71 My painting site is a sand hill strewn with pink boulders about 200' above the lake at 15,200 ft and gives a great view of Parinacota. The lake is alive with birds—flamingos, coots, geese, ibis—so there is con- stant activity. By now, it is ferociously hot—around 85°F and I can feel my brain begin to cook. There is no shade so I eat lunch in strong sun. Back to work at 2:00 and clouds were gathering. At 3.00, I realised I was about to get furiously rained on, so packed up the painting, pitched my tent and threw my gear inside just before a thunderstorm hit with enormous cracks and immediate flashes. Went back out at 5:30 and worked for a few minutes, but it was too cold to con- tinue. More thunder and hail until 7pm, when I cooked a miserly dehydrated meal and watched the sunset on the mountain. It’s very cold now as I write. I hope I only have to do three nights of this. I am getting too old for it. WEDNESDAY 28TH OCTOBER DAY 11 Up at 7.30 when the sun struck the tent after a cold night. My six litres of water is frozen into a block. I have breakfast sitting in the sunshine, but it’s pretty cold. I demounted the drawing board, laid it flat in the sand and started work on yesterday’s sky. It turned out to be horribly complicated, and not helped by sand constantly blowing over it, threatening to turn it into a real mess. Work through until 2 because I could see the weather closing in, as it did with hailstones and strong, cold winds. I ate lunch, had a good wash in the snow, and then the sky cleared. Although this sky is a complete mess, it has plenty of drama, and I think I can bring it round with a mop and bucket back at home. Finished the sky by 6:30, had supper facing into a strong wind, and then admired the sunset before crawling into my tent at 7:45. This is becoming an mistakes—making the snow and rocks look less arbitrary and mannered, then moving on to the lower foothills and working up the colour. In reality the mountain is mostly very dull in hue, but I discern colour variations. Lunch was mind-numbingly hot, and I was staggering around, so I took a rehydration salts package, though I did not really notice any beneficial effects. By 4:00 I was exhausted, so much so that when C, D and M arrived I scarcely greeted them. They were a bit confused by my odd response but seemed to like the painting and helped me pack everything up. SATURDAY 31ST OCTOBER DAY 14 PUTRE I walked down the canyon to where I drew last time, which still looked good and got to work rather tentatively, which is odd. Perhaps because today felt rather like a holiday. I made several bad judgements so got off to a slow start. SUNDAY 1ST NOVEMBER DAY 15 Colchane. I had warned the team to expect a rough and ready frontier town with whorehouses, bars, occasional pistol shots. We were surprised to find few buildings, a tiny shop and dust blowing down the wide unadorned street. Thankfully, there is one hotel where we checked in. The shower was cold and the lights didn’t work, but we are cheered when we look out of the window and see how the flag is nearly busting its pole in the ferocious freezing gale! We shower, wash clothes, and eat llama and chips washed down with good red wine. C and M had sneaked up the road and bought a chocolate biscuit and candle which the delightfully cheery waitress brought in at the right time for us to sing “Happy Birthday Dave” which brought a tear to his eye—possibly the quality of the singing! Work through until 2 because I could see the weather closing in, as it did with hailstones and strong, cold winds. —Wednesday 28th October 2015 Day 11 increasingly insupportable way of making paintings: too many physical difficulties—the weather, the cold, the boring food, the lack of amenities, everything is always in the wrong place or buried beneath piles of other stuff. I am either baking in the heat, or frozen stiff, but either way, always covered in sand. THURSDAY 29TH OCTOBER DAY 12 I identified the huge peak showing over the horizon at night as Sahama—I thought I recognised it! It gave me a funny feeling that I sat on its foothills and painted Parinacota and Pumerape from the other side across the Bolivian Alteplano in 1997. I started painting the rocks, which didn’t go very well—the colour was off and my dark glasses made it look livelier than it was. I was (am) convinced Winsor and Newton have changed Aliz Crim—it didn’t seem to have any strength—too translucent. It ended up a bit of a mess as I tried desperately to bring it round. FRIDAY 30TH OCTOBER DAY 13 Up at 7.15 to a clear sky. I am determined to get in a good solid day’s work before everybody arrives at 4:00. The temperature at breakfast was 18°F but quickly climbed and by lunch it was 88°F. I worked hard all morning. First putting right all yesterday’s
