TURN IT OFF AND BACK ON AGAIN…

Not a lot happened today. Not every day can be an epic, filled with excitement and adventure – in fact, those sort of days need quiet days to make them seem as good and fulfilling, as they do.

Having said all that, the sea was a bit rough this morning, and I find I expend lots of enegry just to stand still.

For the art class, it was Northern Lights Day. Whichever way you look at it, painting the Aurora Borealis in watercolour isn’t easy. It’s all about the timing and saturation of colours, of course, but even after painting it myself several times over the years, it never gets easier. It’s a little bit like spinning plates…. just when you think you’ve got one element cracked, another pops up to scupper your progress and dampen your enthusiasm.

Around midday, the Captain announced that the Chief Engineer needed to turn the engines off for half an hour in order to investigate a red warning light. It took a little longer than expected, but he reported that everything was okay. Makes you wonder about that red light though…

I’ve been commissioned to paint a Northern Lights scene that includes the Spirit of Discovery. It’s a private commission, so I’m not at liberty to divulge any further information that that, other than to say that it has to be done before the end of the cruise… no pressure then.

It turns out, with the minor changes to the itinerary, that we’ve grown an extra sea day. This means I get an extra class, which I’m going to fill with a simple boat scene.

Finally; it’s been very cold again today. Following last night’s impressive showing of the lights, we had hoped for a repeat performance, but with murky skies and snow blizzards, there was very little chance of that happening. I’ve used the hiatus to practice setting up manual controls on my camera, ready for a late night ‘Aurora Hunt’ excursion that will be taking place tomorrow night from Alta. This is so that I can use a tripod… I’m struggling with the settings, however, and will probably fall back on the mobile phone for taking photos of the lights, the results so far of which have proved more than adequate.

There were a lot of birds following the boat this afternoon… Tracey tells me they were fulmars… I snapped this photo of one…