I maybe should be on my way up town right now. It’s not raining and it would be good exercise…..

Excuse.1. Wearing a mask and my glasses steaming up , as well as feeling that is is a bit difficult to breathe going uphill is not much fun.

This is quite a good excuse as when it is dark and I have had to take my glasses off I don’t see very well.

Decided to look online ( again) and see if there are some solutions and have found one that might work.

I have already tried pulling my mask up and glasses slightly down. That works unless I go inside then they fog up immediately. Or if I breathe too much going up a hill.

I might try cleaning them with soap and water but I have a feeling I tried that before and it didn’t work.

Last is a new solution , and that is to roll up a piece of kitchen roll and place it under the top of my mask , thereby blocking the breath from reaching my glasses. It seems to work…..will try it out tomorrow.

The breathing problem is manageable most of the time…but there are a lot of steep hills in Pisticci so unless I get miraculously fit( no chance!) then it will inevitably involve a bit of puffing at some point. My home made masks are not a big problem ,but someone gave me a pretty disposable one and I had to take it off as it really was difficult to breathe.

2nd excuse. I can’t go because my only reason to go out would be to buy more wine and I am not going in the wine shop two days running. I must have some kind of guilty conscience which I am not going to examine. ( next week the weather is to be horrible and I should stock up on wine.)

So I am sitting here in my warm little house with a glass of wine, stove on and candle burning.

I have had a reasonably productive day.

My dogs portraits are drawn in pen and they all look like individuals even though they are all the same breed and colour. Tomorrow I should add watercolour and a bit gouache.

Then my local scene is all drawn out with paint and a bit shading so tomorrow I can start on the colour . (.acrylic)

And I made enough food to last for 3 days at lunch time.

I saw a brief article on David Hockney’s exhibition in Paris and felt a bit inspired with colour again. I wonder if I can use some in this new local commission. I always need to find something challenging or interesting to do or I am bored….and consequently I think the painting is a bit boring.

Have managed to postpone going to the comune until Wednesday. 🤔

That should be enough for today ……

Cheers 🍷🍷