I loved it

We had such a good time. We looked at all the pictures, chatted, sat on this sofa and that chair. My father took photos of us.

One artist's partner is an art gallery owner so I asked him to start writing in the visitors' book. He put in a clearly written name and surname all in capitals, plus legible address complete with postcode.

There were so many artists, 10 in all, including many older relatives of mine. It was a real chance to talk about the and about the places they had painted.

I got the locations for some of the pictures wrong, the Sahara was actually Death Valley and Yugoslavia was actually La Rhune in South West France near the Spanish border!

My mother A has asked to borrow the one and only oil by her mother R. I was given it to decorate my room in college and I have loved it ever since. So now I will pass it to my mother A so she can enjoy it too.

The sitting room looks fabulous with all these paintings and virtually no furniture or clutter. We go in there and enjoy the display.

After seeing a tiny watercolour done by my aunt M for me one Christmas, my mother in law slipped next door and brought back a similar sized one she had been given too. It was quite different, a sober and peaceful landscape, while mine was a bright vase of flowers. My parents were touched to see them side by side. They hadn't been aware of my aunt M's gifts.