RANDOM ECHOES - ITALY 25/10/05

Our painting job is turning into a sentence of hard labour. We are into the fifth day and are still in the same room as when we started (with another room yet to be started on). The heat and porous stucco suck at the paint, drying it rapidly and slowing progress. The views from the house are extraordinary, particularly the sunsets which are incredibly moving (reminiscent of Leonardo’s background landscapes – gold tipped clouds, the awesome fading perspective of rolling hills and hilltop towns and villages revealed, the sinking mist creating islands within and giving different aspects each evening) – but at present these feel like a distant bonus that we can only appreciate for ten minutes before the sun disappears at the end of the day, when our back breaking work has been done. The patron pays us a pittance, a laughable amount of money. We are disappointed and angry and we await a confrontation when we finish and make clear the work we have done.