Sandra had been a friend to our family ever since we stayed in her holiday cottage whilst house hunting in Norfolk in 1995 when my children were still babies. Sandra and I hit it off straight away, sharing a common love of art and animals. She was an incredibly gifted and prolific artist, and her paintings and drawings were like her visual diary. Sandra had the most amazing ability to make marks on paper or canvas with such spontaneity and gusto, I really envied her that ability, as I was just starting to open up my creativity and I felt everything I did laboured, awkward and trite.
She had a huge heart, and opened up her home to everyone, it was always full of family and friends. That included the waifs and strays from the animal world; she seemed to collect dogs, horses, cats, sheep along the way. She even gave us our Arthur; he was a puppy in a shelter at the time and Sandra bought him for us. She and her husband Roger paid for his vaccinations and his neutering; she said she knew we would give him a loving home. He is still with us here in France 11 years later.
About a year ago Sandra rang and chatted breezily for half an hour before saying to me "have you heard the news about me, dear?" and then she told me she was dying from cancer. She said she could have 2 months or 2 years, they could not tell her. She added that she wanted to come and visit us very soon, but unfortunately she was never well enough to make that journey, and I have not been able to go back to England either.
In our home we have several of her artworks. One is called 'Looking after Lola', and she drew back it in 1998 while chatting to me over a cuppa, I had come to pick up our dog Lola from her who had been staying with Sandra while we went holiday for 2 weeks.
Another is this beautiful painting which she gave to me as a birthday gift the last time I saw her, 2 years ago. We had to sandwich it between to big rectangles of heavy board to keep it flat, so we could put it in the hold for our flight back to France.
I feel so saddened by her death, but I was proud to be her friend, and my thoughts are very much at the moment with Roger and their children.
