On Friday I went to Meadowbank where I started attending the Sydney Gallery School 10 years ago. There was a teachers’ exhibition I wanted to see. First I had lunch with a friend. Went to the gallery – closed. So I went to the art shop for a while and back to the gallery. Closed. I got into the car and drove down to the river where they sometimes used to take us to paint and draw en plein air. I painted my first landscape here, in oils. I was never interested in the landscape as a subject for paintings. Still not – except for urban landscape. I remember the oil painting turned out quite well because Fariha helped me, though it has been consigned to the bin a long time ago. There are only so many paintings you can fit in your house.
I sat in the sun in a stiff breeze, trying to keep my sketchbook from flapping. Then I started to sneeze. Then some mysterious text messages started coming. What with answering the phone, sneezing and dealing with the breeze, it was a bit of a struggle.
I never saw the teachers’ exhibition. The gallery was still closed when I went home. Grrrr.
