Some notes on work this week.

For a few days now the hills of Africa across the strait have looked very close and are very clear to the naked eye; they are a wonderful deep red in colour and the sea a flat blue so that the large tankers and other ships loom like drifting skyscrapers above it; I can discern groups of Moroccan buildings; a lighthouse or two; the town and last night even the blink of a car or truck headlight.
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Having a cold for the last two days has set me back on this week’s planned work. Yesterday despite the temperature outside of 22 degrees C I felt chilled and came inside, wrapped myself up and spent my time indoors; as is the case when you work alone it’s hard to get on task; the result being I flitted mentally and physically from one task to another; I spent a lot of time watching Africa; I didn’t accomplish an awful lot; I think I am going to paint a long painting of its hills with the massive sky above it; Even my time sheet which I had placed in prominent places as a prompt for myself the night before, went largely unheeded. My indoor plan or wet weather route today was to do some watercolours on some local Fincas and make a start drawing up maps of two contrasting art routes from Slaidburn to Roeburndale and Estapona to Casares via the Arroyo Hondo but did not.
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All day I had stared at the large canvas that I had worked on in the fading light on the summit of Los Reales; but nothing was happening to it; by the end of the day I felt less chilled and walking past the painting and seeing it in the same light things began to happen within it; the colour and form began to emerge; I carried the canvas outside and in the dwindling light of a splendid sunset managed to make a great deal of progress on it without a fight.
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Today; the wind is strengthening and it howls and moans around the Moorish designed superstructure of the apartment building; it is maintaining its westerly route to the Ocean; it blows strongly from the East carrying a warm scent; I am in luck; I am in the lee of the building and can work without all my papers and things being blown about; Africa has disappeared again behind a shimmer that is neither sea nor sky; Gibraltar wears its white woolly hat; This morning I feel much better and the work I did yesterday still feels good; I have made some good progress on the two watercolours and I have started on two more small canvas’s of the working farms or Fincas up on the Casares road; today I also got two emails complimentary emails on my work and some interest from an art dealer in London; so its onwards and upwards. At least it was until a thunderstorm struck in mid to late afternoon; the deluge flooded the terrace and a retreat had to organised.
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