Well, it looks like I was wrong in two ways the other day. One was when I said in the comments that Julia was unlikely to win anything at the Village Show.

I thought I was safe as she rarely reads the blog (which is how I get away with some of the things I say about her). It seems I wasn’t safe. She even read the comments from that particular post, and instituted a rather frosty Q&A session about my lack of faith in her.

My second error, as you may be able to tell from the photos, was that she actually secured second and third place in her category. The category was Acrylic. There were five entries. The winner was a landscape which looked like it could be used on the lid of a box of chocolates. It was not my cup of tea, but it was a skilful painting. The two pictures that were unplaced were a similar landscape by the painter of the first placed picture and a painting of the late David Hockney with one of his recent paintings as a background.

This was the third place painting, a close-up of a swan’s head. The comments on the back of the card liked the composition and the choice of subject.

This is the second place picture – two pigeons looking at something. The comment was that the judge loved the composition and wonders what they are looking at.

I can assure him that the effect does not wear off. We’ve had it in the living room a few weeks now and I still feel uneasy about the way they are watching me.

So there you go, a good day at the village show in 2026. Next year I really must make some chutney.