has mosaics which were found, a recycled door with dragon in coloured glass (my winter 2020 project) and all sorts of changing lighting effects from the coloured windows.

Then the stairs lead up to a platform area where there is a bed and wardrobe.

You will have noticed that there is no kitchen so an extension was needed.  It is basically a large kitchen, small utility room and another bathroom.   As it is partially underground and on the north side of the house I was concerned about light. 

So during the Winter of 2020 I took up making coloured glass windows which became quite addictive...  I developed the idea of the coloured drinking glasses and made arch shaped 'tunnels' through the walls to allow light to enter through coloured glass.  This time I mosaiced loads of pieces of broken mirror inside and out to maximise the light.   I have to say the result is quite amazing....   even at night the light of the moon comes through!

Outside, on the terazzo which is the roof of the extension I asked the blaksmith not to put a handrail on as I wanted to make it out of river washed branches.   Lovely.