The Reluctant Art Students

Our range of mishaps are many and varied. For the most part we are the people affected during the ensuing mayhem, but not always. The following is one of the best examples (for all the wrong reasons, which will become apparent as you read on).

On this occasion we had been invited to stay at a friend's small hotel, which they had only recently opened. We readily agreed as Pat had been having a very traumatic time so we felt the short break on the coast (which was where the hotel was located) would be an ideal way for her to renew her energies.

Our friend already aware of Pat's problems had arranged that we have the best room in the hotel (the only one with a balcony!) . Her thinking obviously being that if the days were not very fine, we would not have to go to relax. What she didn't know, but would soon become aware of was at that time we had a particular liking to paint early morning paintings just as the sun was rising and that is where our tale begins.

We had set our alarm clock for just before 4am this being early July the sun would arise at about 4.30 am. After a quick cup of tea to refresh our brain cells (as you will discover the caffeine in this drink was obviously having a lie in before it decided to have a significant effect on our awareness). We made our way as quietly as possible on to the balcony.

Although we had discovered how to get on to the balcony the day before, this was the first time we had investigated the view properly due to the lateness of the hour we had arrived. Pat could see that if we tried to paint directly ahead of us sitting on our folding stools the railings would obsured our view. This being the case we positioned ourselves to the far left, where we had a much better view of the coast without the obstruction of the railings. Having decided on our painting position we settled down to paint.

Now at that time, whenever Pat realised something was not quite right with her painting , as well as he had hoped she would first begin to mutter under her breathe and then gradually it would get louder swear words in Spanish, which she speaks fairly well). This was partly as a defence mechanism, because it allowed her to express her disgust on how badly the painting was going without causing too much offense in public places (if there did happen to be Spanish speaking people in the vicinity, they would smile knowingly as if they had been let in on some private joke).

A sunrise picture has two variations, the first when the sun is rising through layers of cloud, creates a painting, a landscape, a seascape of many and varied colours with different forms seen mainly in silhouette (these are largely a race against time, as the sun rises higher and higher in the sky the light will change completely preventing the painting from being completed). The second arises when the sun is rising in a largely cloudless sky throwing the landscape into sharp relief and requires a lot long to paint, because you have to get the detail right. When this occurs we refer to it as a "morning picture".

On this occasion it turned out that our proposed painting tuned into a morning picture and due to the duration of the time it takes to complete it more breaks are required in order to take stock of how the work is progressing (what needed to be adjusted or clarified).

At about 7.15 am when we were taking our third break I became aware of a window just behind my shoulder and I must admit I was somewhat puzzled. I quickly ran through the geography of our room in my head - at last it dawn on me there wasn't a window like that in our room the reality of the situation soon became apparent. I decided I had better alert Pat to our present circumstances so I said " Pat " to which she replied in a rather irritated tone "Yes" still deeply engrossed in her painting. I pointing to the room I said " It doesn't belong to our room" Her response was short, sharp and to the point completely forgetting her previous practice she said Oh s.... in very English vernacular.

Finishing our paintings and clearing up as quickly and quietly as possible we decided to go down stairs and explain the event top our friend and then to the guest who we must have obviously disturbed with our early morning activities.

However when we went down stairs our friend wasn't in the hotel, her daughter was in attendance, so we quickly began to explain the story to her. We needn't have bothered she was fully aware, before we could finish she pointed to the staircase at the far end of the dining room and said "Do you see those two men going up the stairs" we looked over and saw two men alight the stairs in fact we had passed them by as we made our way towards her "Well they have just told me they have spent the early part of the morning with you in your painting following it "brushstroke by brushstroke!" When we asked her for their room number so we could go and apologies to them she explained that they had already paid their bill and were about to leave.

Although she recounted all of this in a very short space of time by the time we had got to the reception area to try to catch up with them they had already gone, so we never could apologies to our unintentional art students.