Goth in Paradise

FIRST FOUR DAYS ON THE JOB AT TARRALEAH

pipeline - what one thinks of in association with Tarraleah.
Now we've got that one out of the way.

Everybody has been very nice to me; they have given me everything I asked for (photocopying, signage, furniture, light globes, a saucepan . . . ) and the spaces I have been allocated are better than I anticipated. There is a nice little gallery space at Reception, and another adjoining my studio, which has plenty of air, light and space. This is what it looks like.

I've already completed two partly-finished paintings and am well under way with a new one. There is no mobile phone coverage here, television reception is hopeless, and even internet connections, supposing I had access to a computer, are patchy. All there is to do is paint, and talk to the odd tourist who wanders in.  So far the tourists have been gratifyingly well-behaved - they have praised my paintings effusively, interpreted them correctly, demanded to see more, and gone off clutching the brochures I have thoughtfully provided.

As if all that isn't enough, I've made a new friend. We while away our evenings photographing road-kill, getting excited about the architecture of spider nests and lichens and investigating the interiors of rotting logs together before retiring to the pub for a convivial G&T.

Is life supposed to be this much fun?

These are some of the things we found on a short walk to the waterfall on Saturday night.

Gothic architecture, anyone?

This is the waterfall. It's much bigger than it looks here;
those are super-big man-ferns around it.