I cannot deny that this has been one of the most amazing adventures that we could have imagined. And in many ways it is a vacation on steroids!   But is also a culmination of 20 years of discussion, some casual planning, then came this boat, then came more discussion as to where to go, and then the aggressive boat makeover and on and on.... and now here we are. We’ve crossed the Atlantic Ocean, at least most of it, and we did it  not only successfully but we had a good time.

     And then we just loved being a part of Horta. All of it. We Love Horta. But one of my favorite parts was the people we met. Words cannot describe the honor of hanging with the kids giving “art lessons” either on the wall or on our boat. 

  There was however this part of me that wanted to be (and of course still does) be useful, or make some difference in the humanitarian world, or at least work and be productive.  And how is that done being on an “extended vacation”?  Well, I think I am seeing how in bits and pieces.!

I got those kids quite excited about drawing, and shading, and filling the paper, and seeing the space between the trees, (or the space in between the boats, same idea) and they were thrilled. Who knows how this little bit of art info will help them later. maybe not at all, but they left wanting more.

And then there is  Robert and the skippers of all the English speaking boats that have been trading ideas and knowledge and thoughts on boat engineering, sailmaking (of course) canvas work, electricity, misc, stuff, all that with such  enthusiasm that we could host an “Ocean Sailing Club” with probably little effort.

But when the idea stuck to have an art opening, a new chord was struck. First, it motivated ME to produce at least a small body of work.  Then when I told my new friend Laurie about my “Ha Ha I’m having an Art Show” idea, SHE took it as a motivation to produce a body of photographic work. Which, by the way, is extremely strong. And as a result of this zany idea.

Then we engineered the actual show. Took in the fact that we had absolutely NO permission, and no actual building to have this show.  But those small details were insignificant. We plodded along, walking in the evenings to photograph the subject matter, discussing subject matter, how to present and hang the show, how to advertise the show, the lighting, and later critiquing, and then came time for the show.

It had to be Friday or Saturday. Our British neighbor Rhonda said “you should have had this during Sea Week” to which I answered, “but the paintings didn’t even  exist then, so this is it”.

After Saturday, we need to be offshore and the crowd gets thinner, but so be it.

So we did it. we made invitations, signs to go on the Sea Week  tent (that is still at the Horta Marina,) we bought champagne, little plastic cups, and we hoofed the floating docks and handed out the invites.

And people showed up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a freakin trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This started out as a joke, “hey Robert, let’s have an art opening . HA HA HA HA “   and then it became an actual thing.

And here’s the thing, people got something out of this 2 hour event that I couldn’t have banked on 3 months ago. One, I am seeing these old streets in a new way, and making some cool little pieces of art, Two, Laurie is producing an incredible body of photographic work as a result of getting ready for the show, It gave the boat folks a reason to get out and meet us other boat folks and one of the highlights was our new friend Bias, a young 18 yr old Horta local who happened to be watching our whole event unfold and finally came over and joined us.  She works at peters Sport Café, the famous sailor’s bar. She said it was best art show I Horta ever. (I am NOT making that up) and she proceeded to insist we go to Peters and she would make sure we would get red carpet treatment. We went and we got!!!!  (not common nowadays at Peters)

I may never see her again, but I hope too. But I did give here a print of one of my car reflection paintings. and she went crazy happy!

So maybe it’s things like this that make little differences. And it was one of the most enjoyable days of the whole adventure, the “Make Shift Art Opening In Horta” (without permission) complete with good crowd, one sale (OK So I sold a painting) and post show celebration as celebrities at the most famous bar/restaurant in town!!!!!

 

I feel good. I’ve made little kids think, a new friend think in newer ways, another new friend excited to be a part of the show,  and I still have more stories about other great people we’ve met, that I’ll save for later.

I will surely miss these islands, And even more, the people. We leave Thursday for Lisbon. And I so hope to return to the Azores.

May have to. I may have to to plan the second Annual Horta Marina Makeshift Jury Rigged Art Show!!!!!!