Artists, Bonkers …. Really?

Artists are famous for their eccentricity: Turner tied himself to the mast of a ship to paint a snow storm, Michelangelo never bathed, Leonardo da Vinci used the urine of red headed boys to mix his paints and Georgia O'Keeffe painted in her car in the heat of summer; these quirks make me seem normal really.

My new abode has a skylight in the bathroom, I call it the loo with a view! Over the rooftops I can see hills, the local lock and the Main river. This week, while staring out of my skylight, I was struck with an idea, I grabbed my light easel, set it up in the bathroom and hey presto ….. plein air painting! Time to tackle those dreaded hills from the safety of my loo! 

I gave myself 15 minutes (to stop me getting too fiddly), grabbed a scrap of support and let rip! The idea was to observe the patterns in the vineyards, the skyline and the sky quickly without my brain telling me ''you hate hills''. To be honest, I enjoyed it, the loo with a view may become ''a thing'', and the result was this! A 15 minute sketch, no Turner but a start! It took more time to set up my kit, than to paint. 

And for the sceptics among you, you can even see my loo seat, I set my pastels on it, maybe I should have replenished the loo roll first though! Instagram worthy, definitely not; proof that artists are bonkers, yep! Definitely. Maybe it’s time for an artists challenge, #loowithaview, paint the view from your bathroom. I got lucky this time, the view from my last bathroom wasn’t this spectacular.