GRAND EXHIBITION

Today was our final day at sea.

This morning I gave my last class, which wasn’t quite as oversubscribed as I’d feared (in fact, it was the same number as I’ve been getting in a morning session), mostly, I suspect, because the ‘Today’ Programme advertised it as a ‘finishing off’ session, which it wasn’t. It was, in fact, a lesson on Composition, with a round-up of the main entries in the ‘Composition Checklist’, a few simple figures and a smattering of recommended texture techniques, all wrapped up in a street scene from my first ever cruise assignemnt on the Saga Ruby back in 2006, when we visited Tripoli.

With the final lesson completed, and all the gear cleaned and packed, we had just a short amount of time before having to make our way to the Craft Room to prepare for our Grand Art Exhibition, scheduled in the programme as being from 1pm until 2pm, with the Craft Exhibition being from 3:30pm until 4:30pm.

There is a strict Saga policy with regards to attaching things to the walls or furniture; basically… it’s not allowed. Instead, because we didn’t just want to lay all the paintings out flat on the tables, we decided to try turning the perpex boards into little A-Frames by taping them along the top and securing them to the table at the bottom.

It all worked surprisingly well, and with the help of several of my students, we had a full exhibition up and ready for viewing by the stroke of 1pm.

I always love this bit, when all the work is put together and distributed randomly, so that no two paintings of the same subject or the same artist are placed together. It always looks fantastic – and today was no exception.

For an hour, passengers milled around, making very appreciative noises, and the folks who had attended the classes proudly showed off their work. In the words of Mary Poppins and Bart Simpson; My work here is done.

With the ship crawling at a mere 12 knots, and only a hundred or so miles to go before we are due to pick up the pilot in Portsmouth (at 5am in the morning), another adventure draws to a close.

We’ve enjoyed it, the classes have gone well, and there’s a satisfying sense of reaching the end of another successful cruise. We’ll be returning to Portsmouth later in the year, when we join the Spirit of Adventure for the exact same itinerary. By then, we expect all art classes to be taking place in the Art and Craft Room, so no more lugging gear from one end of the ship to the other. The weather is probably going to be similar in terms of temperature, but we will be into the Autumn, so those very same ports are likely to look somewhat different. I also have a few modifications I wish to make to the classes I’ll be running; the Rovinj Line and Wash was partricularly successful, and I plan on including a session on painting flowers – something that has been requested by more than one person on this cruise.

All of that is to come. I have a busy summer of art shows, workshops and other engagements before then. Until then… I’ll be back…