Today was a beautiful day, I realized, yet again, how lucky I am to be here on this island dong what I am doing. It is perfect. I also realize that I am in the right field doing the right thing at the right time. It’s just so amazing. I know that I am taking a very heavy load of classes, but it is worth it to me. I now know so much about the art forms that I am now taking part in, and it means so much to me to be able to do them. I know how to make a mosaic and stretch a canvas and paint the way that many great painters of the past have done so. I also know how to do a clay sculpture and draw objects and the human body and other things. I have become more prolific and proficient in the art of writing, and I am reading great Greek writings of the past that have so shaped our world.

Today, I was walking down the street looking at rocks on the ground thinking what great mosaic pieces they would make while I silently wrote a poem in my head. As I continued walking to look for some clay to do a sculpture, I saw a man treating an octopus and I thought what a great photo it would make. In addition to it all, I was looking at the background of the photo thinking what a great painting landscape it would make. It’s so nice to be able to go around and look at the world in that way. I have so many projects going in my head and in the works, that I seriously have no idea how I am going to get them home. It may happen at the sacrifice of some of the clothes that I brought that will be worn out by then. This is my reality and what is really going on here on this little island in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Things are going well here.

Feel free to drop me a line if you want to. I miss you all, but I can’t say that I can’t wait to come home!

With much, much love,

Chris

When I was younger, I was at war with art. I had this understanding that it was an unnecessary thing in society that children were forced to study because it was something that our less sophisticated ancestors did, and the tradition needed to be continued.

I was deeply, deeply wrong.

Since the beginning of time, people have described religious experiences. These have occurred on many different levels including seeing a physical spiritual being. For the most part, however,
these have consisted of deeply personal and inexpressible moments in time that shape our lives forever.

Somewhere in the middle of my high school career, I realized that there was something missing in my life, so I took up pottery as a recreational activity. I didn’t really realize that I had been
mastering an art form until one day my friend invited me to attend a seminar where young artists get together and develop their skills further. I reluctantly joined, but realized that it would be
at least half-fun when I realized that one of the people I admire most in the world was going to preside the meetings.

This was the thing that was going to fill the hole that I felt in my life. However, I didn’t realize how gaping the mouth was and how deep the crack until I began this weekly ritual.

I believe that I will never be able to describe what happened in that room. This was the first truly spiritual experience that I ever had. I passionately consider each second of these meetings week after week to be deeply-spiritual, religious experiences, and they have shaped my view of the world and of myself permanently.

Several things came from that:

• I realized that I am an artist at heart and that is what I do every morning, I get up and create what will happen that day.
• I realized that I can create beautiful things that communicate to other people and that they can appreciate.
• I realized that everyone on earth is an artist in his own way and that he strives to create in one way or another—some people just happen to make a profession out of it.
• I gained the confidence to really be an artist.

This shaped me in ways that I can’t explain, but it patched a big hole in my life and set me up for the rest of my life, or so I thought.

I actually had a spiritual experience today that I hold at that level. It struck me by surprise because I guess somehow I felt that I had received my allotment for my life.

I decided to study at The Aegean Center for the Fine Arts to continue my studies in the arts and put final touches on my ability to create art and get it out into the world. I never dreamed that I would experience something on a higher plane, and here, three weeks into the program, I’ve had such a profound experience that I can’t help but believe that this again will be one of those life-defining moments.

In producing my art, I got pretty stuck in the mundane technical aspects. You put this type of paper in this developer and it comes out like this and you could do this or that to it to change it
and make it perfect. I think that I got pretty stuck in the fact that I was just making an image and it was going to create an effect, and I guess I felt like I had no more control after I hit the shutter. Bam! That photo was made.

I met someone today that really loves the process. This man had a communication to deliver to the world and he knew exactly what it was the second that he clicked the shutter. He had the technical
aspects down so well and all that was going on was the fact that he saw the world in a new way or he had a new experience that he was interested in sharing with the world.

I also discovered again that through the things that the artists have been saying through history, they really have effected the changes in this world. Through the things that they are saying results are created. People become aware of the artists view of things and they realize something deeper there and change.

I guess I kind of forgot about that part. It all came and hit me at once. As he sat there going through photo after photo showing us the things that he had to say about the world, I realized that that was what I had been missing. I was being sucked into the technical aspects of what it was that I was doing. Of course, I needed to be patient and do whatever it took to get the effect that I was trying to create, but what WAS the effect? What was my communication. I was trying to say something when I was pressing the shutter. My frustration with the arts shattered, and I realized once again that I wasn’t trying to duplicate reality exactly. I have something to say, and I’m here studying how to get that thing said!

This weekend was incredible I got a lot done as far as continuing on the aesthetic experience. I worked about 20 hours each day and got an incredible amount done. I read 7 books of the Odyssey and cataloged and set up digital images for the 1500 photos that I’ve taken over the last bit of time here on this quaint little island.

I also watched the Easter parade (of people, we didn’t really have a parade) of people come in from Europe for their Easter breaks. The island was hopping and I no longer had any idea what language to say to them all, but I’ve outlined this in other writings.

There are so many quirks of living in another country. In America, you expect everything to be safe and perfect and if your water doesn’t work it’s a real problem, but in Greece, everything is Sega, Sega (slowly, slowly), and things are just different here in general.

One thing I will mourn when I come home is that you can get a perfect looking orange in America that tastes terrible, but in Greece, you can get the ugliest orange that tastes delicious.

Today was another one of those beautiful days on such a higher level than just everyday living. I took a look yesterday at the fact that I really have been here for a month. The time has gone by really fast, but I also look at how much it’s made me grow and even the things that have come from me being here. I have written more pieces of art than I probably have ever. I even wrote my children’s book that I am even thinking about illustrating myself.

I have taken two rolls of black and white film and I have gotten three prints from those negatives that I felt were worthy of displaying. In addition to that, I have had some incredible help with the way that I run as a photographer. There are people here that are so knowledgeable.

I have gained so much in the field of art history that I really know that I chose the right filed and the right major to be working with. Today, as I stood over the waterfront watching the sun go down over the next island over (Mycenae, I think) I took some wonderful photographs, but then I looked down at what I was standing on, and it turned out to be a section of an old temple. It was a HUGE marble stone, and it even had the ridges in it. However, it was just a rock (ok, a big slab) again sitting on the edge of this beach (port) made out of slabs. It really shocked me that it wasn’t sitting in a museum, but that I was actually able to stand on it to take photos! I sit in my art history class and am so amazed at the instructor and how much he knows, and the past and the people did things are so impressive to me. It really does prove that they may have even been more civilized than we were, and I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like in another 2,000 years when our civilization could possibly be one of those vaguely remembered things. I like the field though, and it really helps to be able to walk into traces of temples and things from more than 3,000 years ago. I was at the site of at least three different temples dedicated to Athena today. I’m just so amazed at that.

In addition to that, I am working on paintings in the same style that great painters of the past have been working on. It’s so useful because I will have to restore paintings at some time. I’m doing two paintings right now in the same style as Reuben, it’s just so amazing. I have four paintings that I have started, and I have a plan for at least two more. I understand that I will be brining home about 16 paintings with me in all. WOW. I am going to do a special process learning how to paint like Boticelli, and I may even make a copy of one of his paintings. The point is that I’m learning a lot in the area and I am producing and I still have a lot to produce.

And I can even say that I can actually draw decently. I can draw a person with hands and feet and all. I can also draw still objects and buildings. It’s just nice to know that I’ve pushed through such a big barrier and I’m good at it. WOW.

That’s all in addition to the fact that I’ve taken over 1600 photos since I’ve been here. Though I need to jump on it because there are so many more photos to be taken! I’m going to model for a friend, and that will be fun to learn how to be on the other side of the camera as well. I’ll tell you about it next week when it’s over.

Also, I am going to start my first of two mosaics tomorrow. I’m excited about it, and I drew the design today. It is going to be a fish, and it is going to be the size of A4 paper. I’m going to do two, so if there is something else you want me to do, give me an idea, because I have no idea!

The north winds are supposed to start tomorrow. They are called the Fortuna winds. The legend is that if they stay for 5 days and then someone commits a crime of passion that the crime will be forgiven. I hope that they don’t last very long because they are cold. Would you rather have winds from Germany of Africa? The weather has been nice, but I’m told that it needs to rain or the poppies won’t come in fields this year, and that would devastate some photo ideas that I have.

I went shooting photos at two of the most beautiful places that I know on the planet today, I didn’t even know that they existed, but one was in a Cypress grove and the other was next to a windmill overlooking a cliff off the ocean. In addition to that, there is another cave I plan to go to at some point to take photos, but it’s been a worshiping spot to one of the gods for a long, long time! It was wonderful to take photos with my photo instructor, as she is a brilliant and amazing person, so I learned a lot. I plan to go out with her more so that I can really gain in the photo area.

After that I had an incredible discussion in painting today about what it really is like to get an education and I had so much fun looking at the diverging viewpoints of the people here. They are all so amazing, but it’s fun to be with them all. I started another painting and ate an orange in the sun. One of my other ideas of heaven–Greek oranges.

I then took a copy of a photo that I had taken of an old, retired Greek man and I went to seek him out to give it to him, but I never found him. I intend to seek him out before I leave the island and give him his portrait. I think that will be a good effect to create!

THEN I had a Greek lesson, and I learned so much. I love my teacher, he is this beautiful Greek man and he is trying to learn photography so we get along very well, he is a teacher here in a normal school. He invited us over to his house. He is going to cook Greek food for us, and we are going to have a Greek practice session. Good stuff.

And then I designed my fish mosaic, and here I am writing this email getting closer to midnight. I still have to do some photographic work on the computer before a class tomorrow! I have literature tomorrow and I can’t wait to talk about my main man right now, Odysseus!

I have a class at 8 AM tomorrow, so I should probably get going.

I love it here, right down to eating a Souvlaki and then having a Greek man bring me some Ouzo because he thought it would be a good thing to go with dinner. I can see how this was the first civilized place in Europe.

Time to go.

Today, I woke up and then got ready and went and read part of my man in the Odyssey. Then I went to the darkroom with this incredible photographer and we listened to some crazy music while producing some neat works of art. I have at least two prints that I consider portfolio-worthy at this point. I am going to talk to Liz (the instructor) on Monday and tell her that I’m trying to set up a show for some local galleries, and we’re going to work out getting 15 prints out and ready for that. That way I have something that I just have to come home with and mat and frame. I’m going to sell my prints for $300 each and then I’m going to circulate them around the galleries in downtown Portland if that is possible. I’m also going to see if I can do some freelance work for some magazines/newspapers and other groups around Portland!

I realized what it was like to fall in love with the artistic process today. I really and truly fell in love with the process of producing prints in the darkroom. I always sort of thought that it was cool to be in the darkroom and make my own prints, but I’ve discovered over the last week how much control I have in that room in my ability to make a communication pop up off the page. I was watching one of my masterpieces surface in the developing tray and my heart skipped a beat when I realized that that things was MINE and that no one else in the world would be able to print it the same way that I had done so. I fell in love with knowing my art and being able to use it to really get a product. I left the darkroom shortly after that, but I’ve been hankering to get back in there because I’m in love with the process and the filters and the chemicals and the developer and EVERYTHING that there is to be in love with down there. I’m so amazed.

I made a really good dinner of avocado sauce (avocado, lime, garlic, salt) with cheese on Greek bread. It was divine, and it may just be my fad food over the next week or two because I have a ton of avocadoes and the good oranges have gone out of season!

I then went and watched the Greek sun glow orange and red turning the whole world those colors before dropping below the horizon to come visit you tell him hello for me!

And that was the day. I am now in here trying to produce many pieces of writing while naming and rearranging all of the digital photos that I’ve taken recently. When I have done that, I get to choose my true masterpieces out of the 1500 pictures I’ve taken in the last three weeks and work on them! THEN, I have another date with Odysseus! I have to finish it next week which means that I will have read it in 4 weeks.

Oh how I love my olive oil
Though I know my waist it spoils
It gets in like a drug
And stays like a bug
But life without it would be a toil!

Today was a national holiday in Greece, and it was fun. It is the day that the Greeks won their independence back from the Turks. They had been occupied for 400 years, and they finally threw off the shackles in the last century. In addition to that, it is the celebration of Ascension (when Gabriel came to Mary and told her that she was going to have Jesus and the impregnated her). All of the local people went out and had a big parade, it was fun, and I got a lot of shots of it, many of them I think are good.

After that, I went out to eat a suvlake! It was so yummy. I am now addicted to Tziki, and you are going to be eating it for the rest of your life. It is sOOOOOO yummy.

We then met John Pack to get ready to go on our hike. We walked around Paros really. We didn’t walk around the island, but we walked around the beaches and then did some pretty hefty mountain climbing. It was so incredible doing it. John surprised us by taking us to the cave that Archilochos wrote it. It was a hell of a climb. He is a classical poet that is credited with the invention of iambic pentameter. Pretty cool eh?

After that, we climbed around the rocks (literally) and went to a section way out on the rocks. It was amazing. Many of us jumped in the water and flopped around for a while. It was freezing though, so the swimming didn’t last for long.

When we were done there, we walked back and grabbed food quickly and made it back outside in just enough time to watch the sun sink below the water of Paroikia. That was a nice experience. Possibly, I will go find chocolate when I am done writing this.

Todays topic to take up is the ancientness of the Greeks.

When I was in America, anything from the beginning of the 1900’s was old to me. I was really surprised that anything would last that long. When I think about it, the entirety of the history that I know in America is based on the three hundred years that people have been living there. Really, the Salem Witchcraft Trials seemed to be so long ago, but you really get the idea of old when you are here.

There is a little lump of land that I won’t bother to call an island that lies between Paros and Anti Paros. Someone recently found evidence of VERY civilized life on that little hunk of land that was from THOUSANDS of years ago. It’s just waiting there to be discovered. There are human artifacts that are laying under the ocean from when the landbridge sunk between Paros and AntiParos.

The other day, I was walking along a path next to the school and there were some boys playing there. A ball flew over the fence and they ran out to get it. When I really looked at where the boy went to get the ball from, it was next to a gravestone. I realized that I was walking through an ancient cemetery. I looked up and then I realized that I was standing right in front of several sarcophagi. There were headstones around me that were more than two thousand years old.

I learned in my art history class that people have been inhabiting this island for around eight thousand years.

Last weekend, I went on a hike up a mountain, and after I walked through an olive grove, I came upon a house built on a hill. The house was clearly ancient.

On my way back down from my hike, I walked by some house foundations that were from houses built in the first century BC. They weren’t protected or guarded from erosion at all. In fact, there was a donkey tethered in one of them. Heh! It makes me laugh to think about it.

And then there’s the fact that there are Greek ruins all over the city, a fort made out of a dismantled castle, a graveyard that’s from the fifth century BC (another one) Roman columns everywhere, converted pagan churches every 100 feet and the second oldest church in Christendom.

When I come back to American, I don’t know that I’m ever going to be able to say that something is old!

Things are finally starting to calm down now, and I realized that I’m going to have to take up more specific topics to talk about and go more into detail on, so in addition to just blabbing about my day, I am going to take up one thing that strikes me about the Greeks or their way of life. The best starting point here would be to talk about olive oil

Now why would I choose olive oil? They have corn oil in the United States, but it wouldn’t be the first thing that I was going to talk about when describing the US at great length. In fact, they have corn oil here, but why would the olive oil be THE oil here.

First of all, I guess it’s time to address the olive tree. The olive tree is of utmost importance here in Greece, and it has been since the dawn of time. Odysseus talks about seeing olive trees. If you have never seen an olive tree in your life, you are missing out. They have a leaf that has one side silver and one side green, when they blow in the wind it looks fabulous!

Because of the rough terrain in Greece, it’s hard to grow anything but olive trees. Many times, the olive groves are on the side of a hillside where nothing else useful would be able to grow, so the Greeks have terraced the land so the olive trees could grow. I have met olive trees here that are thousands of years old!

When the olive trees ripen with olives, you can imagine the fuss of the people going around picking them for their beautiful olive oil.

The farmer takes these precious things to the local press where they are turned into the oil that he uses to cook with for the rest of the year.

Olive oil has a taste to it that is unlike anything else in this universe. I have realized that it is a replacement for butter here, butter exists of course, but no one would dream of using it when they could use olive oil in its stead. If you want a pre dinner snack, just put some olive oil in the fresh baked bread and you have yourself a masterpiece that is unequal-able!

Guaranteed in Greece, the first ingredient for any recipe is olive oil (garlic follows second). If you are without olive oil, you are without my friend.

Note that the Greeks eat some of the most saturated fat in the world per meal, but also note that they don’t have cardiovascular disease, hmmm…I wonder if the olive oil has anything to do with that.

So you were right when you said that we would be cooking with it when I get home. More than that, it will be my elixir of life!

Hello,

It’s been a few days now since I wrote.

Briefly, Monday I was what I am coining to be grasped in the death throes of art. I was having a hard day technically with figure drawing and photography, so I spent the entire day working through my issues in that area.

Yesterday, I had a beautiful day. Our photo instructor took me outside and really, really showed me what was going on technically when I made certain decisions with my camera. I realized that I knew a lot but didn’t really have that much of a WORKING understanding of what was going on, so I am now ready to gain more of an understanding of that area.

On the shoot, we ran into an old man at a church. He was great. He saw that we were from American and that we were taking photos and he came over and gave me a hug and totally adopted me. Later in the day, I went back to the spot to take some photos in a different lighting and he was there watching the sun set. He was so overjoyed to see me. He spoke two works in the English language “America” and “boat.” But we managed to communicate pretty well. He asked me to take his photo, and I think that I got a nice portrait shot of him, and I intend to print it and keep it in my portfolio.

I also started a new painting that I think is going to turn out incredibly. I have learned a lot from the mistakes of my first two, and I know that I can do a good job on this one!

I had an excellent day today as well. I was having a hard time mastering a technique in figure drawing, and I almost quit, but I got it at the last second and really, really was happy when it all came out OK.

After that, Aggleiki (one of my good, Greek friends) and I went out and ate a Gyro. It was really good.

I came back and watched John show his work, which I have made a note of in another piece, it was incredible.

After that, I really got a jump on digital photography.

I did a literature seminar tonight, which was totally incredible! I am reading the Odyssey in 4 weeks, tell your students that!

I also found out today that I got a 4.0 last semester, I’m on the honor roll again!

I did my first Greek class yesterday. I can almost eat a meal using only my Greek!

I am starting to be overwhelmed by everything I am doing, but I know that will soon pass as I get swept up in really just working at it!

I love what I am doing here.

Sorry this isn’t longer, but it’s rounding past midnight, and I need to still get some more things done.

I love you so much my love. Sorry this isn’t longer, but I’m so tired.

Chris

Today was a beautiful of all beautiful days every. The weather was great and everything just seemed to go well.

I decided to take the day and sleep as long as I could, and that ended up being until 8. I looked outside and it was just gorgeous so I opened all of my windows and went about getting ready. It was so nice that I decided to go on a run.

As I ran down along the water, I saw all of the Greek people getting ready to go into the Church of a Hundred Doors for their morning church service. People here were very happy and they were out having coffee before they had to run off to Church. I felt odd running as the Greeks aren’t used to exercise. So much so, that when students here go running the Greeks sometimes run after them and ask if anything is wrong!

I came back to my apartment, and took some really great photos along the way.

I ate a brilliant breakfast of cereal (I have been deprived of it for two weeks, so it was exciting to me).

Then I went on to do some art. I got out my drawing book and put the finishing touches on 4 drawing that I had done. I used my pastels to make them nice and pretty. I got them all preserved to make a trip home so that I can show them to you!

Then I got all ready and sat in the sun for a couple of hours while I got down and read two chapters of the Odyssey. I really enjoy that book. The sun was burning and it bore down on me very heavily. I am now officially tanned, and I KNOW that that’s not going to go away for some time now! That’s definitely something that excites me!

When I was all nice and tan, I walked back to my apartment and got ready to take some photos. I got my film camera out and my digital camera and I went around and took some great photos. It was the first time that I had managed to work the film camera in an ACT of GOD. I then got it in my head to take a walk so I went out on the road and started to go up the hill outside of Paroikia. When the road ended I got on a donkey path and when that ended I just climbed up the sheer hill. I was in a skirt, and it was just crazy. I got the hell scratched out of my legs, but I had a hell of a time. I got some incredible pictures. I actually climbed so high that I could see the ocean on both sides of the island. It was incredible. I have some beautiful photos of it!

Then I walked back home and actually cooked myself some dinner. I hadn’t cooked anything in the two weeks that I had been here, but I made some spaghetti, and for sauce I used pesto sauce with Greek cheese in it. I TOTALLY loved it. I can make it really easily.

Then I went and developed my film and it came out OK. You have no idea how much of a relief that was to me. I have gone through hoops to get it all working fine.

I also found out that I got an A in my college math class. That was a relief, as I wasn’t sure if I was going to even pass. No more math for me!

Also, we had a barbeque on the beach last night. I was very nice.

Today was excellent. If every day were like this, they would call that Heaven.

Chris

Ok. The weather outside is absolutely beautiful. No wonder the Greeks have such a wonderful life. Today was a day that you would typically expect to be the 4th of July. The outside was warm, and
the sun was shining down bright, and the inside was cool. It is the perfect time to just be outside and enjoy everything. I now have a suntan because I was outside just hanging out painting and drawing, and the sun totally overtook me and stole my heart! I LOVE the light here. It IS different here, as many people say, and you really can’t understand it until you’ve been in it. I love how the sun beats down on you in a friendly manner letting you know that he still exists.
These are the joys of the weather that I have experienced in the last two days. But you’d better watch out because if you get caught outside without layers of clothing after the sun goes down, you’re one cold cookie. These are all of the things that I enjoy about being here.

Yesterday we went on a very, very special hike to Anti Paros. If you don’t know what or where that is, get a map of Greece out and look for Paros in the Cyclades. Then look right next to it, that is Anti Paros. The two islands were connected during ancient times, but the water level rose and the land bridge is now underwater. Supposedly, there are plenty of artifacts around there under the water. Also, I saw another island off the coast where they found traces of ancient civilized people in Greece during 6,000 BC. I guess that information sparked things in the historical realm as it opened up the possibility that the people in Greece were indigenous all along. Interesting
how a little fact changes a lot.

We took a bus to the ferry and then rode the ferry for 5 minutes to Anti Paros. The town was beautiful. We stopped and I bought an orange that was to sustain me for the day. I was dumb though and I didn’t have anything cool to wear, and the weather was up to the 80’s. I just hiked my pants legs and arm sleeves up so that I didn’t have to be so hot. I was wearing dark and that didn’t help. We went on a hike all through the mountains. It took 3 hours to get to where we were going. A lot of it was uphill and owing to the fact that I only had 8 ounces of water with me, it was a rough hike up. We probably went in several miles. In fact, we hiked across the entire island that day! We went from seeing the shore on one side to seeing the shore on the other side. I really enjoyed being one with nature. Of course we walked down a lot of donkey trails and up mountains. I didn’t have perfect hiking shoes on either, so it was fun. However, I did get to see the difference between the two islands. Though they are very close, they have different plants and different terrains. I picked some more Oregano because it’s only the best. I also found a
lavender plant that I picked a top off of. I’ve taken so many photos of the plants around here that I know I could be hired to do the photos of a Greek plants book. Maybe I’ll actually pursue that. We saw lots of goats and sheep along the way, and it was a great hike.

We had lunch at the very top of a peak that overlooked both sides of the island, it was beautiful!

We then hiked down to a very, very nice beach, which I am going to try to get photos out of. You’ll never imagine the wonders of the Aegean. The sea is so clear you can see to the bottom, even if it’s more than 30 feet deep. There is a mixture of deep and shallow, and that makes for some beautiful plays of green and blue. The tide only varies 4 inches at all. The waves are small and the water was warm. I waded in it, but some people swam.

After our swimming, we had to walk back, but it was quite late, and we were going to miss getting our ferry, however, a really nice guy pulled over and picked up the entire school group and took them back to the port. The man was so nice. He invited us to eat in his restaurant and he also told us to go to his farm where he grows olives. We plan to make a trip back to do that soon. The man was so incredibly nice though. How often in America does someone pick up 13 strangers and take them wherever they want to go?

We had milkshakes while we waited for the ferry and then we went home. It was very nice.

But the day hadn’t ended yet. We went out to dinner with the whole school group. It was wonderful to eat traditional Greek meals with 20 people at the table. We laughed a lot and one of my very closest Greek friends taught me how to say sundry things in Greek. It was wonderful. My vocabulary has now doubled!

After that, it was my friend’s birthday, so we went out and danced. It was a lot of fun. I had a small drink at midnight to celebrate with her. It was so much fun.

Today, I had another lovely adventure. The painting students went out with some Greek art students and we were videoed doing earthwork art. We were making art out of natural materials like clay and rocks in honor of Earth Day. I was very proud of the things that I did and though I am not able to bring them home with me, I do have photos of them! I will try to put them online and get them out! We were next to a beautiful beach the whole time and the sun was very warm on my neck. I got to make two wonderful works of art and then we went around and looked at those works that others did. The lady that videotaped us is going to edit it into a work of fine art that is going to be displayed in a gallery. Cross your fingers that my piece makes it in! I found a section of a handle of a clay pot today in the sea. It can be really, really old!

When that was all done, I came home to get a start on the things that I needed to do for the weekend. I stretched three canvases by hand (which is awesome and a blast) and then I made a pastel drawing while I was out in the sun. I have come in to avoid a burn and to write this wonderful email.

Things are going great here. I have been eating fruit and break like never before because it is all so delicious. It’s just such a paradise to be here.

Hope all is going well.

Chris