Amy, Lindsey and Kieran left this morning, so the group is down to 5 (+Sofie and Victor). It's definitely feeling like the end is drawing near, and I'm glad I managed to finish the painting that you see here with time to spare. I guess you could call it a sequel to my initial 'portrait of summer', but rendered in gouache and watercolour with a lot more consideration taken into the composition and framing. It's been so long since I've committed to a full-blooded/unadulterated gouache piece and it was super satisfying to sign off on this one.
I worked from an arrangement that I pieced together on the studio floor - rhubarb leaves, weeds and lupine from the garden; a king crab shell found on the beach and urchin shells picked up by past visitors. Short of a few reindeer I think it paints a decent picture of the short but energetic Arctic summer. The pile of stuff is still sitting where I left it so I might attempt a part 2 of the same arrangement but wilted and decayed for comparison.
The last few days (since moon-gazing) have been completely housebound as we waited out a vicious and continuous gale that dragged on for 2 days straight. The house was creaking and whistling and the thought of going outside never crossed any of our minds. My only venture past the door was to go down into the sauna. However this morning was a totally different story. The wind has died down and the sky is back to an impossible blue. After lunch I'm off to attempt a monster hike to the northernmost tip of Sørøya. It seems like a fitting way to cap off the adventure.