Day 20-21

"View of fountain from behind the tree" by Hilary J. England, oil on canvas panel, 8" x 10", 2014

What a day yesterday was, haha.  The festivities, or shall we say, shenanigans from our day in Arpasu de Jos was very apparent, as there were several of us that were completely unable to get out of bed, and the rest of us, well, we were rather comatose and grumpy, yet we slogged our way to the local park, humping our equipment, and somewhat accepting the blinding sunlight that greeted us all the way there.  But, that capricious Romanian weather had it's own trick up its sleeve, and as soon as we got set-up, the clouds started rolling in, and within a half hour or so, the rain began.  Initially, we ducked under some trees, threw some plastic over our paints and canvases, believing (mostly hoping) the weather would pass, but as the rain picked up steam and darker and more ominous clouds began appearing, we knew we had to throw in the towel.  So, back to the apartment we went.

Initially, our optimistic hope was to take an hour or so of rest, and if it stopped raining, to maybe head out again, but LOL....nearly all of us wound up sleeping the afternoon away, as the violent thunderstorms rolled in one after the other, but, that's the best weather to sleep in!!!

Around four-ish, Nataliya, who is the grown-up of the bunch haha, began knocking on everyone's doors to get them up and to get themselves together for the night's business meeting with Lee.  Artists filtered out here and there....sleepy and quiet, some still looking a little green, and just kind of plopped on the couches, and we did have a very informative meeting with Lee...to the tune of 3 hours long LMAO.  It was our punishment for the collective sins of the previous evening.  Gotta love Lee....he can talk for three hours, but still make it interesting.

After finishing the meeting, everyone was a little more perked up, some went out, but most of us headed back to our rooms to work or rest.  I managed to fight that little painting long into the night, rearranging my room, rigging the lighting, and just having a one on one with it...in the morning, I was mostly pleased, although there was some changes that I decided to make due to the differences of incandescent and natural sunlight, but in the end, the weather or hangover did NOT win.  So, it's all good.

Today, we kind of had the day off to get ourselves together because it is an American holiday, and the residents are predominantly American.  We are doing a barbeque, and later, karaoke, so it should be a fun and interesting night...haha!!!  Happy Fourth of July to all my fellow Americans and God bless America!!!