The Wideangle Cafe

The gallery before…

Saturday August 24th saw the launch of my show, Clair et Sombre – La Chine en Evolution (Light and Dark – The Changing Face of China) at the gallery in Céreste which now occupies the site of the old Tourist Office. It’s been a hectic week which culminated in an insanely busy day on Saturday as I set to work preparing for the vernissage (private showing) with the able assistance of my friend Stephen and my wife Martine.

Waiting for the guests to arrive

At last everything was ready – display pictures hung; sale prints arranged on a counter; a selection of Chinese and Celtic music on the sound system; nibbles laid out around the room; wine ready to be poured and glasses ready to be filled.

Glasses waiting, too

All we needed were the guests… and they arrived in a steady stream, many of them staying on to enjoy the chat and the craic for a while after viewing the exhibition.

At the end of the evening, my wife picked two numbers at random to select the winners of the free gallery print here on the WideAngleCafe blog and on my Facebook page.

The winner of the blog draw is Sharon, of The Nelson House Diaries.  It turns out it’s Sharon’s birthday this week, so congratulations, Sharon, your extra birthday present will be winging its way to you shortly!

The first number chosen by Martine in the Facebook draw turned out to be – herself! Well, that can’t happen, so she chose another number. This one, thankfully, was not a family member, but in another strange coincidence, the winner lives on a street called Rue Martine!  How weird! Congratulations to Anita K. Can you send me a message on Facebook with your address details, and I’ll get your print of choice in the mail as soon as possible.

I am overwhelmed by the encouragement and support I have received from my new friends here in Provence. I am very excited to announce that, after Céreste, La Chine en Evolution will be moving to Forcalquier for another run in a location which will be revealed shortly.

I want to thank everyone who helped make the launch of this show such a huge success. I have to single out Stephen for special thanks – his input on the layout of the exhibition was invaluable (although we’ll have to agree to disagree about cropping!)

Photos on this post are courtesy of Martine Greenlee, TailsfromProvence.com

Clair et Sombre, La Chine en Evolution will continue to run in Céreste until 30 August 2013.