One of Those Days

"Villa Tournasol"
watercolor on Arches 15" x 22"
This day was a "day off." We had been touring The Perigord Region pretty hard for seven days straight. We needed to rest and relax. . . .So, I took a 'busmans holiday' . . . .I snuck away and painted. I did so with the complete support of everyone. I had packed up my backpack and walked a half mile up hill and set up on the corner of this sea of sunflowers that stretched into many, many acres. What a sight! What a perfect spot. No one to bother me. The birds chirping. The sun playing tag with the slightly overcast cloud cover. It was perfect . . . . . . . .except after I had put this whole rig of easel, umbrella etc up in the slight breeze, I discoverd I had left my water at home!!! NO WATER for painting? Now what?

I had a small bottle of water for drinking . . .and it was a warm day . . .I would need it. Or, could I get away with using it? . . .. . . .Rather than fold up the works . . .or worse, leave it sit while I hike back to the house . . . . . .and risk being side tracked by wife or the group requests, I dug in and used teensy bits of water at a time. Someone eventually happened by and I sent them to my wife to send a messenger with more water. It worked.

It ALL worked that day. I love the way the painting came out too.


"One of Those Days"
Photo by Diana Bailey