My plan worked: Escape at the beginning of March, stay a month, then return once spring has arrived. Okay, it might not have been as well thought-out as that, but that’s more or less what happened. Apart from arriving back to an overwhelming mountain of work (in terms of missed course work, new assignments, paintings and prints to organise for the season in the gallery) it’s been a week I was happy to be home for. The skies have been blue, the sea calm and I got my kayak out for the journey home yesterday after a few hours preparing for the annual mosaic repair around the pottery. It can be fairly disheartening, as every year more pieces fall off the walls or sculptures due to the frost and rain, but mostly they are not the bits I stuck back on last year, and what a beautiful morning on which to be doing it.
I had a wonderful month back in Morocco with two sketching groups, two itineraries, both of them fully-booked. For the first time we needed a second car on the longer trip and I was a bit concerned by the numbers but it worked out perfectly and everyone got along. Both groups were such a pleasure to be with and, hopefully, they all enjoyed themselves as much as I did!
It was so great to be back after nearly four years and I hope there will be many more Vistas sketching holidays trips to come. As I’m still catching up with myself, I’m just going to leave you with some images:
I am now taking bookings for next year, so if anyone finds this idea irresistible, head over to www.sketchingholidays.co.uk/painting-holidays-morocco/ for details!